No. 1 Penn State tops No. 7 Iowa, 28-13, in sold-out Bryce Jordan Center to win Big Ten regular season title

Photo of heavyweight Nick Nevills of Penn State and Iowa's Sam Stoll courtesy of GoPSUSports.com
UNIVERSITY PARK — For No. 7 Iowa to topple No. 1 Penn State on Saturday night, Hawkeyes coach Tom Brands knew his team would have to “weather (a) storm.”
When that storm came, from Nittany Lions at 174 through 285, the Hawkeyes were blown away.
An NCAA indoor wrestling record crowd of 15,998, the most to ever witness an indoor Penn State sporting event, was treated to something almost as good as PSU’s win over No. 2 Ohio State a week ago in Rec Hall — a win over rival Iowa.
The Nittany Lions (13-0, 9-0 Big Ten) clinched the Big Ten dual meet championship with a 28-13 win over the No. 7 Hawkeyes (11-3, 6-3) in the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State won seven of 10 bouts and the takedown battle, 17-10.
“We started out a little slow, but the guys kind of rallied and ended up wrestling really well at the end,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “Iowa’s a tough team. Every match is a big match in this atmosphere. I think it was good to see these guys step up. We’re moving forward.”
Iowa led 13-9 after scoring a major upset at 165 and seemed to have all of the momentum. But even Brands knew danger lurked.
“It unraveled in a hurry and it was similar to Ohio State. We knew we were going to have to weather that storm and it unraveled in a hurry,” he said.
“As a matter of fact, if you want some light humor, that crowd was relentless behind us and some guy looks at me after the first one (pin) at 174 and says, ‘It’s going to be a long night.’ Then after the second one at 84 I turned around, looked at him and said, ‘It’s not going to be a long night anymore.’”
Brands was referencing back-to-back pins, in 1:00 and :50, by Mark Hall at 174 and Bo Nickal at 184, that catapulted Penn State into the lead for good, 21-13.
Penn State then closed out the match with wins at 197 and heavyweight.
Shakur Rasheed kept the crowd in a frenzy at 197. He got the call a week after Anthony Cassar had upset top-ranked Kollin Moore of Ohio State. Rasheed used four takedowns, including one in the closing seconds, and 3:52 in riding time to major No. 7 Cash Wilcke, 11-2 at 197 pounds.
“(It was) really fun, especially out there. I went to the Iowa match last year and it was crazy. It would’ve been cool to beat them there, too, but it was crazy fun, just like the atmosphere,” Shakur said. “I don’t get every match because me and Anthony have been going back and forth, so I try to make the most of it.”
Nick Nevills rebounded from his loss a week ago to NCAA, world and Olympic champion Kyle Snyder with a 3-2 decision over No. 3 Sam Stoll. An escape and takedown in the third period was the difference.
“It was good. Last week for me, everyone was super excited but I was a little bummed because it felt like I was in that match. But I just think it’s given me confidence,” Nevills said.
“I mean, I wrestled well there, wrestled well (at) Rutgers. This match, I was glad I got the win. There’s a lot of things I could work on, I don’t normally let people get away from me as quickly as this guy did tonight. Just something I can take back to the room on Monday.”
Iowa freshman 125-pounder Spencer Lee quieted a revved-up Bryce Jordan Center crowd with a quick takedown of Carson Kuhn. Then, when Lee stacked Kuhn and pinned him in 2:05, the crowd was silent.
Nittany Lion 133-pounder Corey Keener got the home crowd back into it with two first-period takedowns of Paul Glynn in what would be a 5-2 decision.
Nick Lee, Penn State’s freshman 141-pounder, tied the match for the Lions, using four takedowns in an 11-8 decision over Vince Turk.
That set up a showdown of undefeated wrestlers in No. 1 Zain Retherford of Penn State and No. 2 Brandon Sorensen. Retherford scored takedowns in the first and third periods and accumulated 3:07 in riding time in a dominating 6-2 decision.
Hawkeye second-ranked 157-pounder Michael Kemerer scored six takedowns and rolled up 3:22 in riding time to post a 14-4 major decision over Bo Pipher and vault Iowa into the lead, 10-9, at the intermission.
Coming out of the break, another pair of undefeated wrestlers took the mat. Top-ranked Nittany Lion Vincenzo Joseph met No. 7 Alex Marinelli. The pair didn’t disappoint.
Joseph scored takedowns in the first two periods to build a 5-2 lead. In the third, though, Marinelli escaped and the two went upper body, Marinelli with a body lock and Joseph with double overhooks. Marinelli won the power struggle, taking Joseph down to his back for a six-point throw. Joseph would escape, but could not penetrate Marinelli’s defenses and the Iowa freshman had knocked off the reigning NCAA champion, 9-6.
“Marinelli is, you maybe followed some of my comments this year and maybe last year. We love Marinelli. He’s what we need and he’s a workmanlike personalilty, workmanlike person who … one thing about him is he’s selfish about the team, too. He’s not just about himself,” Brands said.
“He’s bittersweet. He’s walking off that mat after shaking hands and he’s chewing on his lip. It’s hard for him to swallow, the team. I love that. I love that there’s more invested than just my own performance. He’s trying to get everybody better and he makes our team better because of that.”
The crowd, hushed by the upset loss and the deficit, didn’t stay quiet for long because, as Brands said, the momentum unraveled in a hurry from there.
“Mark came back and got six points which we needed and then Bo and Shak wrestled great and Nick got a win there. The guys did a nice job,” Sanderson said.
Brands said his team has to find a way to keep what look like mismatches more competitive.
“We have to do a better job in those situations that are mismatches on paper, that our guys don’t believe that. We can tell them that all day long and they can tell themselves that all day long, but if they don’t have a presence when they walk out there …” he said.
“For instance, at 174, Gunther felt the standing cow catcher where we were in trouble and our strength and our horsepower got us out and then we give up the takedown and then he slaps a cradle on us. So, he stopped the one thing and then you kind of freeze in the other. We’ve got to have more presence to continue to battle in there, battle like Marinelli did, like Spencer Lee did, like Kemerer did.”
Penn State closes out its dual season at 2 p.m. Feb. 18 against Buffalo.
No. 1 Penn State 28

