Fifteen seconds into his last match Sunday, 126-pounder Jeff Prescott was on his back with Maryland's Keith Burgess threatening to pin him.

But seven minutes later Prescott's hand was raised after coming back from a 5-0 deficit to win, 11-7, adding three team points in Penn State's 31-5 victory over the Terrapins.

"It (being put on his back) fired me up," Prescott said. "I didn't think he was going to pin me, I just had to concentrate on getting out and relaxing. The crowd helped me a lot."

The impressive comeback earned Prescott the Ridge Riley Award, given to the most outstanding wrestler of the match. Prescott also had exciting victories in the Lions' thrashings of Navy, 28-9, on Saturday and North Carolina State, 26-8, on Sunday.

The Maryland match was not the only time that Prescott fought off his back. Last year, Prescott was ruled ineligible to participate in dual meets because of academic problems in both the spring and fall semesters. He has since come back to post an impressive 8-2-1 record, losing only to last year's 118-pound NCAA runnerup Doug Wyland of North Carolina and No. 7 Shawn Charles of Arizona State. Prescott tied No. 6 Chris Bollin of Oklahoma.

The academic probation, however, was a tough time for Prescott, as both a wrestler and a person.

"I learned a lesson when I became ineligible," he said. "I paid for it, literally. I lost my scholarship.

"I can't thank (Coach Rich) Lorenzo enough," he continued. "I was told that I was one of the bad kids on the block but he stuck with me and I can't thank him enough. I don't ever want to let him down again. For that part, I don't want to let my parents, my teammates, or the fans down again either."

Although Prescott was allowed to wrestle in practice, he missed going against top competition from other teams, something which Lorenzo said affected him greatly.

"It definitely hurt him," Lorenzo said. "He missed a lot of competition. The thing that hurt the most was the technical things. His attitude is still good, he's aggressive, he's a heck of a competitor that gives over a 100 percent effort."

"I need to work on a lot of technical stuff that needs to be brought out of the rubbish," Prescott agreed.

For most of the past year Prescott has wrestled against just his teammates -- excluding a few tournaments in which he wrestled unattached. Prescott said the time away from different competition increased his desire to get back on the team.

Prescott's desire showed in his match against N.C. State's Clayton Grice. The sophomore battled Grice (9-7-1) in one of the most exciting matches of the weekend, with Prescott's determination giving him a third-period escape for the 6-5 win.

On Saturday, Prescott easily handled one of the Midshipmen's top wrestlers, Mark Smith (17-3), gaining an impressive 11-4 victory.

"I was sort of counting on our 126 match," said a disappointed Navy coach Reg Wicks.

But it was the Maryland match that stood out. Prescott went in early for a double-leg takedown but Burgess caught him off balance and threw him to his back with a headlock. For a few seconds, Prescott was dangerously close to having his match ended abruptly by Burgess.

"If I would've been pinned (assistant coach) Hachiro (Oishi) would have had me doing bridges all week," Prescott joked.

Prescott, however, worked behind Burgess for a two-point reversal, but Burgess refused to be controlled and managed an escape to make the score 6-2. Prescott scored four points in the last 23 seconds of the the first period, executing an ankle pick and following up with a tilt for two near-fall points and a 6-6 tie.

Prescott started down in the second period, but quickly reversed Burgess to take the lead, 8-6. Although Burgess did not score in the period, he threatened to reverse on a number of occasions.

In the third period Burgess managed an escape to close the gap to 8-7. Prescott put Burgess in a front headlock and when his opponent started to spin, Prescott shrugged him by for takedown with 10 seconds left. Riding time gave Prescott his final point, making it 11-7.

"Jeff is a very aggressive wrestler," Lorenzo said. "He always has been. That's why we recruited him."

In the hard-fought match against Grice, Prescott's determination gave him the win. Going into the third period, the score was tied at 5-5 after Prescott and Grice traded takedowns and escapes in a mad flurry of wrestling in the first period.

Prescott kept attempting to stand up, but Grice would catch Prescott's leg and bring him back to the mat.

"My coach told me to try and ride him to get riding time," Grice said. "I wanted to let him up."

"It was frustrating," Prescott said. "A lot of guys do that, try to hold on and keep it close."

Finally Prescott was able to spin quickly enough to keep his leg away from Grice and escape for the point. Prescott was able to effectively counter Grice's last-second pancake to win, 6-5.

Prescott, however, wasn't satisfied with his wrestling over the weekend.

"I felt I was in low gear. I couldn't get out of it," he said. "I know I could have wrestled better."

"Prescott can be one of the best in the country," Lorenzo said. "He really has the fight and the desire."