PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh wrestling team won eight of 10 bouts in defeating Eastern Wrestling League rival Lock Haven, 37-7, at the Fitzgerald Field House on Friday evening. Pittsburgh improved to 8-5 and 5-1 in the EWL while Lock Haven fell to 3-9 and 0-5 in the EWL.

In the first match of the evening, Pittsburgh 125-pound freshman Drew Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg) defeated Jim Collins of the Bald Eagles by a 7-2 count, using a reversal in the third period and two near-fall points to extend a one-point lead into a 6-1 advantage.

At 133 pounds, the Panthers’ Mike Ciotti (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) controlled his bout against Dave Predko of Lock Haven and earned a 9-4 decision to improve to 5-3 on the year and 4-1 in dual meets.

Ronald Tarquinio (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) extended the Panthers’ lead to 11-0 with a 16-1 technical fall over James Barnes at the 5:57 mark of the third period. Tarquinio earned 10 near-fall points in the win to improve to 21-10 on the season.

Lock Haven’s 11^th-ranked Mike Maney had been battling the flu prior to the meet and had to forfeit at 149 pounds to Pittsburgh’s Matt Kocher (State College, Pa./State College Area), who won his team-leading 27^th match of the year.

The Bald Eagles earned their first three points of the match at 157 pounds with a 5-2 decision by Charlie Brenneman over Pittsburgh’s Justin Nestor (Transfer, Pa. Reynolds). It was the second time this season that Brenneman had earned a victory over Nestor.

In one of the most unusual finishes to a Panthers’ wrestling match in recent history, 165-pounder Zachariah Doll (Quakertown, Pa./The Hill School) earned a pin from the defensive position over Jason Gilligan of the Bald Eagles with just 17 seconds remaining in the bout. The six points pushed the Pittsburgh lead to 23-3.

Francis Iorfido (Johnsonburg, Pa./Johnsonburg) earned his sixth straight EWL dual win with a 10-2 major decision over Ryan Summers of the Bald Eagles to increase the team score to 27-3 in favor of the Panthers.

The Bald Eagles cut the lead to 27-7 with a 13-0 major decision at 184 pounds over freshman Eric Cassidy (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny). Pittsburgh got the four points right back with a major decision by Josh Birt (Spokane, Wash./North Idaho JC) over Carlos Ponce at 197 pounds.

In the final bout, heavyweight Travis Shirley (West Middlesex, Pa./Kennedy Christian)  earned an injury default win over Steve Itterly of the Bald Eagles at 1:07 after a takedown injured Itterly’s knee.