No. 1 Penn State Wrestling was tested by No. 6 Ohio State from the onset, but the Nittany Lions proved why they are the No. 1 team in the nation by winning the dual 28-9.
Tom Ryan had the Buckeyes ready to wrestle and they had a lot of energy in their matches. To Ohio State, this was their biggest dual meet of the year.
Meanwhile, for Penn State, it was just another day at the office.
So let’s take a look at how the exciting dual meet unfolded.
Now onto the action!
The dual started out at 125 where Braeden “BFK” Davis had his hands full with Vinny Kilkeary. Late in the third period Davis was clinging to a 4-3 lead after being dinged with his second stall call of the match.
Kilkeary got in deep on Davis and threw him to the mat. The ensuing scramble was crazy and it appeared Kilkeary got the takedown as time expired however the referee never called it.
After a brief official review, the referee stated the call on the mat stood and Davis survived the 4-3 decision win.
Next up at 133, Aaron Nagao was also in trouble against Nic Bouzakis. After giving up three first period takedowns, Nagao was only down 11-7 with less than a minute remaining.
Unfortunately the deficit was too large to overcome in the short time and Nagao dropped the match 13-7.
The dual was knotted at 3-3 after the first two matches and it looked like Ohio State came out super motivated.
While I did not predict a loss from Nagao, why not be wrong again? Because I also did not predict Beau to take down Jesse Mendez. But that’s what happened in sudden victory after he was awarded an extremely quick danger count and Bartlett took home the 4-1 decision win.
So far on the night I’ve noticed two things, Ohio State is bringing it to Penn State and the officiating has been extremely inconsistent.
Next at 149, Tyler Kasak continued to impress with a masterful performance against Dylan D’Emilio. The true freshman looked like a four year starter as he turned D’Emilio for two near fall points in the second period and took him to the mat for a takedown to slam the door shut.
Kasak’s 7-2 decision win opened up the Nittany Lion’s lead to 9-3 with six matches left in the dual.
Levi Haines punched the clock in his bout against Isaac Wilcox. The No. 1 ranked sophomore put in a workman-like effort with three takedowns and almost two minutes of riding time in the 11-3 major decision.
It was the first bonus points on the night for Penn State Wrestling, but something tells me the won’t be the last. And at the midway point in the dual, the Nittany Lions led 13-3 with the hammers coming up.
At 165, Mitchell Mesenbrink brought the fight to Bryce Hepner with two first period takedowns. He then added a reversal in the second period and pulled through with the 10-4 decision win. But Hepner did make him work for it.
Carter Starocci also had a fight in his match at 174 with true freshman Rocco Welsh.
Starocci snagged a first period takedown and it looked like he might be on his way to an easy win. But as this match played out, that would not be the case. Although it could be said that Welsh should have been called at least two other times for stalling, but whatever.
In the end Carter held onto to take the 4-2 decision and the Nittany Lions extended their lead to 19-3 on the night.
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Next up at 184, Bernie Truax was on cruise control through the first period and early into the second. But as the two wrestlers were scrambling on the far end of the mat, Rogotzke stunned Truax, turned him, and got his shoulders to the mat for the fall.
The packed Rec Hall crowd was in complete silence. And with the fall, the Buckeyes cut the lead to 19-9 with only two matches remaining.
The good news was that Aaron Brooks was next in action and the Nittany Lion faithful were loud and back on their feet during his 22-6 technical fall win.
With one match left Penn State was on top 24-9.
Greg Kerkvliet kept the momentum going with an early takedown in the first period and ride out Feldman.
Kerk added an escape and another takedown in the second period and he took a 7-0 lead going into the final frame.
Greg piled on another takedown and he cruised to the 12-0 major decision.
The end result wasn’t what a lot of Penn State fans would have expected, but the Nittany Lions did what they needed to do to beat the Buckeyes 28-9.
Next week Penn State travels to Iowa City to take on the No. 2 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. The dual meet is set to begin at 9:00pm EST and will air nationally on the Big Ten Network.
No. 1 Penn State Wrestling 28, No. 6 Ohio State 9
125 – No. 3 Braeden Davis (PSU) dec. over Vinny Kilkeary (OSU) 4-3, OSU 0 PSU 3
133 – No. 12 Nic Bouzakis (OSU) dec. over No. 5 Aaron Nagao (PSU) 13-7, OSU 3 PSU 3
141 – No. 2 Beau Bartlett (PSU) dec. over No. 3 Jesse Mendez (OSU) 4-1 SV, OSU 3 PSU 6
149 – No. 12 Tyler Kasak (PSU) dec. over No. 9 Dylan D’Emilio (OSU) 7-2, OSU 3 PSU 9
157 – No. 1 Levi Haines (PSU) major dec. over No. 29 Isaac Wilcox (OSU) 11-3, OSU 3 PSU 13
165 – No. 7 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) dec. over No. 20 Bryce Hepner (OSU) 10-4, OSU 3 PSU 16
174 – No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) dec. over No. 11 Rocco Welsh (OSU) 4-2, OSU 3 PSU 19
184 – Ryder Rogotzke (OSU) fall over No. 5 Bernie Truax (PSU) 3:50, OSU 9 PSU 19
197 – No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) tech. fall over No. 22 Luke Geog (OSU) 22-6, OSU 9 PSU 24
285 – No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) major dec. over No. 12 Nick Feldman (OSU) 12-0, OSU 9 PSU 28
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Education: Penn State University
Location: State College, PA
Even though he had no prior journalism experience, Chris has now covered Penn State Wrestling and Penn State Football for the past three years, including as the Penn State Wrestling Beat Writer for VictoryBellRings.com, part of the FanSided network.
And it's clear he also likes constant torture as he's been a PSU Basketball fan for way too long.
Several years back, Chris made the seamless transition from PGA Professional to computer programmer and thoroughly enjoys following and writing about all things related to Penn State sports during his spare time.