Wrestling Recap: No. 2 Nittany Lions Hammer No. 4 Buckeyes 32-12

By Curt Heinrichs on February 3, 2017 at 9:30 pm
#1 Heavyweight Kyle Snyder
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A crowd of 15,338 braved the cold on Friday night to watch the No. 4 Buckeye wrestling team host the No. 2 Penn State Nittany Lions. While the fans were excitable and appreciative of the bright spots from the Buckeyes, those moments of excitement were few and far between as the Nittany Lions trounced the Buckeyes 32-12. Just three Buckeyes were able to earn victories on Friday as Nathan Tomasello, Kollin Moore, and Kyle Snyder were the only Ohio State wrestlers to get their hand raised. 

The dual began at 125 with No. 2 Nick Suriano of Penn State earning a tech fall over No. 18 Jose Rodriguez. Though the result was the same as last Friday against Thomas Gilman of Iowa, Rodriguez was far more aggressive against Suriano, but the Nittany Lion freshman was able to score nearly at will over Rodriguez with a bevy of go-behinds off of Rodriguez’ shot attempts. Rodriguez fought off his back when Suriano nearly had him dead to rights, saving the Buckeyes a point. With the tech fall, the Nittany Lions took a 5-0 lead.

The Buckeyes tied the match up in short order as top-ranked Nathan Tomasello made short work of Penn State’s George Carpenter. Tomasello took Carpenter down at will and looked for a pin late in the match, but Carpenter was able to get off his back to hold Tomasello to just a tech fall.

Luke Pletcher faced yet another tough opponent in former All-American Jimmy Gulibon. Pletcher and Gulibon were evenly matched throughout, trading takedowns early, but Gulibon was able to secure riding time and once more escape to take the 5-3 decision. Pletcher looked frustrated late as Gulibon avoided contact to secure the victory and give the Nittany Lions an 8-5 lead.

Fifth-ranked Micah Jordan was the aggressor early on and secured the opening takedown against top-ranked Zain Retherford at 149, but Retherford proved to be too much for the younger Jordan. Zain proved why he is the number one wrestler in the country when he anticipated a Jordan granby roll and caught Micah on his back to swing the momentum all they way in his favor. Jordan managed a second takedown, but Retherford got a late takedown of his own and set of backpoints to secure a 20-5 tech fall. With the victory, Penn State began to pull away with a 13-5 lead heading into Jason Nolf at 157.

Jake Ryan was not in the lineup to face top-ranked Jason Nolf, so Anthony DeCarlo made the most of the opportunity. DeCarlo opened the match against the heavily favored Nolf with a quick shot off the whistle. Nolf was able to score his own takedown, but DeCarlo shocked the crowd with a reversal. That was all DeCarlo had in the tank, however, as Nolf scored a takedown and quick pin to give Penn State a 19-5 lead at the midway point.

Cody Burcher was unable to get anything going as he dropped an ugly 11-1 major decision to No. 4 Vincenzo Joseph. Joseph let his foot off the gas late in the match, but Burcher was unable to get off the bottom and dropped a major decision.

Ohio State’s top-ranked Bo Jordan was not in the lineup at 174, so Penn State’s No. 7 Mark Hall took his frustrations out on Justin Kresevic. Hall seemed content to put on a takedown clinic before catching Kresevic in a gator roll off a Kresevic shot attempt and pinning Kresevic 20 seconds into the third period. Hall’s pin locked up the match for the Nittany Lions as they took a 29-5 lead with just three matches remaining.

In one of the most anticipated matches of the evening, Myles Martin took on familiar foe Bo Nickal at 184. Martin was aggressive throughout the match, but Nickal just seemed to have the answer to each MyMar attack. Nickal was able to stymie every Martin near-takedown and score an 8-2 victory.

Fourth-ranked Kollin Moore got the Buckeyes back in the win column with an exciting back-and-forth decision over No. 9 Matt McCutcheon at 197. The wrestlers traded takedowns throughout the match, but Moore kept coming and scored a takedown with under 10 seconds on the clock to seal the victory and pull the Buckeyes to within two dozen.

In the final bout of the evening, Kyle Snyder showed no rust after traveling around the world with a Yarygin gold medal in his pocket as he put on a show against No. 3 ranked Nick Nevills. Snyder had little difficulty in taking Nevills down, keeping the bigger man off balance as he grabbed low singles time and time again to earn a 19-9 major decision to put a cap on the scoring. Despite Snyder's efforts, the Penn State Nittany Lions thoroughly dominated the Buckeyes to the tune of 32-12.

Following the match, head coach Tom Ryan mentioned that it is impossible to come out flat against a team like Penn State if you have any hope of securing a victory. “I thought we wrestled really well in certain spots,” Ryan said, “but when we lose focus and take mental breaks, that leads to big points. Take a look at Micah Jordan; he wrestled Retherford really well, but lost focus for a few seconds on two occasions and Retherford turned those breaks into six point moves. We can’t have that if we have any shot at beating them.”

The Buckeyes will return to action on Monday evening when they host No. 13 Rutgers in a match that was rescheduled due to inclement weather.

Match Results
Wt result team score
125 #2 Nick Suriano (PSU) technical fall over #18 Jose Rodriguez (OSU) 19-4 Penn State leads 5-0
133 #1 Nathan Tomasello (OSU) technical fall over George Carpenter (PSU) 22-7 Match tied 5-5
141 #11 Jimmy Gulibon (PSU) decision over #15 Luke Pletcher (OSU) 5-3 Penn State leads 8-5
149 #1 Zain Retherford (PSU) technical fall over #5 Micah Jordan (OSU) 20-5 Penn State leads 13-5
157 #1 Jason Nolf (PSU) pin over Anthony DeCarlo (OSU) 1:36 Penn State leads 19-5
165 #4 Vincenzo Joseph (PSU) major decision over Cody Burcher (OSU) 11-1 Penn State leads 23-5
174 #7 Mark Hall (PSU) pin over Justin Kresevic (OSU) 5:20 Penn State leads 29-5
184 #2 Bo Nickal (PSU) decision over #10 Myles Martin (OSU) 8-2 Penn State leads 32-5
197 #4 Kollin Moore (OSU) decision over #9 Matt McCutcheon (PSU) 9-6 Penn State leads 32-8
HWT #1 Kyle Snyder (OSU) major decision over #3 Nick Nevills (PSU) 19-9 Penn State wins 32-12
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