No. 7 Iowa 13

(Saturday at University Park, Pa.)
125: No. 3 Spencer Lee, I, pinned Carson Kuhn, 2:05.
133: Corey Keener, PSU, dec. Paul Glynn, 5-2.
141: No. 8 Nick Lee, PSU, dec. Vince Turk, 11-8.
149: No. 1 Zain Retherford, PSU, dec. No. 2 Brandon Sorensen, 6-2.
157: No. 2 Michael Kemerer, I, maj. dec. Bo Pipher, 14-4.
165: No. 7 Alex Marinelli, I, dec. No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph, 9-6.
174: No. 2 Mark Hall, PSU, pinned Joey Gunther, 1:00.
184: No. 1 Bo Nickal, PSU, pinned Mitch Bowman, :50.
197: Shakur Rasheed, PSU, maj. dec. No. 7 Cash Wilcke, 11-2.
285: No. 6 Nick Nevills, PSU, dec. No. 3 Sam Stoll, 3-2.
Ridge Riley Award winner: Zain Retherford, 149 pounds.
Referee: Mike McCormick.
Attendance: 15,998.
Takedowns: Iowa 10; Penn State 17.
Penn State Notes from Pat Donghia
*  Head coach Cael Sanderson’s squad closed out its Big Ten dual slate with a strong 28-13 win over the Hawkeyes, ending the year as the conference’s lone unbeaten squad and winning the 2018 Big Ten Regular Season (Dual Meet) title outright.
* The victory moves Penn State’s dual meet win streak to 44, dating back to the 2014-15 season.
* It is also Penn State’s 25th straight Big Ten dual meet victory.
* Retherford now has 117 career wins, 14th all-time at Penn State.
* Nickal now has 13 pins this year, 38 for his career, good enough for sixth all-time at Penn State. Hall now has nine this year, 21 for his career.
* The sell-out crowd of 15,998 is the largest ever to witness an NCAA dual meet held at an indoor venue (breaking the indoor mark that Penn State held, set in the BJC on Dec. 8, 2013, against Pitt). The Nittany Lions own the top four all-time indoor attendance marks (Iowa’s 42,287 for an outdoor meet against Oklahoma State prior to a football game on 11/14/15 is the all-time record).

Iowa Notes by Christopher Brewer

• Attendance was 15,998, the third-highest attended dual in NCAA history.
• Sorensen’s 20-match win streak was snapped. He finished his career with a 33-2 career record in Big Ten duals.
• Kemerer extended his winning streak to a career-best 23 matches.
• Marinelli improved to 13-0.