No. 1 Penn State edges No. 2 Ohio State, 19-18, winning four of the last five bouts
Share:
by Andy Elder, Special to TheMat.com
Mark Hall of Penn State screams as he battles Bo Jordan of Ohio State at 174 pounds in a rematch of the 2017 NCAA finals. Photo by Richard Immel.
UNIVERSITY PARK — Facing long odds in a battle for collegiate wrestling supremacy, Penn State proved once again that you can never count out the Nittany Lions.
No. 1 Penn State (12-0, 8-0 Big Ten) won four of the final bouts of the night, rallying from a 15-5 deficit to stun No. 2 Ohio State (12-1, 7-1), 19-18, Saturday night in front of a raucous Rec Hall sell-out crowd of 6,699.
The Nittany Lions clinched a share of the Big Ten dual meet championship despite the Buckeyes’ 30-18 edge in takedowns.
Ohio State had built a 15-5 lead through five matches, including a pivotal tossup win at 141, which many thought had dashed the Nittany Lions’ hopes.
“I think overall our guys wrestled well. We lost some close matches. I thought they did a great job. We were down and needed a lot of points. It was a great dual. Ohio State has a really, really great team. We’ll see them again here shortly,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said.
“It’s been a strange week knowing, obviously, we’re coming into the match without (Jason) Nolf. It was a little different. These guys knew they were going to have to step it up and we were going to have to have a big match or two, like Cassar. Everyone in the Ohio State lineup is really good.”
Ohio State coach Tom Ryan gave credit where it was due, to the second half of Penn State’s lineup.
“They wrestled very well in the second half. Their good guys came back and they did a great job,” he said.
“It’s one of three battles. We have the Big Tens coming up and the NCAAs and it’s one of three battles. We have some things we need to work on. We kind of fell apart a little late in a couple matches. it looked like the nerves got to us a little bit in a couple of those matches. We have to be ready for those moments.”
Trailing 15-5 at intermission, Vincenzo Joseph pulled Penn State closer with a 12-3 major decision over Te’Shan Campbell, scoring 10 points over the final two periods.
He said the team score didn’t enter into his strategy.
“It had nothing to do with the team score. I’m going to go out and try to score as many points as I can every time. I think I did pretty well today. I was trying to push the pace and just wrestle my style today,” Joseph said.
Then, at 174 and 184, in a pair of rematches of 2017 NCAA finals matches, Penn State added two more wins to take the lead.
No. 2 Mark Hall, trailing 4-2 heading into the third, escaped, scored a takedown and rode No. 3 Bo Jordan for the rest of the period. He amassed 1:40 in riding time for another point and a 6-4 win.
Then, at 184, No. 1 Bo Nickal used three takedowns and a late turn to earn a 10-2 major decision over previously undefeated Myles Martin, 10-2.
Penn State led 16-15, but Ohio State had the nation’s top-ranked wrestlers at 197 and 285, Kollin Moore and Kyle Snyder, respectively.
Nittany Lion Anthony Cassar took down to start the third with the matched tied, 2-2. He escaped, earned a takedown and a riding-time point for a 6-3 win over Moore.
Cassar ran a lap around the mat and blew kisses to a roaring crowd.
“I don’t know what I was thinking. I was going crazy. It was just a culmination of a lot of ups and downs over the past few years. It was something I had envisioned wrestling like that and celebrating like that after a match in Rec Hall since I got here three years ago,” he said.
At 285, Nittany Lion Nick Nevills faced NCAA and Olympic champion Snyder needed to keep the match to a decision to ensure an outright win.
Nevills scored the initial takedown, and another in the second, to keep the match close. Snyder’s six takedowns fueled a 15-10 win, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a Penn State win.
Nevills had been blitzed by Snyder, 19-9, in last year’s dual.
“Kyle Snyder is a world, Olympic champion. I think last year Nevills didn’t know what to expect. But Nevills can wrestle, he’s a tough wrestler. He still got beat pretty good, right? Just under the circumstances, we’re celebrating a regular decision. That’s not usual. But Nick did a great job under the circumstances,” Sanderson said.
With a crowd that had filled the stands nearly 30 minutes ahead of the start of the meet teeming with anticipation, Boise State transfer Carson Kuhn finally made his debut for Penn State.
