No. 1 Penn State conquers No. 10 Michigan in Sunday White Out
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No. 1 Penn State conquers No. 10 Michigan in Sunday White Out

Rec Hall was a sea of white on Sunday afternoon, from the student section on the floor to the standing-room-only fans lined around the track up above.

A crowd of 6,500 with white pom-poms at the ready watched as Penn State handed Michigan its first Big Ten loss of the season with a score of 35-7.

No doubt fans were excited to watch Penn State’s four No. 1 ranked wrestlers take to the mat in each of their dominating yet unique styles of wrestling.

It was a bit disappointing to find out at the beginning of the match that No. 1 197-pounder Morgan McIntosh would win by forfeit then later No. 1 at 174, Bo Nickal would win by injury default 1:34 into the bout.

But in between those two bits of bad news, Penn State put on a great show of some picture-perfect wrestling.

No. 1 at 149, Zain Retherford delivered with a late pin over Michigan’s No. 6 Alex Pantaleo in a key matchup of the day. The win continued his flawless 21-0 record. About half way through the second period of the bout, Pantaleo appeared to get tired and Retherford jumped at this opportunity. He first took the Wolverine down with a low double towards the end of the second and turned him for four back points. Retherford was relentless in the third. He took Pantaleo down and cut him loose so he could score another takedown and finally turn him for the pin.

The 157-bout followed a similar quick pace; No. 1 Nittany Lion Jason Nolf dominated through the first two periods and nearly got the fall over Michigan’s No. 9 Brian Murphy towards the end of the third. Nolf used his offensive-style to awe the crowd with his textbook execution and take the tech fall victory.

After the break, No. 17 Shakur Rasheed wrestled in another exciting match of the day. Rasheed and Michigan’s Garrett Sutton went back and forth in the first two periods. Rasheed was in the lead going into the third, 5-4. Sutton chose down to start and the Nittany Lion was able to work up over one minute in riding time before getting a stall warning with 14 seconds left. Sutton was able to get an escape after a reset, but the riding time handed Rasheed the win.

Penn State remains undefeated with a record of 12-0 and 7-0 in the conference. The team will stay in their Happy Valley home this weekend and will switch over to the Bryce Jordan Center for the season’s biggest matchup against No. 3 Ohio State. The match is on Friday starting at 6 p.m. The Big Ten Network will provide live coverage.



BOUT BY BOUT:

125: PSU #4 Nico Megaludis dec. MICH Conor Youtsey, 10-4

133: PSU #5 Jordan Conaway dec. MICH #17 Rossi Bruno, 9-4

141: PSU #14 Jimmy Gulibon dec. MICH George Fisher, 9-4

149: PSU #1 Zain Retherford pinned MICH #6 Alex Pantaleo, WBF (6:35)

157: PSU #1 Jason Nolf tech fall MICH #9 Brian Murphy, 22-6 (TF; 6:14)

165: PSU #17 Shakur Rasheed dec. MICH Garrett Sutton, 6-5

174: PSU #1 Bo Nickal inj. def. MICH #13 Davonte Mahomes, Inj.Def (1:34)

184: MICH #8 Domenic Abounader dec. PSU Brian Brill, 9-2

197: PSU#1 Morgan McIntosh win by forfeit

285: MICH #4 Adam Coon maj. dec. PSU Jan Johnson, 15-5