Bernd's two pins lead wrestling to weekend split at Duquesne

A ray of light fell on the wrestling team last weekend at Duquesne. Just when everything seemed to be bleak, the future got brighter.

The Tigers solidly defeated Waynesburg, 29-18, and just narrowly lost to Duquesne, 19-18. Things have started to come together, just in time for the end-of-season tournaments.

"We didn't wrestle at our total best but there were definite bright spots," junior Jeff Bernd said.

The brightest of those spots may have been Princeton's victory over Waynesburg. The Tigers swept five consecutive weight classes with Bernd, sophomore Albert Pendleton, freshman Greg Parker, junior Scott Pasquini and sophomore Anthony DeBartolo winning the 149-, 157-, 165-, 174- and 184-lb. divisions, respectively.

"The guys have developed," head coach Mike New said. "We're starting to come into our own."

Another highlight of the weekend was that four of the six Princeton matches not won by pin or forfeit were decided by seven points or more. Pendleton, Parker and Pasquini defeated their Waynesburg opponents 11-2, 16-1 and 23-8, respectively. Freshman John Knorring defeated his Duquesne opponent, 8-1.

"We have a saying on the team that when you do well, you're 'feeling the flow,' " Knorring said, "and I was feeling it out there."

Bernd was the shining star of the individual performers, pinning both his opponents. He defeated Erick Glass of Duquesne at the two-minute, 53-second mark and Matt Owen of Waynesburg at 4:36, with his first pins of the year.

"I lucked out," Bernd said. "It wasn't me so much as them."

New disagrees, however, attributing Bernd's outstanding performance to practice and experience.

"We had some great wrestlers and some good wrestlers and Bernd just wrestled awesome," New said. "He's getting the feel for his skills and talents. He needs to wrestle with his feelings."

For Bernd, focusing on those skills meant retracing his wrestling moves back to his high school days.

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"I used the same stuff [at Duquesne] that I used in high school," Bernd said. "It's always good when the old stuff works again."

DeBartolo also experienced some things reminiscent of his younger years. The Pennsylvania native competed in front of his family for the first time since making the jump to college wrestling.

His family got to see a win. The 184-pounder defeated Steve Kinley of Waynesburg, 3-2.

The loss to Duquesne was one of the only dark spots for Princeton. The Dukes opened with a win at the 125-lb. spot, followed by Knorring's big victory for the Tigers. The two teams rotated wins from there until the 197- and 285-lb. bouts, both of which Duquesne won.

"We should've won two [matches,]" New said. "That's the level we're on. We wrestled well, but not tough."

Still, New has a positive outlook.

"We've got guys who can wrestle," New said.