Although three-time All-American Nathan Tomasello would emerge with a 21-12 major decision, Kuhn showed his potential. After an initial takedown by Tomasello, Kuhn went on the offensive, scoring three takedowns, including a headlock off the edge of the mat and led 8-7 at the end of the first period. Tomasello, though, piled up 14 points over the final two periods for the win.
Ohio State picked up another, close win at 133. Second-ranked Luke Pletcher scored a couple takedowns in the first period and made them stand up in a 5-4 decision over Corey Keener.
The Buckeyes picked up a tossup win at 141, where No. 11 Joey McKenna decisioned No. 6 Nick Lee, 7-6, on the strength of 1:32 in riding time advantage. The pivotal points came late in the second period when McKenna scored a takedown at the final buzzer to tie the match at 4-4. McKenna added two escapes in the third and Lee a takedown, but no more, as McKenna held on.
That win, in what many considered a tossup and crucial to any hopes Penn State had for pulling out a victory, dimmed the Nittany Lions’ hopes.
Retherford finally got Penn State on the board at 149, but he had to overcome an early 4-1 deficit to do it. Ke-Shawn Hayes scored two first-period takedowns, but Retherford dominated from there.
“I was just thinking I needed to get up and put some points on the board. He kind of caught me off guard. The first one I thought, ‘I just got taken down.’ The second he caught me when I wasn’t really present. I went out of bounds I was thinking, whatever happened is irrelevant. I have to be present from here on. That’s what happened,” Retherford said of the early 4-1 deficit.
“It was pretty exciting. I got to see us win for in a row, that was pretty exciting. My hands are still pretty welted. I’m just proud of how the whole team competed tonight. After the break, everyone stepped up,” he said.
The Nittany Lion scored a takedown and four nearfall points in the second to build an 11-4 lead. In the third, he took top and turned Hayes twice and benefitted from two stall points and a riding time point in a 20-4 technical fall.
No. 5 Micah Jordan used 11 takedowns to roll up a 20-4 technical fall over Nolf’s replacement, Bo Pipher, to give OSU a 15-5 lead at the break.
Sanderson said he didn’t alter his approach or the team’s ahead of highly anticipated dual.
“I don’t think it’s different. Maybe the competition is better but each matchup, individuals have great opponents so I don’t think it’s much different,” he said. “It’s just be yourself and go have some fun out there and they did.”
Penn State returns to action at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Bryce Jordan Center when Iowa comes to town.
No. 1 Penn State 19, No. 2 Ohio State 18
(Saturday at University Park, Pa.)
125: No. 4 Nathan Tomasello, OSU, maj. dec. Carson Kuhn, 21-12.
133: No. 2 Luke Pletcher, OSU, dec. Corey Keener, 5-4.
141: No. 11 Joey McKenna, OSU, dec. No. 6 Nick Lee, 7-6.
149: No. 1 Zain Retherford, PSU, won by tech. fall over Ke-Shawn Hayes, 20-4 (7:00).
157: No. 5 Micah Jordan, OSU, won by tech. fall over Bo Pipher, 24-9 (6:06).
165: No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph, PSU, maj. dec. No. 14 Te’Shan Campbell, 12-3.
174: No. 2 Mark Hall, PSU, dec. No. 3 Bo Jordan, 6-4.
184: No. 1 Bo Nickal, PSU, maj. dec. No. 2 Myles Martin, 10-2.
197: Anthony Cassar, PSU, dec. No. 1 Kollin Moore, 6-3.
285: No. 1 Kyle Snyder, OSU, dec. No. 6 Nick Nevills, 15-10.
Referee: John Nath.
Takedowns: Ohio State 30; Penn State 18.
Records: Ohio State 12-1, 7-1; Penn State 12-0, 8-0.
Next match: Iowa at Penn State, 8 p.m. Saturday at Bryce Jordan Center.
Penn State Notes
From press release by Pat Donghia
* Penn State’s victory keeps its dual meet win streak alive at 43, dating back to the 2014-15 season.
* The Penn State win clinches a share of its fifth Big Ten dual crown under head coach Cael Sanderson. A win over Iowa in the sold out Bryce Jordan Center next Saturday would give Penn State the crown outright.
* It is also Penn State’s 24th straight Big Ten dual meet victory.
* Retherford now has 116 career wins, 14th all-time at Penn State.
* The crowd of 6,699 was the highest this season and is the 40th straight sellout in Rec Hall.
