Weight: (OSU wrestler) vs (PSU wrestler):
125: # 1 Nathan Tomasello vs #4 Nico Megaludis: Wow! what a match. No scoring in 1st. Both wrestlers got out from down position in <10 seconds. In the last 30 seconds of the 3rd Megaludis got in on Nathans leg, but Nathan had a great scramble and ended up with a takedown for the win. I thought Nico would win tonight with the home field advantage, but Nathan proves again that he is just a cut above the other elites. These two will probably meet again in B1G championships and nationals. Round 1 to Nathan!
133: #10 Johnni DiJulius vs #5 Jordan Conaway: JDJ got quick takedown off his armbar, and backpoints for quick 4 point lead. JDJ turned him on a tilt, but refs called out of bounds in a bullsh!t call.. JDJ was clearly in bounds. JDJ rode him for most of the 1st period. But, JC got escape with 30 seconds left and takedown with 2 seconds left. 1st ended 4-3 for JDJ. The PSU kid owned the 2nd, with and escape, takedown and riding. In 3rd JDJ could not get out. Lost 4-8. Honestly, that was the most inspired I have seen JDJ wrestle in a long time. He came out like a bat-out-of-hell.. and should have been up 7 or 8 to 0, if the refs didnt blow the out of bounds call.
141: #4 Micah Jordan vs #14 Jimmy Gulibon: Micah got a defensive takedown late in first. up 2-0. But, Micah got rode the entire 2nd period, Ughhh. In 3rd, the PSU kid got quick escape (for essentially tie match since he had riding time). With 40 seconds left, Micah got another defensive takedown. The PSU kid got out and Micah got another takedown with 2 seconds left for big win, 6-3 I think. Great job Micah. For a redshirt frosh, in a very hostile environment, Micah performed great. I see him as all-american this year, with outside chance of really surprising everyone with 1st or 2nd finish.
149: Sal Marindino vs #1 Zain Retherford: (Hunter Steiber did not wrestle. Backup Sal Marindino was in his place). We had less chance than a 'one-outer' in hold-em. Pin in 1st for Zain, who is probably the best college wrestler right now and may win the Hodge trophy as a redshirt sophomore. Zain is a bad-a$$. I would hate to fight this kid..just seems like tough tough kid.
157: #11 Jake Ryan vs #1 Jason Nolf: Nolf got 2 takedowns in the first..and 1000 more. Won 19-6, but Jake did his job, by limiting bonus points to 1 (would have been 2 if Nolf won by 15, or 3 if he pinned him). This was actually semi-win for us... in an odd way. Jake has now wrestled the top2 in this weight class and got technical fall, and major decision. I dont think he got takedown in either match. He has a long way to go to move up from his current ranking to get into elite, but the kid has good DNA, and is in the right place to learn to be elite. Maybe by his junior or senior year, he can achieve all american. But, long way to go. All in all, much better freshman year than I expected, which bodes well for the kid. He is the kind of kid you really like to root for. Great buckeye.
165: #2 Bo Jordan vs Morelli: No action in 1st, 0-0. PSU kid kinda in stall mode, trying to limit points (see above) No action all match. The PSU kid wasnt called for stalling till late (and just a warning). Bo won 3-2. Weird seeing Bo not dominate, but this Morelli kid also wrestled Bo's cousin tough and was beating Issac in the 3rd (Issac won that bout).
171: #14 Myles Martin vs #1 Bo Nickal: Back and forth. Myles actually had late lead, but Bo got late 3rd period takedown, and then turned Myles for some back points with 10ish seconds to go. Bo won 8-5 or 9-5 I think. But was anyones match till about the last minute of the 3rd. Myles wrestles Bo tough, but Bo is just too good.
This one hurt. With <1 minute in the 3rd, we had a fleeting hope of an upset and a huge point swing in the team points. If Myles pulled the upset, the meet would have been 12-13 PSU, instead it was now 9-16 PSU. Oh well. Still think Myles is way under-rated right now and I think he will place at nationals this year and be all-american. Hope those 2 wrestle in B1Gs and Nationals. Have been exciting matches. Myles is going to pull one of these out.
