Wrestling: PSU victorious, 32-12, in front of Ohio State record crowd

An Ohio State record 15,338 fans filled up the Schottenstein Center Friday night, but it was Penn State that put on a show. The Nittany Lions won seven of the 10 bouts to outmatch the Buckeyes, 32-12, in what was their final road dual meet of the Big Ten season.

Five of Penn State’s seven wins came by bonus points, including in the first match at 125 pounds. Freshman Nick Suriano got his team started on a winning note when he beat OSU’s Jose Rodriguez by technical fall, 19-4 (7:00). In the next match at 133, Nate Tomasello evened things out for Ohio State with a 22-7 (6:01) technical fall over George Carpenter. With a tie score after the first two bouts, rather than a deficit, however, Penn State’s coaches were pleased with where the score stood heading into its strength of its lineup.

“I’m happy with Nick,” said associate head coach Cody Sanderson. “He went out there and started off the dual and did what we needed him to do. I think from an opposing coach’s perspective, they want to get out of 125 and 133 with a lead and maybe by a couple points but after 125 and 133 we were dead even and that’s because Nick Suriano really did a good job of scoring points. Then George Carpenter did a good job keeping a point off the board.”

From there PSU won six straight.

At 141, Jimmy Gulibon extended his win streak to four, coming from behind of a 3-1 deficit in order to win 5-3. Gulibon’s strong effort in the latter half of the match gave Buckeye Luke Pletcher just his third loss of the season. From there, Penn State held onto the team lead for good.

At 149, Zain Retherford gave up the first points, surrendering the opening takedown to Micah Jordan, before pouring on 10 points in the first and second periods. Despite giving up another takedown at the start of the third, Retherford continued his dominance picking up a second set of near-fall points to win by tech fall, 20-5 (7:00).

At 157, Jason Nolf gave up points as well, an opening-period reversal, before scoring Penn State’s first fall of the night. Nolf’s pin came in 1 minute and 36 seconds over Anthony DeCarlo. After the break Vincenzo Joseph scored two takedowns, a reversal and four near falls to earn an 11-1 major decision over Cody Burcher at 165. And then Mark Hall clinched the dual met for Penn State with a third-period fall (5:20) over Justin Kresevic at 174.

Ohio State starter, No. 1 Bo Jordan, was held out of action due to an ankle injury that had been limiting him earlier in the year. There was hope that he’d be in the lineup against PSU after returning against Iowa one week ago but a decision before the match kept him out. The last-minute call left Hall frustrated without having the opportunity to face his weight class’s top-ranked wrestler.

“You could see Mark’s body language; he was disappointedw hen he didn’t a get a chance on Bo Jordan,” Sanderson said. “He wanted to wrestle him. He weighed in so we thought there would be a chance out there but that’s just the way wrestling goes. Mark did a great job (against Kresevic.) He scored some points and for him to score all those points and get a fall for the team, that’s what we’re looking for from him.”

Penn State picked up its final win of the night in what was a rematch of last year’s 174-pound NCAA final. Although he lost in March, Bo Nickal was victorious Friday over Myles Martin, 8-2, at 184. Nickal scored three takedowns and a reversal, but that’d be it for the Nittany Lions' wins on the night.

Ohio State earned victories in the final two bouts of the evening, as Kollin Moore came back to beat Matt McCutcheon after he scored the opening takedown. Moore won in a close 9-6 decision.

In the final bout of the night Olympic champion Kyle Snyder scored nine takedowns against Nick Nevills in order to win by major decision, 19-9.

In spite of a 20-point difference in the final score, the takedown battle was tight. Penn State held a slight advantage, 26-24. The difference, however, was bonus points as PSU scored 11 total from two pins (Nolf and Hall), two technical falls (Suriano and Retherford) and a major decision from Joseph.

No. 1 Penn State 32, No. 3 Ohio State 12

February 3, 2017 – Schottenstein Center – Columbus, Ohio

125: No. 2 Nick Suriano PSU TF No. 18 Jose Rodriguez OSU, 19-4 (TF; 7:00) 5-0

133: No. 1 Nathan Tomasello OSU TF George Carpenter PSU, 22-7 (TF; 6:01) 5-5

141: No. 11 Jimmy Gulibon PSU dec. No. 15 Luke Pletcher OSU, 5-3 8-5

149: No. 1 Zain Retherford PSU TF No. 5 Micah Jordan OSU, 20-5 (TF; 7:00) 13-5

157: No. 1 Jason Nolf PSU pinned Anthony DeCarlo OSU, WBF (1:36) 19-5

165: No. 4 Vincenzo Joseph PSU maj. dec. Cody Burcher OSU, 11-1 23-5

174: No. 7 Mark Hall PSU pinned Justin Kresevic OSU, WBF (5:21) 29-5

184: No. 2 Bo Nickal PSU dec. No. 10 Myles Martin OSU, 8-2 32-5

197: No. 54 Kollin Moore OSU dec. No. 9 Matt McCutcheon PSU, 9-6 32-8

285: No. 1 Kyle Snyder OSU maj. dec. No. 3 Nick Nevills PSU, 19-9 32-12

Attendance: 15,338

Records: Penn State 11-0, 7-0 B1G; Ohio State 8-2, 4-2 B1G

Up Next for Penn State: home vs. Illinois, Friday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m. in Rec Hall