FEATURE: Penn State closes with 7 straight, including Nickal pin, to beat Oklahoma State for NWCA National Duals title
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by Roger Moore, Special to TheMat.com
Penn State's Bo Nickal points to the crowd after pinning Nolan Boyd at 184 pounds during Penn State's win over Oklahoma State. Photo by Austin Bernard.
STILLWATER, Okla – Oklahoma State got the start it needed to beat Penn State. But the powerful Nittany Lions showed its ability to finish, winning seven straight matches to beat the Cowboys, 27-13, on Sunday afternoon in front of a Gallagher-Iba Arena record 14,059.
PSU (14-0) won three close matches – 149, 174, and 197 – but proved much better in their four other victories, including Bo Nickal’s 38-second pin of Nolan Boyd at 184 pounds that put the visitors up 21-13 and all but secured the title of NWCA National Duals Championship Series champions for 2017.
“It was a lot of fun, a lot of energy. A big time match-up. We enjoyed it,” said PSU head coach Cael Sanderson. “Our guys wrestled well.”
The big hostile crowd is nothing new to the Nittany Lions, who won at Iowa and Ohio State this season in front of similar numbers. NCAA champions in five of the last six seasons showed no panic on Sunday and also proved once again that the current entertainment value of collegiate wrestling is high.
“We have a product that is fun to watch and (OSU) has a great team,” Sanderson said. “There is a lot of great wrestlers out there right now, a lot of exciting wrestlers style-wise, so it’s entertaining and people are showing up right now in college wrestling.”
A run of seven straight started with NCAA champion Zain Retherford’s razor-thin 2-1 victory over Anthony Collica at 149 pounds. Retherford (19-0) rode out the second period, but was warned twice over the two minutes for failure to return Collica (17-2) to the mat after the Cowboy senior reached his feet a number of times. A third-period escape was the difference in the PSU junior’s 86th win in 89 collegiate matches.
PSU, winners over OSU in State College in the 2016 NWCA National Duals finals, then flexed its muscles when Jason Nolf (19-0) hammered Joe Smith, 24-9, for a technical fall at 157 pounds; rookie Vincenzo Joseph (14-3) dominated Chandler Rogers, 12-4, at 165 pounds; and Mark Hall (24-2) countered a Kyle Crutchmer shot late for a decisive third-period takedown and a 3-1 decision. After trailing 13-0, the Nittany Lions suddenly led 15-13.
Nickal (18-0) then silenced the GIA crowd with the pin, not unlike his trip to Iowa City where he pinned Sam Brooks in the first period to break open that dual.
“We are always excited to get to go out and compete in front of large crowds with knowledgeable fan bases; that’s what I look forward too,” said Nickal, who countered a Boyd single leg shot with a cradle and ended things quickly. “It was an awesome environment. It was rough starting out with Nick (Suriano) getting injured but we knew we had a lot of points to be scored.
“We are all about scoring points and you have to look at it like there are 10 matches to wrestle. Losing the first three, we didn’t like the way we started, but this team can score a lot of points and we things were going to be fine.”
“It just kind of looked like we were a team that tried instead of doing,” said OSU head coach John Smith. “It didn’t appear that when things got critical we had the confidence that we were going to get it done. Some of the scores were a little bit lopsided because we didn’t quite look like we believed that we could win.”
PSU’s Matt McCutcheon (15-3) choked away OSU’s final breath with two takedowns late to beat Preston Weigel, 4-3, at 197 pounds. Nick Nevills (16-2) fashioned the final score with a 10-5 win over the 208-pound Derek White in the final bout.
Rookie 125-pounder Nick Suriano injured an ankle during a second period scramble with Nick Piccininni and could not continue in the dual’s opener. Kaid Brock (23-1) followed with a convincing 17-6 major decision over George Carpenter at 133 pounds to put the hosts up 10-0. NCAA champion Dean Heil (24-0) then made like Harry Houdini yet again during a wild 3-2 win over Jimmy Gulibon at 141 pounds, nearly getting caught for neutral position falls in the second and third periods.
“We didn’t want to be down 13-0, but it showed what this team is made of,” Sanderson said. “The next seven have to show up.”
It was a tough day for the Cowboys, who started the season ranked No. 1, but will head to the Big 12 Conference Championships March 4-5 in Tulsa, Okla., as the second-ranked squad behind the Nittany Lions.
PSU heads to the Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind., March 4-5.
“The big stuff is still in front of us,” Nickal added. “We want to win every time we step on the mat, in duals or tournaments. The fun part is just getting started.”
#2 Penn State 27, #1 Oklahoma State 13
125-Nick Piccininni (O) by injury default over Nick Suriano, 3:34
133-Kaid Brock (O) major decision George Carpenter, 17-6
141-Dean Heil (O) decision Jimmy Gulibon, 3-2
149-Zain Retherford (P) decision Anthony Collica, 2-1
157-Jason Nolf (P) technical fall Joe Smith, 24-9 (7:00)
165-Vincenzo Joseph (P) major decision Chandler Rogers, 12-4
174-Mark Hall (P) decision Kyle Crutchmer, 3-1
184-Bo Nickal (P) pin Nolan Boyd, :38
197-Matt McCutcheon (P) decision Preston Weigel, 4-3
285-Nick Nevills (P) decision Derek White, 10-5
STILLWATER, Okla – Oklahoma State got the start it needed to beat Penn State. But the powerful Nittany Lions showed its ability to finish, winning seven straight matches to beat the Cowboys, 27-13, on Sunday afternoon in front of a Gallagher-Iba Arena record 14,059.
