Boxers impressive at invitational

Penn State boxer Dave Herron peeled the white tape off of his clenched fist with the tenacity of a tiger whose paw had become caught in a trap. He shed the fist full of tape and looked up at his teammates who were already disassembling the ring inside White Building. He didn't need to say a thing. His smile said it all.

"I feel confident with the way I fought, but I have a lot of work to do on my footwork," Herron said. "I was cutting off the ring pretty well."

And most of the Penn State boxers were cutting off their respective opponents as well. Brent Becker was the first Penn State boxer in action, when he took on Willy Taylor from Virginia Military Academy at 172 pounds. Becker connected on a host of powerful right hands in the first round and never let up. He took the bout by a referee decision.

Next up for Penn State at 190 pounds was Tim Scott, who faced Lock Haven's Anthony Penecale. Scott held a decisive height and reach advantage, which he used to hit Penecale from a distance. By the second round, Penecale was bleeding from his nose and had to fight defensively.

Scott took the bout again by referee decision, but he left Penecale with more than bad memories of a loss. When Penecale left the ring he yelled out to someone in the stands, "My nose might be broke."

At the heavyweight division, Penn State suffered one of its two losses, when Rick Albright was decisioned by Shippensburg's Dennis Malley. Matt Arentz of Penn State then defeated Lock Haven's Shannon Smith at 147 pounds by a referee decision. The match was close until Smith apparently hyperextended his shoulder, forcing the bout to be stopped.

Penn State boxing club coach Bill Wrable was particularly pleased with the heart his boxers showed Saturday.

"Everyone did something I liked," Wrable said. "I liked their tenacity."

Kurt Decker gave Wrable plenty to be proud of in his bout against Lock Haven's Tom Partner at 147 pounds. Decker came out punching from the get-go, clobbering Partner into the corner. He continued to lay it on the Lock Haven boxer in the second round, and then mid-way through the round, landed a few more hard rights that knocked Partner on the seat of his shorts. The fight had to be stopped.

In the remaining matches, VMI's Ernesto Sampson handed Penn State's Lew Muccio a loss by decision, and Charlie Fisher got the best of Navy's J.J. Puga in a decision. Herron fought last and for a good reason. He's tough to take down.

"The first couple of rounds went back and forth," Herron, also in ROTC Marine Corps, said, "and the last round I tried to pour it on."

He did so, and in winning, secured the sixth bout on the evening for Penn State. Wrable was particularly pleased with the conditioning of his team, which he attributed to hard work and an attitude he says is untaught.

"I can have them do all the drills I want. They want it," Wrable said. "There's a lot of things we have to work on. We still have a long way to go."

A long way that begins next weekend, when Penn State travels to VMI.