Going into Friday night's heavyweight bout, the No. 6 wrestling team was trailing Eastern Wrestling League leader, Lock Haven, 17-16. All the presure was on Penn State's Marc Padwe.

After two periods of no scoring, Padwe escaped against one of the Eagles' top wrestlers, Kenny Walker (19-11-1), four seconds into the third period. Another point gained for riding time secured Padwe's and Penn State's victory. The victory also gave Padwe the Ridge Riley award, given each home meet to the Lions' best performance.

The 19-17 victory over Lock Haven placed the Lions (16-5-1, 4-1 EWL) into a first place tie with West Virginia and dropped the Eagles to second place.

Penn State went on to easily defeat Lehigh (2-11) Saturday night, 27-10. With no pressure on Padwe, he looked sluggish in his 3-2 loss to John Morris (9-7-2).

"Usually when the pressure's on I perform well, it psychs me up. (Against Lock Haven) it's the same thing," Padwe said. "I have to stay 100 percent focused for seven minutes. I wish I could get myself wrestling focused all the time, sometimes it just doesn't happen."

Padwe came through under pressure earlier this season, when he tied with No. 4 Kirk Mammen of Oklahoma State and defeated No. 8 John Oostendorp of Iowa to secure Penn State victories in the National Team Championship.

The weekend matches also saw the return of two starters, Dave Hart (167) and Matt White (177). The two sophomores, who boast records of 18-5-1 and 20-3-2, respectively, have been out for weeks due to injuries. Hart pinned Lehigh's Adam Smith at 4:42, smashing any hopes the Engineers might have entertained of an upset. It was the Lions' only pin of the weekend, and also earned Hart the Ridge Riley award.

White decisioned Jason Rocker (12-15-1) of Lock Haven and Andy Fitz (8-15) of Lehigh.

"It feels nice to be back," White said. "It's tough to watch the team wrestle without me. I was a little bit rusty, I was trying to rush everything."

Penn State's Jeff Prescott (13-0), ranked No. 1 at 118, missed the week-end matches because he was recovering from the flu. Also absent was tri-captain Tim Wittman (18-5) at 150, who was out with a shoulder injury.

Wrestling in Prescott's place was freshman John Evans, who was also ill. Evans struggled this weekend, losing by technical fall to Lock Haven's Brian Slates (17-19) and by a major decision to Lehigh's Scott Hill, 19-7.

Bob Truby (28-4) defended his No. 3 ranking with two victories at 126. Truby's opponents were called for stalling five times collectively, and he had trouble scoring on them.

Chad Dubin (15-14-1) split matches at 134, losing 12-6 to Shannyn Gillespie (28-10-1) Friday night before taking a 5-2 decision over the Engineers' Sam Dollyhigh (12-13-1).

Bryan Zeamer (9-17) fought two exciting matches, but came up short in both. In a flurry of action Friday night against Lock Haven's Mike Lightner (12-11), Zeamer was able to chip away at a 4-0 deficit to lead 8-7 in the final period. With three seconds left, Lightner reversed him and scored another point on riding time for a 10-8 victory.

"He found out too late in the match that the guy isn't any better than he is," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "The fact that he's a young freshman he tends to doubt himself a little bit."

Zeamer rode Lehigh's Chris O'Byrne (1-11) the whole third period but wasn't able to turn him on a few opportunities. O'Byrne came out with a 10-7 victory.

Troy Sunderland (25-2-1), ranked second at 142, scored the Lions' two victories at 150 this weekend.

Jason Suter (21-7) defeated Lock Haven's Bryan Wenner (13-10), 5-1, and won by forfeit against Lehigh.

At 190, Fred Koberlein and Mike Kraft split time. Koberlein (3-12) lost to Lock Haven's Dale Budd (16-10-1), 12-3, and Kraft (8-17-1) defeated Cliff Chapman (3-4) of Lehigh.

"I just have to start finishing my shots," Koberlein said.

Even with the victories, Lorenzo wasn't particularly pleased with the effort of the team.

"I didn't think we were sharp," Lorenzo said. "We were a little sluggish. We're not where I want to be. We have to have everyone in there, focusing towards EWLs and nationals."