PSU (14-0) won three close matches – 149, 174, and 197 – but proved much better in their four other victories, including Bo Nickal’s 38-second pin of Nolan Boyd at 184 pounds that put the visitors up 21-13 and all but secured the title of NWCA National Duals Championship Series champions for 2017.
“It was a lot of fun, a lot of energy. A big time match-up. We enjoyed it,” said PSU head coach Cael Sanderson. “Our guys wrestled well.”
The big hostile crowd is nothing new to the Nittany Lions, who won at Iowa and Ohio State this season in front of similar numbers. NCAA champions in five of the last six seasons showed no panic on Sunday and also proved once again that the current entertainment value of collegiate wrestling is high.
“We have a product that is fun to watch and (OSU) has a great team,” Sanderson said. “There is a lot of great wrestlers out there right now, a lot of exciting wrestlers style-wise, so it’s entertaining and people are showing up right now in college wrestling.”
A run of seven straight started with NCAA champion Zain Retherford’s razor-thin 2-1 victory over Anthony Collica at 149 pounds. Retherford (19-0) rode out the second period, but was warned twice over the two minutes for failure to return Collica (17-2) to the mat after the Cowboy senior reached his feet a number of times. A third-period escape was the difference in the PSU junior’s 86th win in 89 collegiate matches.
PSU, winners over OSU in State College in the 2016 NWCA National Duals finals, then flexed its muscles when Jason Nolf (19-0) hammered Joe Smith, 24-9, for a technical fall at 157 pounds; rookie Vincenzo Joseph (14-3) dominated Chandler Rogers, 12-4, at 165 pounds; and Mark Hall (24-2) countered a Kyle Crutchmer shot late for a decisive third-period takedown and a 3-1 decision. After trailing 13-0, the Nittany Lions suddenly led 15-13.
Nickal (18-0) then silenced the GIA crowd with the pin, not unlike his trip to Iowa City where he pinned Sam Brooks in the first period to break open that dual.
“We are always excited to get to go out and compete in front of large crowds with knowledgeable fan bases; that’s what I look forward too,” said Nickal, who countered a Boyd single leg shot with a cradle and ended things quickly. “It was an awesome environment. It was rough starting out with Nick (Suriano) getting injured but we knew we had a lot of points to be scored.
“We are all about scoring points and you have to look at it like there are 10 matches to wrestle. Losing the first three, we didn’t like the way we started, but this team can score a lot of points and we things were going to be fine.”
“It just kind of looked like we were a team that tried instead of doing,” said OSU head coach John Smith. “It didn’t appear that when things got critical we had the confidence that we were going to get it done. Some of the scores were a little bit lopsided because we didn’t quite look like we believed that we could win.”
PSU’s Matt McCutcheon (15-3) choked away OSU’s final breath with two takedowns late to beat Preston Weigel, 4-3, at 197 pounds. Nick Nevills (16-2) fashioned the final score with a 10-5 win over the 208-pound Derek White in the final bout.
Rookie 125-pounder Nick Suriano injured an ankle during a second period scramble with Nick Piccininni and could not continue in the dual’s opener. Kaid Brock (23-1) followed with a convincing 17-6 major decision over George Carpenter at 133 pounds to put the hosts up 10-0. NCAA champion Dean Heil (24-0) then made like Harry Houdini yet again during a wild 3-2 win over Jimmy Gulibon at 141 pounds, nearly getting caught for neutral position falls in the second and third periods.
“We didn’t want to be down 13-0, but it showed what this team is made of,” Sanderson said. “The next seven have to show up.”
It was a tough day for the Cowboys, who started the season ranked No. 1, but will head to the Big 12 Conference Championships March 4-5 in Tulsa, Okla., as the second-ranked squad behind the Nittany Lions.
PSU heads to the Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind., March 4-5.
“The big stuff is still in front of us,” Nickal added. “We want to win every time we step on the mat, in duals or tournaments. The fun part is just getting started.”
#2 Penn State 27, #1 Oklahoma State 13
125-Nick Piccininni (O) by injury default over Nick Suriano, 3:34
133-Kaid Brock (O) major decision George Carpenter, 17-6
141-Dean Heil (O) decision Jimmy Gulibon, 3-2
149-Zain Retherford (P) decision Anthony Collica, 2-1
157-Jason Nolf (P) technical fall Joe Smith, 24-9 (7:00)
165-Vincenzo Joseph (P) major decision Chandler Rogers, 12-4
174-Mark Hall (P) decision Kyle Crutchmer, 3-1
184-Bo Nickal (P) pin Nolan Boyd, :38
197-Matt McCutcheon (P) decision Preston Weigel, 4-3
285-Nick Nevills (P) decision Derek White, 10-5
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