Edinboro Match Notes
 
Edinboro Lineup  
125 -- #17/#18 Kory Mines (R-Sr., 25-6, 80-53, Bedford, Ohio/Maple Heights)
133 -- Anthony Rivera (R-Fr., 3-11, 3-11, Mardela Springs, Md./Parkside)
141 -- #2/#2 Mitchell Port (R-Sr., 27-0, 123-15, Bellefonte, Pa./Bellefonte Area)
149 -- #1/#1 Dave Habat (R-Sr., 26-1, 126-25, Parma, Ohio/St. Ignatius)
157 -- Kasey Burnett-Davis (R-Sr., 11-10, 63-47, Meadville, Pa./Meadville) OR Chase Delande (R-So., 9-7, 30-12, Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard-Davidson) 
165 -- Casey Fuller (R-Jr., 14-12, 43-44, Hamlin, Pa./Western Wayne) OR Ty Schoffstall (R-Fr., 15-6, 15-6, Pottsville, Pa./Tri-Valley)         
174 -- Patrick Jennings (R-Jr., 24-8, 49-45, Ridge, N.Y./Longwood)               
184 -- #13/#16 Vic Avery  (R-Jr., 22-6, 71-28, Foxboro, Mass./Foxboro) 
197 -- Vince Pickett  (Jr.,13-13, 56-39, Galloway, Ohio/Central Crossing)
Hwt. -- Warren Bosch (R-Jr., 13-15, 29-36, Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park)       
 
HEAD COACH:  Tim Flynn (Penn State '87, 195-72-5, 18th year)
Rankings:  InterMat/Flowrestling


George Mason Patriots Probable Lineup  
125 -- Open
133 -- Vince Rodriguez (R-Jr., 10-10, Fresno, Calif./Clovis North)
141 -- Sahid Kargbo (Jr., 9-10, Alexandria, Va./Hayfield)
149 -- Blake Roulo (R-Jr., 3-7, Petersburg, Va./Univ. at Buffalo)
157 -- Greg Flournoy (R-Jr., 17-8, Rappahannock County, Va./Fauquier)
165 -- Patrick Davis (So.,  5-10, Bridgeville, Del./North Carolina State)
174 -- Ryan Forrest (R-So., 8-10, Reston, Va./South Lakes)
184 -- Ryan Hembury (Sr., 2-5, Muncy, Pa./Muncy)
197 -- Matt Meadows (Jr., 8-12, Medina, Ohio/Cuyohoga Valley Christian Academy)
Hwt. -- Jake Kettler (R-Sr., 20-8, Anoka, Minn./Anoka)
 
HEAD?COACH:  Joe Russell (Minnesota '92, 23-53, 4th year


The Match Stories
 
Edinboro hits the road once again for an Eastern Wrestling League match after winning back-to-back matches last week at Rider and Bloomsburg. The Fighting Scots travel to Virginia for the second time in 2014-15, this time to face George Mason. The Patriots joined the EWL a year ago along with Rider, but this will mark the first meeting as EWL opponents since there was not a round-robin schedule in place. Edinboro comes in with an 11-4 record and has won three straight matches. The Fighting Scots are 4-0 in the EWL and can clinch a tie for the EWL regular season title with a win at George Mason. The Fighting Scots are ranked ninth in the latest InterMat Tournament Rankings and 15th in the NWCA/USA?Today Division I?Coaches Poll. The Patriots are 7-8 overall and 2-2 in the EWL.   

Head coach Tim Flynn is making do with a patched-up lineup that will once again be missing two top-ten wrestlers. All told, three starters are missing. Edinboro has been without Austin Matthews at 157 lbs. for two months and the Clarion transfer remains out indefinitely.  Zach Towers is once again out of the lineup at 174 lbs. The Fighting Scots were dealt another blow when A.J. Schopp went down at the Midlands Championships. Ranked number one at 133 lbs. entering the tournament, he was injured in his consolation semifinal match. He was able to finish the match but did not wrestle in the third place match. Schopp, who is 15-1 and ranked as high as second by Flowrestling, is out indefinitely.

Edinboro currently has seven wrestlers showing up in the various national rankings. The rankings include the WrestlingReport.com rankings which ranks 33 wrestlers per weight class. Dave Habat has moved to the head of the class at 149 lbs., as the redshirt senior is ranked first by InterMat, Flowrestling, Amateur Wrestling News, and WrestlingReport.com. Mitchell Port remains second at 141 lbs..  A.J. Schopp, who had been the consensus number one at 133 lbs., is now ranked second by Flowrestling and The Open Mat and third in almost every other poll.  Newcomer Austin Matthews, a transfer from Clarion, has been ranked as high as fifth at 157 lbs., but after missing almost two months due to an injury he has been removed from all of the rankings except WIN?(14th). Vic Avery is ranked as high as ninth by WIN at 184 lbs. Kory Mines continued to move up the 125 lb. rankings and is now as high as 14th according to WrestlingReport.com.  Patrick Jennings is 31st at 174 lbs. in the WrestlingReport.com rankings.