UNIVERSITY PARK — Facing long odds in a battle for collegiate wrestling supremacy, Penn State proved once again that you can never count out the Nittany Lions.
No. 1 Penn State (12-0, 8-0 Big Ten) won four of the final bouts of the night, rallying from a 15-5 deficit to stun No. 2 Ohio State (12-1, 7-1), 19-18, Saturday night in front of a raucous Rec Hall sell-out crowd of 6,699.
The Nittany Lions clinched a share of the Big Ten dual meet championship despite the Buckeyes’ 30-18 edge in takedowns.
Ohio State had built a 15-5 lead through five matches, including a pivotal tossup win at 141, which many thought had dashed the Nittany Lions’ hopes.
“I think overall our guys wrestled well. We lost some close matches. I thought they did a great job. We were down and needed a lot of points. It was a great dual. Ohio State has a really, really great team. We’ll see them again here shortly,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said.
“It’s been a strange week knowing, obviously, we’re coming into the match without (Jason) Nolf. It was a little different. These guys knew they were going to have to step it up and we were going to have to have a big match or two, like Cassar. Everyone in the Ohio State lineup is really good.”
Ohio State coach Tom Ryan gave credit where it was due, to the second half of Penn State’s lineup.
“They wrestled very well in the second half. Their good guys came back and they did a great job,” he said.
“It’s one of three battles. We have the Big Tens coming up and the NCAAs and it’s one of three battles. We have some things we need to work on. We kind of fell apart a little late in a couple matches. it looked like the nerves got to us a little bit in a couple of those matches. We have to be ready for those moments.”
Trailing 15-5 at intermission, Vincenzo Joseph pulled Penn State closer with a 12-3 major decision over Te’Shan Campbell, scoring 10 points over the final two periods.
He said the team score didn’t enter into his strategy.
“It had nothing to do with the team score. I’m going to go out and try to score as many points as I can every time. I think I did pretty well today. I was trying to push the pace and just wrestle my style today,” Joseph said.
Then, at 174 and 184, in a pair of rematches of 2017 NCAA finals matches, Penn State added two more wins to take the lead.
No. 2 Mark Hall, trailing 4-2 heading into the third, escaped, scored a takedown and rode No. 3 Bo Jordan for the rest of the period. He amassed 1:40 in riding time for another point and a 6-4 win.
Then, at 184, No. 1 Bo Nickal used three takedowns and a late turn to earn a 10-2 major decision over previously undefeated Myles Martin, 10-2.
Penn State led 16-15, but Ohio State had the nation’s top-ranked wrestlers at 197 and 285, Kollin Moore and Kyle Snyder, respectively.
Nittany Lion Anthony Cassar took down to start the third with the matched tied, 2-2. He escaped, earned a takedown and a riding-time point for a 6-3 win over Moore.
Cassar ran a lap around the mat and blew kisses to a roaring crowd.
“I don’t know what I was thinking. I was going crazy. It was just a culmination of a lot of ups and downs over the past few years. It was something I had envisioned wrestling like that and celebrating like that after a match in Rec Hall since I got here three years ago,” he said.
At 285, Nittany Lion Nick Nevills faced NCAA and Olympic champion Snyder needed to keep the match to a decision to ensure an outright win.
Nevills scored the initial takedown, and another in the second, to keep the match close. Snyder’s six takedowns fueled a 15-10 win, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a Penn State win.
Nevills had been blitzed by Snyder, 19-9, in last year’s dual.
“Kyle Snyder is a world, Olympic champion. I think last year Nevills didn’t know what to expect. But Nevills can wrestle, he’s a tough wrestler. He still got beat pretty good, right? Just under the circumstances, we’re celebrating a regular decision. That’s not usual. But Nick did a great job under the circumstances,” Sanderson said.
With a crowd that had filled the stands nearly 30 minutes ahead of the start of the meet teeming with anticipation, Boise State transfer Carson Kuhn finally made his debut for Penn State.
Although three-time All-American Nathan Tomasello would emerge with a 21-12 major decision, Kuhn showed his potential. After an initial takedown by Tomasello, Kuhn went on the offensive, scoring three takedowns, including a headlock off the edge of the mat and led 8-7 at the end of the first period. Tomasello, though, piled up 14 points over the final two periods for the win.
Ohio State picked up another, close win at 133. Second-ranked Luke Pletcher scored a couple takedowns in the first period and made them stand up in a 5-4 decision over Corey Keener.
