Pitzer's performance pushes Gavin to put him in for postseason
After the biggest tournament of his life, which ended with a runner-up finish at the prestigious Ken Kraft Midlands, the Pitt coaching staff had to track down Dayton Pitzer for the medal ceremony.
They found the true freshman heavyweight outside the main gym.
“He was doing stand-ups in the hallway,” Pitt coach Keith Gavin recalled. “He was like, ‘I can’t get ridden like that.’ ”
That kind of mental approach, combined with the on-the-mat performance that saw him beat two national qualifiers and two All-Americans – including the returning NCAA runner-up – showed the Pitt staff that Pitzer is ready to compete in the postseason, even if he is often giving up 50 or 60 pounds plus years of experience to his opponents.
Gavin will pull Pitzer’s redshirt and the freshman heavyweight will compete in the postseason. … Almost definitely.
The rule that allows wrestlers to participate in up to five competitions for their team and still maintain their redshirt gives Gavin some flexibility. So, if Pitt leads by two points going into the final bout of the Backyard Brawl on Sunday, Pitzer will take the mat. If the Panthers are up by seven, he might not.
“I think he’s ready to compete this year, even though he’s undersized,” Gavin said after Pitzer went 4-1 and beat two of Intermat’s top-10 heavyweights. “I still want to be smart with him and be smart as to when he wrestles certain dual meets. What if we wrestle all five and he gets hurt?”
That, of course, is a worst-case scenario that would burn Pitzer’s redshirt and still keep him out of the postseason. But his run through the Midlands bracket has many national pundits talking about his bright future. He beat national qualifier Tyrie Houghton of N.C. State 7-3, then majored No. 27 Michael Wolfgram of West Virginia 10-0.
His 4-0 win over top-seeded Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State opened plenty of eyes, as he dominated last year’s NCAA runner-up, riding him for more than three minutes and scoring a reversal despite giving up about 60 pounds to Schultz. By the end, Schultz looked broken.
Pitzer then pulled out a dramatic victory over No. 10 Trent Hillger of Wisconsin. Hillger led 2-1 late in the match and was in the top position when Pitzer reached back from a crab ride position and pinned the two-time All-American.
“I think he surprised a lot of people,” Gavin said. “He didn’t surprise us so much because we’ve seen him do that quite a bit. He can wrestle through positions really well. We’re just proud of his effort and the way that he competes as a freshman. We’re excited for what we’ve got there, and I think the sky’s the limit.”
Pitzer lost 4-0 to Northwestern’s Lucas Davison in the championship match. A former 197-pounder, Davison presents a glimpse at what the Panthers hope Pitzer will grow into physically.
Pitzer got in deep on a shot on Davison but couldn’t capitalize, and the Wildcat cradled him. Somehow, Pitzer avoided being turned, but he was unable to escape from him, which is what led to the post-tournament drilling session in the hallway.
“That’s the best part about him,” Gavin said. “He’s very level-headed. He’s a very mature competitor. He really wants to be great.”
Pitzer’s performance was outstanding, but there is also room for improvement. He didn’t score a takedown in his final three matches of the tournament, the defensive fall against Hillger probably isn’t something that will be replicated often, and he probably should have been looking for an escape against Davison instead of trying for a reversal in several instances.
Still, Gavin was happy with what he saw from Pitzer, and was quick to point out that there’s plenty of time to improve before the postseason.
“You can get a lot better from now until March,” Gavin said. “We’ve seen that before. Cole (Matthews) lost to (C.J. Composto) from Penn at Midlands last year and was fifth in the country by the end of it.”
While the national spotlight was shining on him this past week, Gavin doesn’t expect that to be an issue for Pitzer, who knows what he needs to do.
“He still needs to get better,” Gavin said. “You’ve got to ignore that hype and focus on getting better. The same people that will hype you up will criticize you when you lose.”