The Edinboro Fighting Scots wrestling team fell to nationally ranked Pittsburgh in a non-conference match on Sunday. The No. 10 Panthers, out of the Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC), won eight out of 10 bouts en route to a 28-6 win over Edinboro.
The Fighting Scots’ two wins came at 149 and 174 pounds, as senior Tyler Vath and nationally ranked Jacob Oliver both picked up victories by decision. Vath racked up the points in a 10-5 win over Pittsburgh’s Luke Kemerer, making his record 10-11. Oliver, No. 19 in the nation, won a much closer 4-1 battle with Gregg Harvey, improving the junior’s impressive season record to 19-4.
Many of the matches lost by Edinboro were close affairs against quality Panther wrestlers. At 157 pounds, redshirt sophomore Peter Pappas lost a 7-5 decision to Taleb Rahmani, No. 28 this year and a 2019 NCAA qualifier.
“Peter was really close to beating a quality kid,” said Head Coach Matt Hill regarding Pappas’ match.
Redshirt senior Dylan Reynolds and junior Jon Spaulding each had tough matches, as well. Both were against 2019 NCAA qualifiers and both lost by decision. Reynolds fell 2-0 to Kellan Stout, while No. 20 Spaulding fell 3-0 to No. 9 Demetrius Thomas.
Second year coach, and former Edinboro wrestler, Hill is proud of the way his athletes competed against Pittsburgh.
“We had some good individual performances even though we didn’t come out on top,” he said. “Getting our guys to believe they can wrestle with anyone in the country is very essential,” added Hill.
Edinboro wrestling resumes MAC Conference competition Feb. 6 when they travel to Lock Haven. With four matches to go, the Fighting Scots overall record sits at 10-6, and they hold a 3-4 record in MAC action with three conference duals remaining. The other dual left on the schedule is a home matchup against Big Ten Conference member and nationally ranked Michigan on Feb. 21.
The Fighting Scots compete next on Feb. 2 at the prestigious Edinboro Open hosted at the Mike S. Zafirovsky Sports and Recreation Dome here at Edinboro University.
Along with her coaching debut, it should be a busy spring. Middlebrooks is currently finishing up as a graduate student at Edinboro, as she’ll get her master’s degree in school counseling this May. |
The student center food court will be offering free food from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on game day courtesy of the University Programming Board. |
Edinboro University’s wrestling team made the familiar trip to Gannon University to compete against both Mercyhurst and Gannon in their first meet of the 2021 season on Jan. 27. |
By Sam Bohen
Staff writer Sam Bohen details his must-watch sports action for your winter break. If you don't care that the Steelers are 11-1, there's still plenty more to check out. |
Society is getting a little too comfortable letting technology help them with their daily routine. Meanwhile, the art of human interaction is dying quickly. |
By Sam Bohen
The new Manager of Annual Giving at Edinboro discusses his history on campus, including his time on the gridiron. |
"Over the last 7 days, there has been an upward trend in our positive cases of COVID-19 among students. Student Health Services has been working diligently to support testing, quarantining and isolation to help minimize the spread."
Between the ongoing pandemic, the continuing PASSHE system redesign, and retrenchment already hitting multiple universities (including Edinboro), change remains in the air. Here’s a rundown of Edinboro’s past six months and what’s to come.
Edinboro University’s Department of English and Philosophy celebrated this year’s Chuck Palahniuk Writing Scholarship recipients with a virtual reading on Feb. 11.