The Buckeyes picked up a tossup win at 141, where No. 11 Joey McKenna decisioned No. 6 Nick Lee, 7-6, on the strength of 1:32 in riding time advantage. The pivotal points came late in the second period when McKenna scored a takedown at the final buzzer to tie the match at 4-4. McKenna added two escapes in the third and Lee a takedown, but no more, as McKenna held on.
That win, in what many considered a tossup and crucial to any hopes Penn State had for pulling out a victory, dimmed the Nittany Lions’ hopes.
Retherford finally got Penn State on the board at 149, but he had to overcome an early 4-1 deficit to do it. Ke-Shawn Hayes scored two first-period takedowns, but Retherford dominated from there.
“I was just thinking I needed to get up and put some points on the board. He kind of caught me off guard. The first one I thought, ‘I just got taken down.’ The second he caught me when I wasn’t really present. I went out of bounds I was thinking, whatever happened is irrelevant. I have to be present from here on. That’s what happened,” Retherford said of the early 4-1 deficit.
“It was pretty exciting. I got to see us win for in a row, that was pretty exciting. My hands are still pretty welted. I’m just proud of how the whole team competed tonight. After the break, everyone stepped up,” he said.
The Nittany Lion scored a takedown and four nearfall points in the second to build an 11-4 lead. In the third, he took top and turned Hayes twice and benefitted from two stall points and a riding time point in a 20-4 technical fall.
No. 5 Micah Jordan used 11 takedowns to roll up a 20-4 technical fall over Nolf’s replacement, Bo Pipher, to give OSU a 15-5 lead at the break.
Sanderson said he didn’t alter his approach or the team’s ahead of highly anticipated dual.
“I don’t think it’s different. Maybe the competition is better but each matchup, individuals have great opponents so I don’t think it’s much different,” he said. “It’s just be yourself and go have some fun out there and they did.”
Penn State returns to action at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Bryce Jordan Center when Iowa comes to town.
No. 1 Penn State 19, No. 2 Ohio State 18
(Saturday at University Park, Pa.)
125: No. 4 Nathan Tomasello, OSU, maj. dec. Carson Kuhn, 21-12.
133: No. 2 Luke Pletcher, OSU, dec. Corey Keener, 5-4.
141: No. 11 Joey McKenna, OSU, dec. No. 6 Nick Lee, 7-6.
149: No. 1 Zain Retherford, PSU, won by tech. fall over Ke-Shawn Hayes, 20-4 (7:00).
157: No. 5 Micah Jordan, OSU, won by tech. fall over Bo Pipher, 24-9 (6:06).
165: No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph, PSU, maj. dec. No. 14 Te’Shan Campbell, 12-3.
174: No. 2 Mark Hall, PSU, dec. No. 3 Bo Jordan, 6-4.
184: No. 1 Bo Nickal, PSU, maj. dec. No. 2 Myles Martin, 10-2.
197: Anthony Cassar, PSU, dec. No. 1 Kollin Moore, 6-3.
285: No. 1 Kyle Snyder, OSU, dec. No. 6 Nick Nevills, 15-10.
Referee: John Nath.
Takedowns: Ohio State 30; Penn State 18.
Records: Ohio State 12-1, 7-1; Penn State 12-0, 8-0.
Next match: Iowa at Penn State, 8 p.m. Saturday at Bryce Jordan Center.
Penn State Notes
From press release by Pat Donghia
* Penn State’s victory keeps its dual meet win streak alive at 43, dating back to the 2014-15 season.
* The Penn State win clinches a share of its fifth Big Ten dual crown under head coach Cael Sanderson. A win over Iowa in the sold out Bryce Jordan Center next Saturday would give Penn State the crown outright.
* It is also Penn State’s 24th straight Big Ten dual meet victory.
* Retherford now has 116 career wins, 14th all-time at Penn State.
* The crowd of 6,699 was the highest this season and is the 40th straight sellout in Rec Hall.
Read More#
Results of first bout of their Final X Series in all three disciplines; second matches set for 6 p.m. ET
5 Olympic and 11 World champions highlight loaded field for Final X, the 2023 Beat the Streets Annual Benefit
Fix, Gray star as finals set in women’s and men’s freestyle at World Team Trials Challenge Tournament
World Team Trials Challenge Greco-Roman Preview: World medalists Coon, Kikiniou headline field, which includes six Olympians
