Edinboro Match Notes


EDINBORO PROBABLE LINEUP
2013-14 Record -- 0-2, 0-0 EWL
125 -- #19/#17 Kory Mines (Jr.-r, 9-2, 40-38, Bedford, OH)
133 -- #2/#3 A.J. Schopp (Jr.-r, 11-0, 83-11, Tyrone, PA)
141 -- #2/#2 Mitchell Port (Jr.-r, 7-0, 71-14, Bellefonte, PA)
149 -- #8/#7 Dave Habat (Jr., 12-1, 78-19, Parma, OH)
157 -- Johnny Greisheimer (Sr.-r, 7-4, 76-55, Wantagh, NY)
165 -- Kasey Burnett-Davis (Jr.-r, 7-2, 42-27, Meadville, PA)
174 -- Zach Towers (Fr.-r, 4-2, 4-2, Meadville, PA)
Patrick Jennings (So.-r, 4-2, 17-26, Ridge, NJ)
184 -- #10/#8 Vic Avery (So.-r, 2-1, 26-16, Foxboro, MA)
197 -- Vince Pickett (So., 6-3, 28-18, Galloway, OH)
Hwt. -- Ernest James (Sr.-r, 7-3, 78-45, Medford, NY)

HEAD?COACH: Tim Flynn (Penn State '87, 173-67-5, 17th year)
Rankings: InterMat/Amateur Wrestling News


CLARION PROBABLE LINEUP
2013-14 Record -- 4-4, 0-0 EWL
125 -- Jonathan Mele (Fr., 10-8, Berkeley Hts., NJ)
133 -- Sam Sherlock (Jr., 10-6, West Mifflin, PA)
141 -- Tyler Bedelyon (Sr., 6-9, Lewistown, PA)
John Pezze (So., 2-4, N. Huntingdon, PA)
149 -- #18/#19 Justin Arthur (Fr., 16-3, Huntington, WV)
157 -- Austin Matthews (Fr., 9-2, Greenville, PA)
165 -- Michael Pavasko (Jr.-r, 10-8, Munhall, PA)
174 -- Ryan Darch (Jr., 10-8, Batavia, NY)
184 -- Dustin Conti (Fr., 4-6, Jefferson, PA)
Daniel Sutherland (Fr., 4-5, North Bellmore, NY)
197 -- Brandon Contreras (Sr., 4-9, Rochester, NY)
Hwt. -- Evan Daley (Fr., 10-7, Erie, PA)

HEAD?COACH: Troy Letters (Lehigh '06, 9-14, 2nd year)
Rankings: InterMat/Amateur Wrestling News


THE MATCH STORIES

After taking a break for final exams, Edinboro returns to the mat for the first time since claiming its third straight PSAC?Championship and eighth in the last nine years. The Fighting Scots dominated the field, finishing with six champions and 172.5 total points. Bloomsburg was a distant second with 135 points. Two days earlier the Fighting Scots gave top-ranked Iowa a battle before falling to the Hawkeyes 22-19. The Fighting Scots led 13-4 before Iowa ran off wins in the next five bouts. Edinboro is 0-2 in dual meets, also losing to then eighth-ranked Virginia Tech 23-14.

The impressive three-day period boosted the Fighting Scots in the national rankings. Edinboro climbed from 15th to a tie for seventh in the latest InterMat poll. The Scots remained 15th in the USA Today/NWCA/AWN Coaches Poll. In addition, they are 12th according to WrestlingReport.com and 16th in WIN's Tournament Power Index.

Edinboro will compete in its first EWL?match at Clarion. The EWL has a new look in 2013-14 with Pittsburgh departing for the ACC and George Mason and Rider joining the conference. While a full round-robin dual meet schedule will not take place this year, the two newcomers will take part in the EWL?Tournament in March. Edinboro hosts Rider on Saturday, December 21.

