Jan. 25, 2012
Contact: Tim Ertle
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CLEVELAND STATE PROBABLES:
125 - Ben Willeford (So. - Baton Rouge, La.)
133 - Nick Flannery (So. - Framingham, Mass.)
141 - Josh Palivoda (Sr. - Raymond, Ohio)
149 - Lawrence Cavello (Sr. - Willard, Ohio)
157 - Tanner Lemon (Fr. - Canton, Ohio) OR Brandon Sommers (So. - Macedonia, Ohio)
165 - Corey Carlo (Jr. - Fairview Park, Ohio)
174 - Aric Thurn (Jr. - Clyde, Ohio)
184 - Corbin Boone (So. - Holt, Mich.)
197 - Nick Anthony (Jr. - Fairborn, Ohio)
285 - Garry Yarborogh (Fr. - Garfield Heights, Ohio)
SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State (6-9, 0-1 EWL) will host a home dual and wrestle against a league foe for the first time since Dec. 11 when No. 20 Edinboro (6-2, 2-0 EWL) visits Woodling Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 28). Both teams enter Saturday riding the high of a winning streak: CSU rattled off three straight wins at the George Mason Patriot Duals on Jan. 14 while Edinboro has won two in a row, defeating Old Dominion 23-16 on Jan. 14 and Lock Haven 28-6 last Friday (Jan. 20). Prior to Saturday's match, Edinboro will host 14-4 Bloomsburg on Friday night.
LAST TIME ON THE MAT: The Vikings snapped a five-match losing skid and swept their three opponents at the George Mason Patriot Duals on Jan. 14. CSU beat VMI 22-15 and Davidson 31-6 before finishing off the host Patriots 25-12. Nine different Vikings won at least two matches, highlighted by Corey Carlo's 3-0 mark at 165 pounds. Corey Carlo went 3-0 at 165 pounds and the following wrestlers all won two bouts: Ben Willeford (125), Nick Flannery (133), Mike Mencini (149), Brandon Sommers (157), Aric Thurn (174), Robert Blankenship (184), Nick Anthony (197) and Garry Yarborogh (285) .
ABOUT EDINBORO: Both Edinboro losses have come at the hands of nationally-ranked teams. The Fighting Scots fell to Kent State back on Nov. 22 when the Golden Flashes were ranked No. 23. On Jan. 14, Edinboro fell to No. 9 Missouri 19-16.
EDINBORO PROBABLES: The Fighting Scots starting lineup features eight underclassmen.
125: Kory Mines (R-Fr., 13-12)
133: No. 6 A.J. Schopp (R-Fr., 29-3)
141: No. 17 Mitchell Port (R-Fr., 21-6)
149: No. 6: Dave Habat (R-Fr., 29-5)
157: Casey Fuller (Fr., 18-15)
165: Jesse Swink (Fr., 7-8)
174: Chris Hrunka (Sr., 15-12)
184: Vic Avery (Fr., 18-10)
197: Chris Honeycutt (Sr., 29-0)
285: Ernest James (So., 24-8)
THE SERIES: Edinboro leads the all-time series 21-5 and has won six consecutive matches with Cleveland State. The Vikings last beat Edinboro, 22-20, on Feb. 11, 2005.
TOUGH TESTS: The nine teams that have defeated CSU have a combined record of 81-42 in duals, and the Vikings have only lost to two teams with a record below .500: 6-7 Northern Illinois and 8-12 Campbell. Pitt (11-1) and Kent State (9-4) are both ranked in the top-25 and Old Dominion (10-7), Eastern Michigan (11-4), Appalachian State (8-3) and Chattanooga (9-3) are all ranked in the Mid-Major poll.
PIN IT TO WIN IT: With five dual meet pins, 133-pounder Nick Flannery is one off the current school record shared by Tony DiGiovanni (1973-74, 1975-76) and Tim Payne (1978-79). The CSU sophomore has eight pins on the season, six shy of Matt Ghaffari's school record of 14 in 1983-84.
BUSY WEEK IN THE EWL: Three league matches will take place this weekend. Lock Haven (0-2) will travel to West Virginia (1-1) and Bloomsburg (1-1) will visit Edinboro (2-0) on Friday night before the Fighting Scots come to Cleveland on Saturday to battle the 0-1 Vikings.
THE UNDERCARD: Prior to the Cleveland State/Edinboro match on Saturday night, a youth match between clubs from Shaker Heights and Medina will be held at 5:30 p.m.
UP NEXT: After Saturday, the Vikings have three straight Eastern Wrestling League matches away from Woodling Gymnasium on the horizon. The Vikings will visit Lock Haven (Feb. 3), Bloomsburg (Feb. 4) and Clarion (Feb. 11) before the regular season concludes with a home meet against West Virginia on Feb. 19 when seniors Lawrence Cavello and Josh Palivoda will be honored on Senior Day.
The head coach: Ben Stehura (Lock Haven '00)
At Cleveland State: 15-52 (four years) ... Overall: 41-102-1 (eight years)
THE STEHURA FILE: Ben Stehura is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Viking wrestling program, and has recruited a talented group of young wrestlers that expect to make noise in the Eastern Wrestling League this year. Stehura has a history of developing young talent, as he has coached seven NCAA qualifiers, three NCAA All-Americans and two Olympic alternates over the past seven years. Stehura joined CSU in 2008 after building a successful program at Limestone in Gaffney, S.C. The first head coach in Limestone's history, Stehura took the team from three wins his first year to 13 in 2007-2008. Stehura will use his experience with coaching a young program to lead the Vikings during the 2011-12 season, working to improve in EWL competition and continuing the history and tradition of CSU wrestling.
