Two Eastern Wrestling League rivalries mark the end of the regular season for the wrestling team this weekend.

Penn State (14-7), which dropped to No. 11 in the latest Amateur Wrestling News, will head east to challenge No. 17 Bloomsburg (15-6) at 7:30 tonight. The Lions will then move on to Clarion to meet the No. 20 Golden Eagles (14-9) at 3 p.m. Sunday.

"Bloomsburg is going to be a very difficult test for us," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "They're loaded in the first five weight classes. Clarion is doing a nice job too. They have no gimme weights."

Indeed, Bloomsburg puts out some vicious competition in the lighter weights. Tony Reed (19-4-2) is ranked No. 4 at 134 pounds and Dave Kennedy (26-2) is No. 5 at 126. Chad Dubin (13-12), filling in for injured Bob Truby, will face Reed for the Lions. Jeff Prescott, No. 14 in the latest rankings, will battle Kennedy.

"They're pretty much favored over us in the lighter weights," Lorenzo said. "That doesn't mean we're going to give it to them at those classes."

Bloomsburg also has some power in the upperweights, namely Scott Brown (21-5) at 177. This bout should be one of the main events of the night, as the No. 14 Husky takes on freshman Adam Mariano (18-7-2), who just cracked into the rankings at No. 20.

The Clarion match promises to hold some feature matches also. The Eagles boast Kurt Angle, top-ranked at heavyweight, who will defend his undefeated record (25-0-1) against No. 5 Greg Haladay.

At 142, Tom Barley (9-9-1) will meet Clarion's other ranked wrestler, No. 11 Lee Todora (33-7). At 190, 12th-ranked Joe Rozanc (24-9-1) will meet Jeff Ellis.

Tim Wittman (5-8), coming off a strong weekend against Lock Haven and Lehigh, will face Eagles' captain Brian Burk (22-7-1).

"We have to pull some upsets where their kids are strong," Lorenzo said.

"As far as we're concerned they're in the EWL. After the letdown with West Virginia (a 20-13 loss two weeks ago) we're all fired up," 158-pounder Mark Verratti said.

Verratti has his own reason to be fired up. During a match against Clarion earlier this year, Verratti got into a fluke situation and pinned himself, although neither wrestler was in control.

"I'm definitely looking to revenge that match," he said.

Lorenzo said he has been working the team hard during practice to prepare for the postseason tournament. Jason Suter, the Lions' 167-pounder, said the team is feeling the effects.

"Practice has been really tough," he said. "We all have been sore and tired."

Verratti said some teammates have adopted a new attitude.

"We're tired of being down," he said. "Myself and Tim Wittman have been doing a lot of talking about what we're doing wrong and we mentally turned things around."

Both Verratti and Wittman went undefeated last weekend. Shawn Nelson, the freshman 118-pounder, is another wrestler who seems to be peaking. Nelson (19-12), broke into the Top 20 at No. 17. Nelson will wrestle John Supsic (15-6) from Bloomsburg and Erik Burnett (24-9-1) from Clarion.

"The whole year we had different lessons pointed out to us," Verratti said. "Now we're a lot more prepared."