The Edinboro lineup features five ranked wrestlers, led by A.J. Schopp and Mitchell Port at 133 and 141 lbs., respectively. Port finished as the runnerup at 141 lbs. at the NCAA?Division I?National Championships last March, earning All-American honors for the first time. He owns a 71-14 career ledger. Ranked second at 141 lbs., he returned to the lineup against Iowa after sitting out the Virginia Tech dual due to an injury. Schopp, another junior, also earned All-American honors a year ago with a fourth place showing at 133 lbs. He comes off an outstanding week in which he defeated top-ranked Tony Ramos of iowa 3-2, then was named the PSAC Championships Outstanding Wrestler after pinning all four of his opponents. he jumped up to second in the AWN rankings, and is third in the InterMat poll. In addition, he is fourth according to WrestlingReport.com and fifth in the WIN rankings. Schopp is 11-0 with eight falls and now has an 83-11 career ledger. two other Boro grapplers also show up in the top ten. Dave Habat (12-1, 78-19 career) shows up at third at 149 lbs. in the WIN rankings, plus seventh by AWN and WrestlingReport and eighth by InterMat. Vic Avery is eighth in the AWN rankings at 184 lbs. Kory Mines is the fifth Edinboro wrestler in the AWN and InterMat polls, ranked 17th and 19th, respectively. Heavyweight Ernest James (27th) and 157-pounder Johnny Greisheimer (31st) appear in the WrestlingReport rankings, which rank 33 wrestlers per weight class.

Vic Avery finally made his return to the Edinboro lineup in the PSAC?Championships. The redshirt sophomore was injured in his first match at the Michigan State Open and was unable to continue, also missing the Virginia Tech and Iowa duals. He was a national qualifier as a true freshman in 2011-12 before redshirting last year. Avery reached the PSAC finals with a pair of wins before aggravating his injury and sitting out the finals.

Head coach Tim Flynn has once again assembled a demanding schedule, with no fewer than five teams ranked in this week's InterMat Top 25 or USA?Today/NWCA/AWN Coaches Poll. Leading the way is top-ranked Iowa, visited McComb Fieldhouse on December 5. Using the NWCA?poll, which is a measure of dual meets, Iowa is ranked third. Pittsburgh is now up to 12th, while Virginia Tech has been ranked as high as eighth and is now 14th. The Fighting Scots will also face Rider, ranked 24th, and 25th-ranked Bloomsburg, and are also scheduled to compete in the Virginia Duals, which traditionally has several highly-ranked squads. Throw in the Midlands Championships and Edinboro's wrestlers will once again face some top talent.

A young Clarion team comes into the match with a 4-4 record, including a 21-13 loss to 18th-ranked Virginia. The Golden Eagles finished fourth at the PSAC?Championships. Head coach Troy Letters' team could start as many as five freshmen against Edinboro, led by Justin Arthur (16-3), who is ranked 18th by InterMat and 19th by AWN at 149 lbs. The group also includes Evan Daley, a freshman heavyweight from nearby Fort LeBoeuf High School.

Edinboro returns to action on Saturday, December 21 hosting EWL-newcomer Rider. The dual gets underway at 1 p.m. and will take place in the Mike S. Zafirovski Sports & Recreation Dome.

THE?COACHES
EDINBORO -- Tim Flynn (Penn State '86) is in his 17th season as the helm of the Fighting Scots. He has elevated the Edinboro program to one of the best in the country, compiling a 173-67-5 record. Edinboro has had 11 top-20 finishes and three in the top ten at the NCAA?Division I?National Championships during his tenure. He has produced three national champions and 30 All-Americans. All told, Flynn has been named the EWL?Coach of the Year five times and the PSAC?Coach of the Year 11 times.

CLARION -- Troy Letters (Lehigh '06) is in his second season in charge of the Clarion program. He has a 9-14 dual record while leading the Golden Eagles to a second place finish at the 2012 PSAC Championships and fourth this year. They were also fourth at the EWL Championships last year. He assembled one of the top recruiting classes in the country this year, including three state champions. Letters was a two-time PIAA state champion who went on to wrestle at Lehigh, where he was a three-time All-American and the national championship at 165 lbs. in 2004. He finished his career with a 115-9 record.