Edinboro comes off the finest season in school history. The 2013-14 Fighting Scots finished with an 11-3 record, winning the EWL and PSAC?Championships. Seven national qualifiers then combined to help Edinboro finish fifth at the NCAA?Division I?National Championships, the highest finish in school history. Three Fighting Scots earned All-American honors -- A.J. Schopp (133 lbs.) and Mitchell Port (141 lbs.) for the second time and Dave Habat (149 lbs.) for the first time. Port placed third with Schopp and Habat coming in fourth.

Edinboro's season-opening lineup featured five returning national qualifiers, along with a sixth in Clarion transfer Austin Matthews. Leading the way are All-Americans Mitchell Port, A.J. Schopp, and Dave Habat. Port earned All-American honors for the second time at 141 lbs. with a third place finish, while Schopp is also a two-time All-American after coming in fourth last year at 133 lbs. Habat earned his first All-American certificate with a fourth place finish at 149 lbs. Kory Mines made his first appearance at Nationals last year at 125 lbs. Matthews earned a trip to Nationals for the first time while wrestling at Clarion. He competed at 157 lbs.  

Head coach Tim Flynn has always liked to challenge his squad, and this year is no exception. The Pittsburgh match was the first of a very difficult dual schedule for the Fighting Scots. Using the USA?Today/NWCA?Division I?Coaches Poll, Edinboro has already faced six teams in the top 25. Rider was ranked 25th last week but fell out after losing to the Scots. Edinboro has wins over 11th-ranked Lehigh and 16th-ranked Michigan while dropping matches to sixth-ranked Cornell, 12th-ranked Virginia, 13th-ranked Pittsburgh, and 19th-ranked Old Dominion. On the horizon is a meeting with fourth-ranked Ohio State. The Buckeyes will visit McComb Fieldhouse for a first round match in the NWCA?Cliff Keen National Duals on February 15. Throw in matches against Kent State, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, and West Virginia, plus the other four EWL opponents, and the Scots will be battle-tested by March.
 
THE GEORGE MASON SERIES
EDINBORO LEADS 1-0  
The Fighting Scots and Patriots met for the first and only time at the Hershey Duals during the 2010-11 season. Edinboro would prevail 34-9.
 
LAST MEETING
2010-11:  EDINBORO 34, GEORGE MASON 9 -- The Fighting Scots won eight of the ten bouts, with five coming via bonus points. Ernest James capped the victory with a fall at heavyweight, while Eric Morrill (133), Vinny Pisani (141), Matt Laird (165), and Chris Hrunka (174) won by major decision.

THE COACHES
EDINBORO -- Tim Flynn (Penn State '86) is in his 18th season as the helm of the Fighting Scots.  He has elevated the Edinboro program to one of the best in the country, compiling a 195-72-5 record.  Edinboro has had 12 top-20 finishes and four in the top ten at the NCAA Division I National Championships during his tenure.  He has produced three national champions and 33 All-Americans.  All told, Flynn has been named the EWL Coach of the Year six times and the PSAC Coach of the Year 12 times. Last year Flynn captured nearly every Coach of the Year award, including being named the NWCA/NCAA Division I Coach of the Year, WIN's Dan Gable Coach of the Year, and was InterMat's Co-Coach of the Year along with Minnesota's J Robinson.
 
GEORGE MASON -- Joe Russell (Minnesota '92) is in his fourth season as the head coach at George Mason. During that period he has compiled a 23-53 record.  He arrived in Fairfax, Va. following an outstanding career as an assistant at the University of Minnesota. Russell has assisted in coaching three NCAA championship teams, 11 individual national champions, six Big Ten title teams, 31 individual conference champions and 84 All-America honorees while a member of the University of Minnesota wrestling staff.
 
SCOUTING GEORGE MASON
The Patriots come in with a 7-8 record and are 2-2 in EWL action.  They own wins over Cleveland State  (19-12) and Clarion (29-9) while losing to Lock Haven (31-6) and Rider (25-13).  The only other common opponent with Edinboro is Virginia. The Cavaliers defeated George Mason 34-6. The Patriots come in having lost three straight matches, including the loss to Rider and a 29-6 loss to North Carolina last Sunday. The Patriots are led by heavyweight Jake Kettler. The redshirt senior wrestled at Minnesota as a freshman.  He was an NCAA?qualifier in 2013 after finishing second at the CAA Championships. Kettler comes in with a 20-8 record. Greg Flournoy has a 17-8 record at 157 lbs. and was named the EWL?Wrestler of the Week this past week. A redshirt junior, he was 20-13 last year and third at the EWL?Championships.  Sahid Kargbo led team in wins a year ago (22-12) and was third at the EWL Championships while competing at 141 lbs. He has a 9-10 record. Vince Rodriguez was a national qualifier as a freshman in 2012 after placing second at the CAA Championships. He is 10-10 at 133 lbs.  Blake Roulo (3-7), the starter at 149 lbs., is a transfer from the University at Buffalo who was an NCAA qualifier at UB in 2013 after going 2013. He finished second at the MAC championships both years at UB.