Penn State wrestling tops Penn; will all starters return for Lehigh Sunday?

The Penn State wrestling team was shorthanded on Friday night in Philadelphia.

It still topped the University of Pennsylvania at The Palestra, anyway.

Head coach Cael Sanderson’s team was clearly not 100 percent, though, as it gutted out its fourth victory of the season.

“I think a couple of guys dug deep. It’s all preparation. We didn’t wrestle great tonight,” Sanderson told The Centre Daily Times. “I know our guys didn’t feel very good. Guys like Nick Lee, if he didn’t wrestle — he was sick last weekend — we lose that dual meet.

“It’s a good team. They came to win, you could tell during introductions. We responded enough, I guess, but we’ve got a ways to go here.”

How it happened

Sanderson told reporters back on Monday that, “as everyone knows the flu has been going around.”

He said it in reference to 157-pound starter Terrell Barraclough missing matches earlier in the year. It was also a nod to the Penn State football program’s 28-0 win over Rutgers that has been referred to as the team’s ‘flu game.’

It also applied to the current state of his team. Program radio announcer Jeff Byers set the tone early when he said on the prematch show that returning NCAA champs Roman Bravo-Young and Aaron Brooks would miss the dual due to “being under the weather.”

The match started with losses at 125 pounds and 133, where Brandon Meredith bumped up to fill in for RBY and lost by major decision to 12th-ranked Michael Colaiocco, 10-2.

From there, No. 1 Nick Lee scored a much-needed but uncharacteristic 6-3 decision win over Carmen Ferrante. The Quaker rode Lee out for the entire third period, but the victory still put Penn State on the board.

Sanderson’s side would trail 10-6 at the break after Beau Bartlett won 4-3 in tiebreaker at 149 before Barraclough lost 4-2 to Doug Zapf at 157. The Lions would not lose any of the next four bouts, however, and that included both a had-to-have-it 6-4 win in sudden victory for Creighton Edsell over Lucas Revano at 165 plus a fill-in win for Donovan Ball, who beat Jesse Martinez 11-4 at 184 to all but put the match away.

“My mindset every day, first off, is going in and have fun and do everything I can and get better each day,” Ball told the Penn State Sports Network.

“I really wasn’t thinking of the team score. I wanted to stick to my game plan which is to go out, let it rip, and let everything take care of itself.”

Max Dean then did close things out with a major decision win at 197 before Penn State forfeited heavyweight.

Questions remain ahead of Lehigh match

It does not sound like Penn State will have Bravo-Young or Books back for Sunday’s 2 p.m. dual meet with Lehigh at Rec Hall. One can never know what a few days of fluids can do, but it doesn’t sound promising.

From there, will Lee be back to 100 percent? Did Greg Kerkvliet not wrestle heavyweight simply so the Lions could get out of there, or is he dealing with something, too? And, will anyone else come down with something over the next day and a half?

It’s all part of what we will need to learn prior to the first bout being wrestled against the Mountainhawks. But, it would not be surprising if Penn State is again shorthanded.

Penn State-Penn results

Courtesy of Penn State Athletics:

#2 Penn State 20, Penn 16

December 3, 2021 – The Palestra – Philadelphia, Pa.

125: Ryan Miller PENN dec. Baylor Shunk PSU, 8-2, Penn leads 3-0

133: #12 Michael Colaiocco PENN maj. dec. Brandon Meredith PSU, 10-2, Penn leads 7-0

141: #1 Nick Lee PSU dec. #28 Carmen Ferrante PENN, 6-3, PENN leads 7-3

149: #20 Beau Bartlett PSU dec. #23 Anthony Artalona PENN, 4-3 (TB), Penn leads 7-6

157: Doug Zapf PENN dec. Terrell Barraclough PSU, 4-2, Penn leads 10-6

165: #32 Creighton Edsell PSU dec. #33 Lucas Revano PENN, 6-4 (SV), Penn leads 10-9

174: #1 Carter Starocci PSU maj. dec. #21 Nick Incontrera PENN, 13-3, PSU leads 13-10

184: Donovon Ball PSU dec. Jesse Martinez PENN, 11-4, PSU leads16-10

197: #4 Max Dean PSU maj. dec. Cole Urbas PENN, 10-0, PSU leads 20-10

285: Ben Goldin PENN win by forfeit, PSU wins 20-16

Attendance: 3,272

Records: Penn State (4-0, 0-0 B1G); Penn (0-1)