6th-Ranked Edinboro Defeats West Virginia Wrestlers, 21-16
Fighting Scots Tie School Record for Wins, Clinch EWL Dual Meet Title
February 15, 2007

EDINBORO, PA – The Edinboro University wrestling team posted its 11th straight win and in the process clinched the Eastern Wrestling League dual meet title with a 21-16 win at West Virginia on Thursday night. The victory improved the sixth-ranked Fighting Scots to 16-1 overall and 5-0 in the EWL, while West Virginia fell to 4-5 and 3-2 in the EWL.

Edinboro will conclude its regular season on Friday night, hosting Pittsburgh in a 7:30 p.m. match at McComb Fieldhouse. In addition to looking for the school record for wins, the Fighting Scots will look to complete their second straight undefeated EWL regular season.

The Fighting Scots picked up wins in the first three matches, but then saw a pair of top-ten wrestlers upset. Freshman Eric Morrill returned to the lineup at 125 lbs. after missing last week’s matches against Bloomsburg and Cleveland State, and improved to 13-13 with an 8-3 decision against Scott Stuart. Ricky Deubel followed that up with his 10th win in his last 11 matches, an 8-4 decision over Mark Anderson at 133 lbs. The sophomore is now 23-9.

Daryl Cocozzo picked up a forfeit win at 141 lbs., as the freshman improved to 13-11 and boosted Edinboro’s lead to 12-0.

West Virginia won the next two matches as fifth-ranked Gregor Gillespie and tenth-ranked Matt Hill both tasted defeat. The Mountaineers David Jauregui used a takedown in the final period to come away with a 10-9 win over Gillespie at 149 lbs. The Boro sophomore falls to 26-2 for the season, and marks just his sixth loss in 72 career bouts. Jauregui is now 17-3.

WVU’s Zac Fryling posted his second straight upset of a top ten wrestler, as he won a grueling match against Hill at 157 lbs. Fryling won 3-2 tiebreaker win to improve to 18-5. A week ago he upset ninth-ranked Seth Martin of Lock Haven, who handed Hill his only two losses. Hill is now 27-3 and 100-38 for his career.

With the score now 12-6, Deonte Penn gave the Fighting Scots some breathing room as he picked up his fifth straight win by fall and 49th for his career. Ranked eighth at 165 lbs., Penn pinned Eric Connolly at 2:19 for his 16th fall of the season. That is two shy of the school record. The senior improved to 29-2 and 106-41 for his career.

Kurt Brenner, a sophomore who was the EWL champion a year ago, edged Phil Moricone, 4-3, in the 174 lb. match. The difference was an escape to start the third period, with Moricone unable to come up with the winning takedown. The sophomore falls to 22-7.

Alex Clemsen won his 12th straight match with a 3-1 decision over Chance Litton at 184 lbs. The senior, ranked seventh by InterMat and tenth by Amateur Wrestling News, is now 29-2 on the season and moved into a tie for 11th place in career wins with a 113-33 career ledger.

West Virginia picked up wins in the final two matches. Jared Villers, ranked 17th by Amateur Wrestling News and 19th by InterMat, edged Jim Gibson, 3-1. Gibson is now 18-8. In the heavyweight bout, Joe Fendone dropped to 22-8 with a 17-4 loss to Dustin Rogers. It marked just the second loss by Fendone to an unranked wrestler.

RECORDS: Edinboro 16-1, 5-0 EWL; West Virginia 4-5, 3-2 EWL

NOTES: Edinboro ties school record for wins in a season, previously set in 1987-88 and 1994-95, and wins the EWL dual meet title for the second straight year.