Wrestling: Sanderson recaps Scuffle, previews B1G openers

The adulation that comes with a record-setting, championship performance at the Southern Scuffle has basically faded away for Cael Sanderson and his Penn State wrestlers after a full week home from the Chattanooga, Tennessee, event and the heart of the Big Ten schedule looming. The lessons learned for those who lost, though … not so much.

Sanderson was more than pleased with six individual champions and a record 216.5 team points, but he's ever the coach and teacher and his discerning eye is on steady, consistent improvement.

"Coming off of Christmas break, we wouldn't expect them to be at their best but we do expect them to give great effort and I think they did," Sanderson said about the Scuffle. "I think they gave a great effort. I was happy and proud the way they finished the tournament.

"I don't think we wrestled fantastic but if we're wrestling at our best after Christmas in early January … we wouldn't want that; we want to be at our best in March."

Roman Bravo-Young at 133 wasn't at his best because he was a bit under the weather on Day 1. Sanderson didn't want to cite illness as an excuse but noted that he was "standing around" a little bit on the first day.

"He finished the tournament strong and was wrestling great against (Iowa State's Austin) Gomez and Gomez is very tough," Sanderson said. "He finished the tournament definitely a lot stronger than he started it. That should be great for him. He scored eight points on a top-10 guy before he had that quick, sudden, not-great finish, but I think he knows he can wrestle."

Bravo-Young built an 8-3 lead on Gomez when Gomez caught him in an underhook and the ensuing toss resulted in a fall for Gomez. "Gomez is really good in that position and once he had both of Roman's arms up over his head he was kind of in trouble there," Sanderson said.

"I think the takeaway is don't let somebody get your arms up over your head, right, so I think Roman knows that. After he jumped to that big lead, he was thinking more prevent and hold on and against most guys that will work; a guy like Austin Gomez can score big points. But I was really happy with Roman and proud for really battling back and competing hard that second day," he said.

Lineup bookends (at least at the Scuffle) Anthony Cassar and Brody Teske also suffered defeats, Cassar in the heavyweight finals and Teske in the early rounds.

Cassar dropped a 3-2 decision to third-ranked Derek White of Oklahoma State. "I think everything has to be a positive," Sanderson said. "There's something to learn whether you win or lose. Obviously, learning really reinforces things and hurts a little bit more.

"But Derek White is a big, strong, athletic kid who comes from a great program and Cassar just has to step it up a notch and wrestle harder throughout the match and finish his shots. You're talking about one of the guys who's a title contender and he's right here and he didn't have anything to lose. It can all be positive but it's the situations he makes and the way he sees it is what's most important."

And Sanderson was pleased that Teske made the long trip, citing the fact that he drove to Tennessee as an unattached redshirt. "It was his first time down to weight. I don't think he was real happy with the result and he got a little banged up," Sanderson said. "He just needs experience. First time weighing in and competing in a long time and, hopefully, he'll move forward from there."

Lineup regular Devon Schnupp failed to place at 125 as well, and redshirt Gavin Teasdale reportedly was a late entry but ended up scratching.

Sanderson downplayed that series of events, citing the experience of Teasdale traveling with the team and that getting acclimated to being back on the team (after withdrawing from school in the fall because of health issues) and being around his teammates was the "main purpose," according to Sanderson.

Teasdale's immediate competitive future remains in limbo. "There are open tournaments pretty much every weekend moving forward. We're going to have dual meets every weekend as we start the Big Ten schedule. So, possibly soon but possibly not at all, so I know that's probably not the answer you want to hear," Sanderson said about the possibility of the true freshman and four-time PIAA champion stepping on the mat.

NEXT UP: With those lessons in the book, new challenges are facing the top-ranked Lions, beginning with a weekend doubleheader at Northwestern on Friday and at home against No. 10 Wisconsin on Sunday.

"Just getting into that routine of competing every weekend, I think we'll start to wrestle better as we start to do that," Sanderson said. "We'll see. Great matches this weekend. Northwestern has some really good kids and they're gonna be a handful so we're excited about that.

"And Wisconsin on Sunday, they've been wrestling with a lot of fire and passion and Coach (Chris) Bono…I know him really well. He was an assistant coach when I was at Iowa State and we coached together for a year or two. A guy with a lot of enthusiasm and passion and you're seeing that in the way his team is wrestling."

Northwestern boasts the No. 1-ranked 125-pounder in Sebastian Rivera, who defeated Iowa's Spencer Lee in the Midlands finals, and the No. 3 157-pounder, Ryan Deakin. Rivera most likely will face Penn State's Schnupp and Deakin will get to tangle with top-ranked Jason Nolf.

Sunday's marquee matchup is on tap 165 between Penn State's No. 1-ranked Vincenzo Joseph and Wisconsin's No. 3-ranked Evan Wick. Wick dropped from his No. 2 spot when he lost to Iowa's Alex Marinelli at the Midlands. Joseph defeated Lock Haven's Chance Marsteller in the Scuffle finals last week; Wick planted a cradle on Marsteller in last season's NCAA third-place finals and pinned him.

BIG TEN WRESTLER OF THE WEEK: Bo Nickal, on the strength of five straight falls at the Southern Scuffle, was named the B1G's WOW this week. Four of those falls came in the first period and he wrestled an aggregate 10:32 out of a possible 35 minutes. He was named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.

THEY SAID IT: Brady Berge, Penn State's 149-pound redshirt freshman, was asked if it's difficult to be patient while he improves to the point where he consistently scores a lot of points.

"No, it isn’t. But I’m also the type of kid that when I see that, I want to do it too. Because I want to be the best I can. When you see guys like Jason Nolf out there lighting up the scoreboard like he does, I want to do that, too. I also know that we’re different people. We wrestle differently, but it’s also awesome to train with him every day and have him help me, give me tips and things like that. I just worry about how I wrestle," Berge said.