Didn’t See That One Coming
The No. 7 Penn State wrestling team could relax a little bit as the took on No. 8 Oklahoma State last Sunday. Coming off a close, hard-fought loss against No. 1 Iowa, they’d faced some of the best wrestlers in the country and Oklahoma State was no number one.
To everyone’s surprise, Penn State fell behind in the match and ended up with an 18-21 loss. The Nittany Lions probably didn’t have this relaxed mindset going into Sunday’s dual, but the fans sure did feel a bit more secure facing a team that was closer to Penn State in the rankings.
Jordan Conaway came close to an opening Penn State win but gave up three key back points that led to his 7-8 loss. Once again Jimmy Gulibon won big at 133 lbs. with a pin (3:32) to help Penn State take a 6-3 lead.
Redshirt freshman Kade Moss fell to a heartbreaking 5-8 loss to Oklahoma State’s No. 15 Deal Heil in a tiebreaker round. Heil reversed Moss at the start of the period, cut him loose, then countered a Moss takedown attempt to finish a hard fought match and tie the team score 6-6.
Zack Beitz answered with a huge upset win over Oklahoma State’s No. 4 senior Josh Kindig. After a scoreless first period, Beitz chose down to start the second and immediately reversed Kindig to his back and got the pin just 17 seconds into the period. The Lions led the Cowboys 12-6.
But not for long, Dylan Alton returned to his spot at 157 lbs. after taking a few weeks off resting his shoulder and couldn’t keep up with the Cowboys’ No. 18 Anthony Collica. Alton kept the match close in the first period, but slipped up in the second giving up a stalling point, four takedowns and three near fall points. Collica added four more takedowns in the third and an extra riding point to clinch the tech fall at 24-9.
Following the bonus point blow, redshirt freshman Garret Hammond faced No. 1 Alex Dieringer at 165 lbs. Hammond limited the damage to a 4-14 major decision loss and ended the first half of the match with Penn State trailing 12-15.
Matt Brown started the second half with a nail-biting decision win in sudden victory over Oklahoma State’s No. 11 Kyle Crutchmer. Brown missed the finish in a few takedowns throughout the match but kept a steady lead. He was caught off guard towards the end of the third when Crutchmer clinched a late takedown and sent the match into sudden victory. Brown then worked for a takedown in SV and won the match 9-7, once again tied the team score 15-15.
Matt McCutcheon fell to a 0-4 loss at 184 lbs. and gave the Cowboys the upper hand (15-18) heading into the duals final two matches. Morgan McIntosh tied up the team score one more time at 18-18 with a 6-1 over Luke Bean. It all came down to the heavyweights.
Senior Jon Gingrich started the bout with an early takedown, which Cowboy No. 5 Austin Marsden then replied with two escapes to tie the bout 2-2. In sudden victory, Oklahoma State challenged a no takedown call after Marsden countered Gingrich’s attempt at a low single. The call stood and the bout moved into a tiebreaker. Marsden chose down to start and was awarded a reversal, which Penn State challenged. No luck, the call stood and Gingrich was down 2-4. He then escaped to make the score 3-4 and worked in on a single leg but ran out of time to finish and that’s the end of that.
No one really saw it coming, but Penn State fell to the Cowboys 18-21.
BOUT BY BOUT:
125: OSU #9 Eddie Klimara dec. PSU #8 Jordan Conaway PSU, 8-7
133: PSU #5 Jimmy Gulibon pinned OSU Gary Wayne Harding OSU, 3:32
141: OSU #15 Dean Heil tiebreaker dec. PSU Kade Moss, 8-5
149: PSU #18 Zack Beitz pinned OSU #4 Josh Kindig, 3:17
157: OSU #18 Anthony Collica tech fall PSU #8 Dylan Alton, 24-9
165: OSU #1 Alex Dieringer maj. dec. PSU #18 Garett Hammond, 14-4
174: PSU #2 Matt Brown sudden-victory dec. OSU #11 Kyle Crutchmer, 9-7
184: OSU #18 Nolan Boyd dec. PSU #19 Matt McCutcheon, 4-0
197: PSU #4 Morgan McIntosh dec. OSU Luke Bean, 6-1
285: OSU #5 Austin Marsden tiebreaker dec. PSU Jon Gingrich, 4-3
The Nittany Lions’ now have an overall record of 10-4, 6-3 in the Big Ten. This Sunday, February 22, they finish their regular season in Rec Hall with senior day celebrations as they take on Rider.
