Penn State Squeaks By No. 7 Lehigh, 23-19
One of Penn State’s closer matchups with Lehigh in recent years ended in too-close-for-comfort 23-19 victory for Penn State. Lehigh has always been a powerhouse wrestling program and their lineup surely proved that so last weekend.
Penn State was missing a few key players that aided the early lead for Lehigh including Corey Keener at 133 due to injury and Vincenzo Joseph was not competing at 165. The Lions also lacked in their usual bonus-point wins, with only pin and one tech fall.
The match started out very slow for Penn State. The Lions fell to two pins in the first two bouts and dropped a decision creating a 15-point uphill climb for the rest of the lineup. Zain Retherford and Jason Nolf wasted no time putting Penn State back on the board with a pin followed by a tech fall.
Mark Hall squeaked by No. 5 Jordan Kutler with an exciting 3-2 win. After a scoreless first, Kutler chose down to start the second and scored the first point of the bout. Hall worked his way for a takedown with 30 seconds left in the second and Kutler managed to escape to a 2-2 tie headed into the third. Hall chose down to start and escaped to the 3-2 lead. He went on defense and was able to shake off a few Kutler scrambles to end the bout at 3-2.
Then, Bo Nickal also edged a close win against his No. 4 opponent, Ryan Preisch with a score of 3-2. Penn State finally took a one point lead, their first of the day, after the 197 win from Anthony Cassar and heavyweight Nick Nevills put it away with close 2-0 victory at the end.
Next up Penn State returns to Rec Hall for a Sunday matchup against Indiana on December 17 at 2 p.m. As always, it’ll be standing room only.
BOUT BY BOUT:
125: LEH #5 Darian Cruz pinned PSU Devin Schnupp PSU, WBF (1:13)
133: LEH #3 Scotty Parker pinned PSU Dominic Giannangeli, WBF (4:12)
141: LEH Luke Karam dec. PSU Jered Cortez, 2-0
149: PSU #1 Zain Retherford pinned LEH Cortlandt Schuyler, WBF (1:27)
157: PSU #1 Jason Nolf tech fall LEH Ian Brown, 23-8 (TF; 6:40)
165: LEH #15 Gordon Wolf maj. dec. PSU Bo Pipher, 24-12
174: PSU #2 Mark Hall dec. LEH #5 Jordan Kutler, 3-2
184: PSU #1 Bo Nickal PSU dec. LEH #4 Ryan Preisch, 3-2
197: PSU #11 Anthony Cassar dec. LEH Jake Jakobsen, 8-3
285: PSU #3 Nick Nevills dec. LEH #14 Jordan Wood, 2-0
Season Pin Count: 11
Penn State was missing a few key players that aided the early lead for Lehigh including Corey Keener at 133 due to injury and Vincenzo Joseph was not competing at 165. The Lions also lacked in their usual bonus-point wins, with only pin and one tech fall.
The match started out very slow for Penn State. The Lions fell to two pins in the first two bouts and dropped a decision creating a 15-point uphill climb for the rest of the lineup. Zain Retherford and Jason Nolf wasted no time putting Penn State back on the board with a pin followed by a tech fall.
Mark Hall squeaked by No. 5 Jordan Kutler with an exciting 3-2 win. After a scoreless first, Kutler chose down to start the second and scored the first point of the bout. Hall worked his way for a takedown with 30 seconds left in the second and Kutler managed to escape to a 2-2 tie headed into the third. Hall chose down to start and escaped to the 3-2 lead. He went on defense and was able to shake off a few Kutler scrambles to end the bout at 3-2.
Then, Bo Nickal also edged a close win against his No. 4 opponent, Ryan Preisch with a score of 3-2. Penn State finally took a one point lead, their first of the day, after the 197 win from Anthony Cassar and heavyweight Nick Nevills put it away with close 2-0 victory at the end.
Next up Penn State returns to Rec Hall for a Sunday matchup against Indiana on December 17 at 2 p.m. As always, it’ll be standing room only.
BOUT BY BOUT:
125: LEH #5 Darian Cruz pinned PSU Devin Schnupp PSU, WBF (1:13)
133: LEH #3 Scotty Parker pinned PSU Dominic Giannangeli, WBF (4:12)
141: LEH Luke Karam dec. PSU Jered Cortez, 2-0
149: PSU #1 Zain Retherford pinned LEH Cortlandt Schuyler, WBF (1:27)
157: PSU #1 Jason Nolf tech fall LEH Ian Brown, 23-8 (TF; 6:40)
165: LEH #15 Gordon Wolf maj. dec. PSU Bo Pipher, 24-12
174: PSU #2 Mark Hall dec. LEH #5 Jordan Kutler, 3-2
184: PSU #1 Bo Nickal PSU dec. LEH #4 Ryan Preisch, 3-2
197: PSU #11 Anthony Cassar dec. LEH Jake Jakobsen, 8-3
285: PSU #3 Nick Nevills dec. LEH #14 Jordan Wood, 2-0
Season Pin Count: 11
