The wrestling team will look a little different going into the Eastern Wrestling League tournament this weekend, after wrestle-offs over the break knocked three starters out of the lineup.

Jeff Prescott, Chad Dubin, and John Yankanich overcame their teammates to secure berths for the tournament. Also appearing for the Lions will be veterans Bob Truby (14-6-1) and Mike Bevilacqua (25-5-3), who have been out because of injuries.

Prescott got the nod at 118 after defeating freshman Shawn Nelson, 3-1 and 9-0, in the best-of-three wrestle-off. In the battle for the 134 spot, left open after Peter Horst quit, Dubin defeated Tom Barley, 2-1, 3-2. Yankanich, who has wrestled on-and-off throughout his career at 167 and 177, took the 158 starting spot from Mark Verratti with 6-5 and 10-9 decisions.

"The nice thing about wrestling is you control your own destiny," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "You can challenge for the starting spot."

One of the stronger competitors who will not see action in this tournament is Nelson (21-12), a true freshman holding a five-match winning streak.

"It's a shame because Shawn has had such a tremendous freshman year," Lorenzo said. "He's one of the best freshman I've seen since I've been here."

Last weekend, the Lions went 1-1 in EWL action, losing to Bloomsburg, 23-14, before defeating Clarion, 22-15. Penn State (15-8) has only lost two EWL matches since 1981, both coming this season.

In a crucial bout against the Huskies (16-6), Verratti was caught on his back and pinned after collecting a 11-0 lead.

"If a guy drops a pass in the endzone with a minute left, that's the game. It's the same with wrestling," Lorenzo said. "Mark was doing such a tremendous job but he made a mistake. Mark was working for the technical fall and got pinned, that swung a 11-point difference."

"I felt pretty bad for Mark, after he was kicking the crap out of that guy," 167-pounder Jason Suter said. "But that's what makes the sport so exciting. It's not over until it's over."

Suter revenged the fall of his teammate with a pin of his own. Suter came back from a 4-1 deficit before pinning Tom Socker at 4:59.

"He was out to get it," Lorenzo said. "You could see it in his face."

"I knew I had to turn things around," Suter said. "Luckily the pin came up."

But it was not enough to knock the Lions ahead, as 177-pounder Adam Mariano dropped a 7-4 decision to No. 14 Scott Brown.

"Mariano got to wrestling Brown's style," Lorenzo said.

Most of Bloomsburg wins came early on. After Nelson defeated John Supsic, 4-2, the Huskies swept Penn State from 126 to 158.

Jeff Ellis tied Bloom's Jerry Marks, 2-2, at 190.

"Ellis had to try and go for the fall," Lorenzo said. "So he wrestled a completely different match than he's used to."

In the final match, Greg Haladay edged Don Evans, 1-0.

"We deserved to lose how we wrestled," Suter said. "We wrestled flat and Bloom came ready to wrestle."

"The coaching staff was pretty irate," Lorenzo said. "You can't put this much work into in and let the win get away from you."

Mariano's pin and Suter and Prescott major decisions lead the Lions over Clarion. Verratti also came back to decision J.J. Stanbro, 4-3. Stanbro pinned Verratti earlier in the season at the Penn State Duals. Nelson was the other victorious Lion, with Ellis getting another tie.

The Eagles' Kurt Angle, top-ranked at heavyweight, defended his undefeated record (26-0-1) with a 4-2 decision over No. 5 Haladay. Steve Krouse and No. 11 Lee Todora got the best of Dubin and Barley, with scores of 9-4 and 12-3, respectively.