Chris Eddins (141 lbs.), Tyler Reinhart (174 lbs.), and D.J. Sims (285 lbs.) all won by fall to lift the sixth-ranked Pitt-Johnstown wrestlers to a 37-3 season-opening victory over No. 23 LIU-Post, Sunday morning at the Drexel Dragons' Duals in Philadelphia.  In the process, Head Coach Pat Pecora earned his 570 victory to take over sole possession of second-place on the career wins list among all coaches in all divisions.
 
Pecora entered the season tied with Olivet (MI) College's Jake Kline (1968-2001) with 569 wins.  He now stands in second-place alone, 47 victories shy of tying Oregon State University's Dale Thomas (1957-1990), college wrestling's all-time wins leader.
 
Pitt-Johnstown won the first three bouts on its way to winning nine of the ten bouts.
 
The Mountain Cats opened with a 10-6 decision from Sam Holandez at 125 lbs. and a 9-0 win by Noah Burkhart over Joe Paterno at 133 lbs., before Eddins, ranked fifth at 141 lbs., pinned Danny Espiniera at 6:04 to give Pitt-Johnstown a 12-0 advantage.
 
 LIU-Post got its lone win at 149 lbs. with ninth-ranked Joe Calderone's 5-3 decision over Dorey Falleroni.
 
However, Pitt-Johnstown responded by winning the final six bouts.  Second-ranked Cody Law held off T.J. Fabian, 5-3, at 157 lbs. and 11^th-ranked Devin Austin won a 4-1 decision over Jackson Mordente at 165 lbs.
 
The Mountain Cats increased the lead to 24-3 when second-ranked Tyler Reinhart pinned Dan Akrow at 1:31 in the 174-lb. bout.
 
At 184 lbs., Steve Edwards scored an 11-1 major decision over Dan McClure, and 12^th-ranked Levi Niebauer defeated Bobby Pease, 9-2, to make it 31-3 with one match remaining.
 
Pitt-Johnstown closed it out 37-3 victory with another fall.  This time, 11^th-ranked D.J. Sims got a first period fall at 2:50 Gregg Hodulick.
 
The Mountain Cats will make their 2017-18 home-debut against West Liberty (WV) University on Thursday, before hosting Kutztown University to open the PSAC portion of the schedule on November 17. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the Sports Center.