184: #13 Kenny Courts vs #9 Matt McCutheon: Courts back in his home-state. But did nothing. MM got takedown with 10 seconds to go in 1st. Kenny could not get out from down position in 3rd. Kenny lost 0-4. This one was disappointing. Kenny beat that kid twice last year, but did nothing tonight.
197: Josh Fox (backup) vs #1 Morgan McIntosh: We had zero chance in this one. The only question was 6 team points for a pin, or 5 team points for a tech. Ended in tech fall 24-9.
Hwy: #2 Kyle Snyder vs Johnson. Of note, PSU's heavyweight has been injured all year, and they have no legit backup. Kyle scored at will. Got 5 takedowns in the first 2 minutes. 7 total takedowns in first and 4 back points on a tilt. Kyle got the tech fall by the 1:00 mark of the 2nd period. Kyle looks huge. Much bigger than he did last year when he competed at 197.
Match ended 24-14 Penn State.
All in all, went as expected. I thought we would win the 4 weights we ended up winning. I thought Myles Martin would give Bo Nickal a close match, and he did. Thought Nathan Tomasello would win a very close match and he did. Was a little surprised a Bo Jordan's stoic win. Thought he'd be amped up to kick some tail.
Penn State is just on a role. Cael Sanderson is the combination "Gem-Fusion" (sorry for the Steven Universe metaphor, but my kids made me watch it, and its kinda good) of Urban Meyer and Nick Saban. Really. No exaggeration. He gets to hand pick the few 5* wrestling recruits each year, and the other top programs (Ohio State, Okl St, Iowa, Missu, Minn) all scramble for the 4* and the occasional 5* that is an in-state kid. Penn State will win it all this year, and next year... and probably 4-6 years in a row with the redshirt frosh they have this year (Nolf, Nikal) and Mark Hall coming in next year (next Kyle Snyder level Olympic quality kid).
125: # 1 Nathan Tomasello vs #4 Nico Megaludis: Wow! what a match. No scoring in 1st. Both wrestlers got out from down position in <10 seconds. In the last 30 seconds of the 3rd Megaludis got in on Nathans leg, but Nathan had a great scramble and ended up with a takedown for the win. I thought Nico would win tonight with the home field advantage, but Nathan proves again that he is just a cut above the other elites. These two will probably meet again in B1G championships and nationals. Round 1 to Nathan!
133: #10 Johnni DiJulius vs #5 Jordan Conaway: JDJ got quick takedown off his armbar, and backpoints for quick 4 point lead. JDJ turned him on a tilt, but refs called out of bounds in a bullsh!t call.. JDJ was clearly in bounds. JDJ rode him for most of the 1st period. But, JC got escape with 30 seconds left and takedown with 2 seconds left. 1st ended 4-3 for JDJ. The PSU kid owned the 2nd, with and escape, takedown and riding. In 3rd JDJ could not get out. Lost 4-8. Honestly, that was the most inspired I have seen JDJ wrestle in a long time. He came out like a bat-out-of-hell.. and should have been up 7 or 8 to 0, if the refs didnt blow the out of bounds call.
141: #4 Micah Jordan vs #14 Jimmy Gulibon: Micah got a defensive takedown late in first. up 2-0. But, Micah got rode the entire 2nd period, Ughhh. In 3rd, the PSU kid got quick escape (for essentially tie match since he had riding time). With 40 seconds left, Micah got another defensive takedown. The PSU kid got out and Micah got another takedown with 2 seconds left for big win, 6-3 I think. Great job Micah. For a redshirt frosh, in a very hostile environment, Micah performed great. I see him as all-american this year, with outside chance of really surprising everyone with 1st or 2nd finish.