(All statistics courtesy of gopsusports.com)
To everyone’s surprise, Penn State fell behind in the match and ended up with an 18-21 loss. The Nittany Lions probably didn’t have this relaxed mindset going into Sunday’s dual, but the fans sure did feel a bit more secure facing a team that was closer to Penn State in the rankings.
Jordan Conaway came close to an opening Penn State win but gave up three key back points that led to his 7-8 loss. Once again Jimmy Gulibon won big at 133 lbs. with a pin (3:32) to help Penn State take a 6-3 lead.
Redshirt freshman Kade Moss fell to a heartbreaking 5-8 loss to Oklahoma State’s No. 15 Deal Heil in a tiebreaker round. Heil reversed Moss at the start of the period, cut him loose, then countered a Moss takedown attempt to finish a hard fought match and tie the team score 6-6.
Zack Beitz answered with a huge upset win over Oklahoma State’s No. 4 senior Josh Kindig. After a scoreless first period, Beitz chose down to start the second and immediately reversed Kindig to his back and got the pin just 17 seconds into the period. The Lions led the Cowboys 12-6.
But not for long, Dylan Alton returned to his spot at 157 lbs. after taking a few weeks off resting his shoulder and couldn’t keep up with the Cowboys’ No. 18 Anthony Collica. Alton kept the match close in the first period, but slipped up in the second giving up a stalling point, four takedowns and three near fall points. Collica added four more takedowns in the third and an extra riding point to clinch the tech fall at 24-9.
Following the bonus point blow, redshirt freshman Garret Hammond faced No. 1 Alex Dieringer at 165 lbs. Hammond limited the damage to a 4-14 major decision loss and ended the first half of the match with Penn State trailing 12-15.
Matt Brown started the second half with a nail-biting decision win in sudden victory over Oklahoma State’s No. 11 Kyle Crutchmer. Brown missed the finish in a few takedowns throughout the match but kept a steady lead. He was caught off guard towards the end of the third when Crutchmer clinched a late takedown and sent the match into sudden victory. Brown then worked for a takedown in SV and won the match 9-7, once again tied the team score 15-15.
Matt McCutcheon fell to a 0-4 loss at 184 lbs. and gave the Cowboys the upper hand (15-18) heading into the duals final two matches. Morgan McIntosh tied up the team score one more time at 18-18 with a 6-1 over Luke Bean. It all came down to the heavyweights.
Senior Jon Gingrich started the bout with an early takedown, which Cowboy No. 5 Austin Marsden then replied with two escapes to tie the bout 2-2. In sudden victory, Oklahoma State challenged a no takedown call after Marsden countered Gingrich’s attempt at a low single. The call stood and the bout moved into a tiebreaker. Marsden chose down to start and was awarded a reversal, which Penn State challenged. No luck, the call stood and Gingrich was down 2-4. He then escaped to make the score 3-4 and worked in on a single leg but ran out of time to finish and that’s the end of that.
No one really saw it coming, but Penn State fell to the Cowboys 18-21.
BOUT BY BOUT:
125: OSU #9 Eddie Klimara dec. PSU #8 Jordan Conaway PSU, 8-7
133: PSU #5 Jimmy Gulibon pinned OSU Gary Wayne Harding OSU, 3:32
141: OSU #15 Dean Heil tiebreaker dec. PSU Kade Moss, 8-5
149: PSU #18 Zack Beitz pinned OSU #4 Josh Kindig, 3:17
157: OSU #18 Anthony Collica tech fall PSU #8 Dylan Alton, 24-9
165: OSU #1 Alex Dieringer maj. dec. PSU #18 Garett Hammond, 14-4
174: PSU #2 Matt Brown sudden-victory dec. OSU #11 Kyle Crutchmer, 9-7
184: OSU #18 Nolan Boyd dec. PSU #19 Matt McCutcheon, 4-0
197: PSU #4 Morgan McIntosh dec. OSU Luke Bean, 6-1
285: OSU #5 Austin Marsden tiebreaker dec. PSU Jon Gingrich, 4-3
The Nittany Lions’ now have an overall record of 10-4, 6-3 in the Big Ten. This Sunday, February 22, they finish their regular season in Rec Hall with senior day celebrations as they take on Rider.
(All statistics courtesy of gopsusports.com)
