LOCK HAVEN — Matt Town USA was on full display on Saturday, as the Lock Haven Bald Eagles played host to the No.17 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers.

After scoring a few upset wins early on, the Bald Eagles had the Thomas Fieldhouse alight. But a late surge from WVU quieted the crowd as the Mountaineers escaped hostile territory with a 21-15 team victory.

Before the match could get underway, there were some pre-game accolades to hand out, as not only was it senior day at the Haven, but there were also two wrestlers in Wyatt Henson and Avery Bassett who were recognised pre-game. Both wrestlers recently eclipsed 100-career wins, Henson’s coming in the Bald Eagles last match at Kent State, and Bassett’s coming in a win against Edinboro.

Saturday’s contest got started at 174 pounds as two nationally ranked wrestlers squared off. On the Haven side it was No.32 ranked Bassett, and on the other side No.14 Brody Conley.

Despite being the underdog, Bassett got off to a fast start, taking down Conley within the first ten seconds and jumping out to an early 3-0 lead. After the great start, Bassett kept pressing his momentum, scoring multiple takedowns throughout the match and scoring a 12-5 decision victory.

Following Bassett, it was the Haven’s Sammy Gautreau who looked to get an upset win of his own, matching up against the No.17 ranked Ian Bush. Gautreau would keep the positive momentum rolling, earning an early takedown of his own and dethroning Bush in a 14-8 decision win, a win which caused the crowd to roar in response.

A 2-0 decision victory by Lock Haven’s Tucker Hogan at 197 pounds made the team score 9-0 in favor of the Haven, as the idea of an upset became more and more real with each passing moment.

But when the Mountaineers needed a win, they got two in emphatic fashion. WVU heavyweight Brock Kehler won in overtime against Kade Sotolano, 4-1, before Louie Gill beat LHU’s Curtis Nelson 11-6.

Gill at multiple points nearly had Nelson via pin, and was in the territory of a major decision.

But a late takedown by Nelson at the end of the third kept the team score at 9-6 in favor of the Haven. Then, a quick pin by West Virginia’s No. 18 ranked Gunner Andrick over Sean Logue gave the Mountaineers a 12-9 lead.

Decision victories from No. 24 Wyatt Henson, and No. 23 ranked Lucas Kapusta gave the Bald Eagles the lead back 15-12, meaning the matches at 157 and 165 would be the deciding duals.

It was a bit of a surprise to start at 157 for WVU, as normal wrestler No. 5 ranked Ty Watters, who weighed in at 157 pounds, was nowhere to be seen. Instead it was Cole Evans, a freshman, who would go for the Mountaineers against Lock Haven’s Chase Burke.

Burke wrestled well, but fell by major decision in a 9-0 loss to Evans. Making everything come down to the matchup at 165 pounds, with WVU holding a 16-15 lead.

Then shockingly, it was Watters who was announced wrestling at 165. It seems that the Mountaineers head coach Tim Flynn, knowing it would come down to the last match, opted to hold Watters till the end in hopes he could close things out.

Watters, who has not wrestled at 165 pounds ever in his career, slammed the door shut on the Haven’s upset hopes, winning via technical fall and closing out the team score with West Virginia winning 21-15.

Despite the loss, there were many positive takeaways Lock Haven head coach Scott Moore had, noting how huge their individual wins were going into MAC Championships.

“We won the matchups we needed to win.” Moore said, “We put ourselves in a much better position as a program moving forward, and for allocations for national rankings. It’s tough to not win the dual, but we won everything we came for tonight. So I’m very pleased with the performance. It’s exactly where we want to be, if we wrestle like this at MAC’s, we should be in a great spot to repeat.”

Next up for the Bald Eagles, it will be the MAC championship tournament, as after finishing the regular season second in the MAC East standings, they will travel to the University of Buffalo in a few weeks time in hopes to defend their MAC title. The MAC Championships will start in two weeks time on Friday, March 6.