The wrestling team closed 1988 by defeating Edinboro and Lehigh in dual-meet competition and placing fourth in the 26th annual Midlands Tournament.

Against Edinboro, heavyweight Greg Haladay pinned Martin Buzas in the second period to break a 19-19 tie and clinch the victory for the Lions.

Jason Suter scored a controversial takedown against Frank Zelinsky in the 167-pound bout, putting the Lions ahead, 14-13.

"That's all I had on my mind -- to shoot, set something up and take him down for the two and the win," Suter said.

"The Edinboro coaches didn't think it was a takedown, however, we felt it was, and that it wasn't different than any of the other calls that he (the referee) had given on those takedowns," Assistant Coach John Fritz said. "I think it was consistent with the way he called them."

Edinboro Coach Mike DeAnna, however, was not in agreement.

"What I think about that (Zelinsky) decision you can't print in your paper," DeAnne said.

"We knew it was going to be a battle and it turned out to be just that," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "We felt if we could get to 90 and heavyweight, we were capable of scoring big points there and we were going to go for it."

Jim Martin was the Lions' biggest scorer in the Lehigh match, in which the Lions maintained the lead throughout and easily defeated the Engineers, 22-13.

Jeff Prescott began the match with a 9-4 win over Ed Regan, followed by Martin, who came through with a technical fall over Rick Hartmann and five team points to put Penn State on top, 8-0. Freshman Troy Sunderland substituted for a sick Mike Bevilacqua at 150 and defeated Lane Pendleton, 4-1.

Martin won the Lions' only individual title at the Midlands, defeating Iowa's Tom Brands, 3-2, for his second straight title. Brands drew with Martin during a dual meet at Rec Hall earlier in December.