The eighth-ranked Pitt-Johnstown wrestlers took advantage of three straight wins, including fifth-ranked Joey Alessandro's victory over No. 7 Chandler Minnard at 141 lbs., to open-up a 10-point lead on its way to a ( ) win over 14^th-ranked Ashland (OH) University, Saturday afternoon in the sports Center.  The Mountain Cats, who have won 12 straight matches and 27 straight in the Sports Center, improved to 5-0.
 
After splitting the first two matches, Pitt-Johnstown won the next three to build the 10-point lead.
 
Brendan Howard dealt Bryce Davis an 8-2 in the opener at 125 lbs. loss to give Pitt-Johnstown an 3-0 lead, but Ashland answered with a 2-1 decision by Luke Wymer over Matt Siszka at 133 lbs. to even it at three.
 
The Mountain Cat won the next three.  At 141 lbs., fifth-ranked Alessandro scored a 4-1 decision over No. 7 Minnard to give the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown.  Defending National Champion and top-ranked Chris Eddins followed by winning an 8-0 major decision over Carson Speelman at 149 lbs., before Corey Falleroni held off Eric Fasnacht, 6-5, to extend the lead to 13-3 midway through the match.
 
 Ashland narrowed it to 13-6 at 165 lbs. with No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Bret Romanzak's 5-2 decision over All-American Devin Austin.
 
However, Brock Biddle quickly got those points back plus one more when he dealt Chance Esmont a 16-6 major decision loss at 174 lbs.
 
Pitt-Johnstown held a 17-6 lead with three bouts remaining, and the Eagles needed to win all three they had any chance of catching the Mountain Cats.  Ashland got an 8-4 win at 184 lbs. by Daniel Beemer over Mike Geyer.
 
However, Alex Delp used a third period escape and a take down to defeat Pete Abraham, 8-5, at 197 lbs. and seal the Pitt-Johnstown victory.
 
At 285 lbs., Ashland's Tristen Wierich secured a 5-3 decision win over Tyler Oliver to set the final at 20-12.
 
With the loss, the Eagles slipped to 5-1 on the year.
 
Pitt-Johnstown travels to 2018 PSAC Championships in Kutztown next Saturday and to the Las Vegas Duals on December 17, before breaking for the Holiday season.  The Mountain Cats will wrestle their next home match on January 11 when East Stroudsburg visits the Sports Center for a PSAC dual at 7 p.m.