He sat in the stands, like the 2,463 other wrestling fans in the Red Hall last night, and watched Lock Haven beat the Lions, 20-14.

He couldn't sit on the Lions bench. His friends were there, but he is no longer a part of their team.

He didn't sit on the Lock Haven bench. He is enrolled in school there, but cannot wrestle until January.

Cary Kolat sat in the stands, not knowing who to root for, watching his friends wrestle his teammates.

"It's really weird," Kolat said. "I rooted for Lock Haven some matches, some matches I didn't root. It's just real weird."

Sanshiro Abe was equally taken aback.

"It was real weird," Abe said. "We were teammates and roommates, and he was a best friend of mine."

But the days of Shawn Nelson, Abe, Kolat, John Hughes and Russ Hughes forming their own murderers' row in the middle of Penn State's lineup are gone. Coach John Fritz now sends out a minimum of four freshman and several other inexperienced wrestlers every match.

Bad breaks seem to follow the current Lions around. Last night, those breaks came in the form of the officiating.

"I just feel the referee took it away from us," Fritz said. "The calls at 158 (pounds) were the most frustrating."

At that weight, freshman Glenn Pritzlaff lost a heartbreaking 4-2 decision to senior Scott Goodale. In the final minute, Pritzlaff seemed assured of match-tying takedowns twice. To the dismay of Pritzlaff, Fritz, and the Lions' fans, no points were awarded.

"I'm not going to blame it on the officiating," Pritzlaff said.

Fritz was not as forgiving.

"Pritzlaff had two takedowns and didn't get one of them," he said. "You have to say that was the difference. It's very frustrating."

The controversial calls continued. In the next match, Matt Hardy was very close to a match-winning takedown against Kemal Pegram when time expired. Again, no points were awarded.

It was a little more than Fritz could take. He verbally tore into the referee, and was slapped with a unsportsmanlike-conduct call. The call carries a one team-point penalty.

"I'm real upset and I know I really showed it out there," Fritz said. "A lot of frustrating things have been happening lately. That worked against me and my stress level is up right now."

Fritz's blood pressure wasn't nearly as high last season when he had a guaranteed three -- maybe six -- points in his lineup from Kolat. And although the team sorely misses the two-time NCAA place winner, Fritz harbors no bitterness toward his former star.

"He came over after the match and said 'Hey, good match,' and laughed, and I said 'I'm not shaking your hand. You're the enemy now,' " Fritz joked.

Enemy or not, Kolat's days of glory in a Nittany Lion singlet are over. He is a Bald Eagle now, no matter where his allegiance lies.

"I'm proud that I went (to Penn State)," Kolat said. "I still root for the football team and the wrestling team. I'm not ashamed of anything I've done."