Good teams are able to fight through adversity and find a way to win.

For the No. 16 Penn State wrestling team, injuries have limited the time of many of its starters.

However, even with the injuries, the Lions showed their of depth, going 2-1 during the weekend.

Injuries dealt another huge blow to the Lions over the break, as the team lost senior co-captain James Woodall, likely for the entire season, with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Woodall, ranked No. 12 at 149 pounds, suffered the injury in the final seconds of the championship match at the Midlands Tournament on Dec 30. Sixth-ranked Ty Eustice of Iowa defeated Woodall, 6-5.

Hoping to prevent a lost year of eligibility, Woodall is applying to the NCAA for a medical redshirt, Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland said.

This marked the second ACL injury for the Lions this year. Redshirt freshman Tim Haas, expected to wrestle at 133 pounds, will likely also miss the entire season.

Woodall's replacement is freshman Jack Decker, who had to jump right into a tough match against No. 6 Lehigh on Friday in a televised match at Rec Hall.

Decker fought hard, but lost 7-5 to Dave Nakasone late in the match. However, Sunderland said the freshman's gritty performance lifted the "weight of the world" from Decker's shoulders.

"When you come to Penn State you think, 'Wow, Penn State wrestling,' " senior Adam Smith, ranked No. 15 at 125 pounds, said. "For freshmen, wrestling for the first time, especially against a [rival] like Lehigh, who we want to beat so bad -- I think that kind of weighed on him."

The confidence Decker gained from Friday's match seemed to carry through the weekend. He pinned West Virginia's Ted Adams in 2:54 on Sunday. Although he went on to lose his match against Pitt's Matt Kocher (No. 12), 12-7, Decker is getting a chance to step up for the team as the only wrestler at 149.

"We've asked a lot of [Decker]," Sunderland said. "He was on track for a redshirt year. But that's kind of the reason he came to Penn State -- to have the opportunity to wrestle for a Big Ten program, it just happened a little earlier."

Sunderland added that, as a true freshman, Decker will take his bumps and bruises and continue to experience the highs and lows that come with the learning process to compete in collegiate wrestling.

While Decker lost in the final seconds against Lehigh, redshirt junior Joel Edwards had no problem finishing matches over the weekend.

Last year's starter at 197 pounds, Edwards has found himself behind redshirt freshman Phil Davis, who is ranked 18th. With Davis missing time due to an ankle injury, Edwards figured heavily in the matches against Lehigh and Pittsburgh.

An unsportsmanlike conduct against Lehigh's Jon Trenge (No. 3) not only deducted a point from Lehigh's score, but also gave Edwards an individual victory and Penn State six team points. The result was a dual-meet tied 16-16 heading into the heavyweight bout -- a seven-point swing in favor of the Lions.

Then on Sunday, after not wrestling in the first match due to a West Virginia forfeit, Edwards was the deciding point of the entire dual-meet. After going up 4-1 on Pitt's Lou Thomas, Edwards found himself on his back, for nearly a minute, fighting to stay in his match and preserve a precarious six-point lead that would have been completely eliminated had Thomas got a pin fall on Edwards.

Edwards, though, was able to hold off the pin and regain the lead after giving up three points while on his back. He went on to win the bout, 12-4.

The seemingly one-sided match for Edwards against Thomas had the Lions "sweating pretty good on the bench," Sunderland said.

As the season progresses, the Lions will need to continue to battle through injuries and step up when a teammate goes down. As of now, they seem up to that challenge.

"Any time you have a significant injury like an ACL tear, with Haas and now Woodall, it's something you really can't prepare for," Sunderland said.