149: Sal Marindino vs #1 Zain Retherford: (Hunter Steiber did not wrestle. Backup Sal Marindino was in his place). We had less chance than a 'one-outer' in hold-em. Pin in 1st for Zain, who is probably the best college wrestler right now and may win the Hodge trophy as a redshirt sophomore. Zain is a bad-a$$. I would hate to fight this kid..just seems like tough tough kid.
157: #11 Jake Ryan vs #1 Jason Nolf: Nolf got 2 takedowns in the first..and 1000 more. Won 19-6, but Jake did his job, by limiting bonus points to 1 (would have been 2 if Nolf won by 15, or 3 if he pinned him). This was actually semi-win for us... in an odd way. Jake has now wrestled the top2 in this weight class and got technical fall, and major decision. I dont think he got takedown in either match. He has a long way to go to move up from his current ranking to get into elite, but the kid has good DNA, and is in the right place to learn to be elite. Maybe by his junior or senior year, he can achieve all american. But, long way to go. All in all, much better freshman year than I expected, which bodes well for the kid. He is the kind of kid you really like to root for. Great buckeye.
165: #2 Bo Jordan vs Morelli: No action in 1st, 0-0. PSU kid kinda in stall mode, trying to limit points (see above) No action all match. The PSU kid wasnt called for stalling till late (and just a warning). Bo won 3-2. Weird seeing Bo not dominate, but this Morelli kid also wrestled Bo's cousin tough and was beating Issac in the 3rd (Issac won that bout).
171: #14 Myles Martin vs #1 Bo Nickal: Back and forth. Myles actually had late lead, but Bo got late 3rd period takedown, and then turned Myles for some back points with 10ish seconds to go. Bo won 8-5 or 9-5 I think. But was anyones match till about the last minute of the 3rd. Myles wrestles Bo tough, but Bo is just too good.
This one hurt. With <1 minute in the 3rd, we had a fleeting hope of an upset and a huge point swing in the team points. If Myles pulled the upset, the meet would have been 12-13 PSU, instead it was now 9-16 PSU. Oh well. Still think Myles is way under-rated right now and I think he will place at nationals this year and be all-american. Hope those 2 wrestle in B1Gs and Nationals. Have been exciting matches. Myles is going to pull one of these out.
184: #13 Kenny Courts vs #9 Matt McCutheon: Courts back in his home-state. But did nothing. MM got takedown with 10 seconds to go in 1st. Kenny could not get out from down position in 3rd. Kenny lost 0-4. This one was disappointing. Kenny beat that kid twice last year, but did nothing tonight.
197: Josh Fox (backup) vs #1 Morgan McIntosh: We had zero chance in this one. The only question was 6 team points for a pin, or 5 team points for a tech. Ended in tech fall 24-9.
Hwy: #2 Kyle Snyder vs Johnson. Of note, PSU's heavyweight has been injured all year, and they have no legit backup. Kyle scored at will. Got 5 takedowns in the first 2 minutes. 7 total takedowns in first and 4 back points on a tilt. Kyle got the tech fall by the 1:00 mark of the 2nd period. Kyle looks huge. Much bigger than he did last year when he competed at 197.
Match ended 24-14 Penn State.
All in all, went as expected. I thought we would win the 4 weights we ended up winning. I thought Myles Martin would give Bo Nickal a close match, and he did. Thought Nathan Tomasello would win a very close match and he did. Was a little surprised a Bo Jordan's stoic win. Thought he'd be amped up to kick some tail.
Penn State is just on a role. Cael Sanderson is the combination "Gem-Fusion" (sorry for the Steven Universe metaphor, but my kids made me watch it, and its kinda good) of Urban Meyer and Nick Saban. Really. No exaggeration. He gets to hand pick the few 5* wrestling recruits each year, and the other top programs (Ohio State, Okl St, Iowa, Missu, Minn) all scramble for the 4* and the occasional 5* that is an in-state kid. Penn State will win it all this year, and next year... and probably 4-6 years in a row with the redshirt frosh they have this year (Nolf, Nikal) and Mark Hall coming in next year (next Kyle Snyder level Olympic quality kid).
