The third-ranked Pitt-Johnstown wrestlers stormed back from a 17-3 deficit to win the final four bouts, including No. 1-ranked Isaiah Vance's major decision victory in the final match of the night, to lift the Mountain Cats to an 18-17 victory at No. 19 West Liberty in the 2025 dual meet opener, Wednesday night.
 
The Hilltopppers won the first three bouts to open up an 11-0 advantage, before ninth-ranked Matt Sarbo picked up a 15-9 Sudden victory 2 win over Anthony Wood at 149 lbs. to get Pitt-Johnstown on the scoreboard.
 
West Liberty answered with back-to-back decision wins from Nico Taddy over Cooper Warshel at 157 lbs. and Bodie Morgan over Gavyn Beck at 165 lbs. to push the lead out to 17-3 with just four matches remaining.
 
However, the Mountain Cats answered the called.  At 174 lbs., Trent Hoover held off Carter Winegardner, 3-1, and sixth-ranked Noah Gnibus followed with 16-13 decision over Devon Bell to cut it to 17-9.
 
The Mountain Cats then used Brad Morrison's 19-4 technical fall at 6:21 over Gabe Blissenbach at 197 lbs. to make it 17-14, before Vance dealt No. 12 Parker Bentley a convincing 10-2 major decision loss to cap the comeback and lift the Mountain Cats to the one-point win.
 
Pitt-Johnstown will host No. 16 Ashland (OH) in its home debut on Nov. 21 and Shippensburg on Dec. 5 to begin the PSAC schedule.  Both matches are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. in the Sports Center.