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No. 14 Pitt fell behind early against No. 10 ranked Edinboro, but the Panthers' middle and heavyweight wrestlers led a furious comeback, leading the team to a 25-13 road win.
The Panthers trailed early and that was to be expected. Edinboro has the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked wrestlers in the nation at 133 and 141 pounds. After Pitt freshman Dom Forys gave the team an early lead, Nick Zanetta and Travis Shaffer lost their bouts. Shaffer was pinned and that put the Panthers into a 10-3 hole.
16th ranked Mikey Racciato won at 149 pounds for Pitt, but Ronnie Garbinsky lost his bout to keep Pitt in the hole. After that, however, the Panthers rallied, winning the final five bouts. Cody Wiercioch, Troy Reaghard, No. 5 Max Thomusseit, No. 7 Nick Bonaccorsi, and John Rizzo all picked up victories and Rizzo's pin at the heavyweight class capped off the team's win.
Forys pulled off a big win to get things going. His 6-0 victory to give Pitt an early 3-0 lead was over No. 18 ranked Kory Mines for Edinboro. Thomusseit also beat a ranked opponent, knocking off No. 10 ranked Vic Avery at 184 pounds.
Pitt continues to wrestle with injuries to three starters - Tyler Wilps, Edgar Bright, and Geno Morelli. So far, though, the team is weathering the storm and to beat a Top 10 team with three starters out of the lineup is pretty impressive.
The Panthers will take on Bucknell next on Saturday at the Pete in the team's home opener.
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