Three Penn State wrestlers pinned their opponents to lead the wrestling team to a 30-9 victory at Lehigh on Saturday. The Lions also trampled Lock Haven in the Eagles' backyard on Friday night, 27-9.

Freshmen Shawn Nelson and Adam Mariano and junior Jason Suter, recorded falls against the Engineers to rack up 18 team points. Jeff Prescott ended his match early on Friday night, using a fireman's carry to pin the Eagles' Bobby Jackson.

"We saw a lot more positive things this weekend," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "For the most part the guys were very aggressive, very intense, good concentration and kept control of their matches."

"It was great," Prescott said. "We fought hard in both matches."

As expected, Lock Haven's fans came out in force, packing the stands to standing room only, with people sitting on the floor.

Nelson ran all over the Eagles' Brian Slates, 13-1, garnering four team points, and Prescott's pin at 2:02 quickly silenced the fans.

Tom Barley, a walk-on freshman, hung tough against one of the premier 134-pounders in the nation, Mike Lingenfelter (33-4-1). Lingenfelter, however, came out on top with a 6-4 decision. Barley came back Saturday to defeat Sam Dollyhigh, 3-0.

Chad Dubin, a walk-on filling in for Peter Horst, who quit the team last Wednesday, and injured Mike Bevilacqua, lost to Mike Cox, 6-3, on Friday but scored a takedown with 12 seconds left on Saturday to come out in front of Jason Hackett, 4-3.

"(Dubin and Barley) both fought really well and were right in their matches," Lorenzo said. "They've been giving us a heck of an effort and we couldn't ask for anything more."

At 150 and 158, Tim Wittman and Mark Verratti, who have come out on the short end lately, turned their luck around by both going 2-0 this weekend. Both wrestlers also gained major decisions against Lock Haven.

Lorenzo said Suter and Mariano looked a little flat on Friday but came back with fire on Saturday to record back-to-back pins. On Friday, Suter hung on for a 5-2 win over Ron Coffel and Mariano was upset by Dale Budd, 4-0.

"I was kind of upset at my performance in the first match," Mariano said. "My concentration wasn't there."

Against Lock Haven, 190-pounder Jeff Ellis and heavyweight Greg Haladay defeated brothers Larry and Kenny Walker by scores of 1-0 and 3-0, respectively.

Against Lehigh, Ellis fought a tough battle against top-ranked Matt Ruppel. Ruppel stayed undefeated (26-0-1) with a 10-4 win over Ellis.

Against the Engineers, the Lions were unhappy with a few of the referee's calls.

In a push-pull heavyweight match, No. 5 Greg Haladay was upset by John Morris, 5-4, by a last-second takedown that ended out-of-bounds. Lorenzo contended that Morris did not have control when the wrestlers went off the mat. Lorenzo, however, believes Haladay should have never been in a position to lose.

"We lost to Morris on a very controversial call but we also allowed Morris to stay in the match too long," Lorenzo said. "Greg's too worried about losing that's he's being a little bit tentative. I think (assistant coach) John Fritz said it best when he said, 'Neither wrestler deserved to win that match.' "

At 126, Prescott was ahead of John Epperly, a two-time All-American, after a five-point move. It was 8-5 going into the third period before Prescott was penalized one-point for an illegal hold after he forced a chicken wing. He gave another point away on a questionable stalling call with 27 seconds left, and was also the victim of a controversial takedown. The final score was 15-12 in favor of Epperly.

"In that match there were three very crucial calls, three wrong calls," Lorenzo said.

"The stalling call was bull," Prescott said. "I did all the work. He also gave him two points for a takedown he never had. It was a terrible call."