Wrestling Wrap Up

I guess some things never change as Penn State continues to be frustratingly inconsistent. They looked like world beaters friday night against an admittedly weakened West Virginia squad then came out flat against Pittsburgh before rallying late for a tie. In contested bouts against ranked wrestlers Penn State was just 1 and 2, 1 and 3 if you include the forfeit against the Pittsburgh 197. 

Friday vs West Viriginia

125: Pataky came out and tried to hit a cement mixer to get Penn State off to a hot start. Young caught him and had him on his back briefly before Pataky rolled through giving up only a takedown. It was really the only scoring Young did however, he kept pressure on Pataky the whole match, and was usually the aggressor which seemed to throw off Pataky. Looking for a major decision late in the match Pataky gave up a takedown and lost his riding time point in the processes which would end up costing the team a point. The end wasn't pretty and it was a sign of things to come. Final Score Pataky 11 5

133: Pearsall wrestled for Penn State instead of Saltsman, but the outcome was basically the same as what I expected with Johnston getting a quick lead and pretty much dominating the whole match. Pearsall was nearly pinned again, which seems to be a regular occurrence anytime he wrestles someone with some level of talent. I don't know how long this carousel is going to last at 133 but it's clear there's no good option here currently. Final Score Johnston 13 4

141: As bad as things are getting at 133 things are slowly getting better at 141. It's clear that Pisani is the guy here and he seems to be improving each week. This bout was a mismatch on paper and Pisani did what he needed dominating from start to finish. He was leading 9 3 heading to the third when he got a reversal that somehow turned into a headlock. It was very confusing listening to it on the radio, so I'm not sure how it happened but Pisani was able to finish it with a pin that got Penn State rolling. Pisani by fall

149: Frank Molinaro came out looking to continue the momentum created by Pisani. He got a takedown midway through the first period and came close to getting back points several times but got nothing more than the 2 0 lead after 1. He did a lot of wrestling but wasn't getting much scoring out of it. He cranked up the pressure even higher in the second and third before taking down Loro to his back to get the fall. 

157 Like I expected Goodman is still pretty terrible on his feet. Sanderson was putting on a takedown clinic before ending the bout quickly with a standing cradle. Not much more to say other than that because it didn't last long. 

165 This was by far the bout of the night and I knew Jones might give Vallimont trouble. He got the first takedown a minute into the match, Vallimont was able to escape quickly and upped the tempo of his attack but was unable to score. Jones went incredibly defensive, I can't imagine he really thought he was gonna hold a 2 1 lead. But then again since the ref wasn't calling him for stalling he might have been able to. In the second period Jones went back on the offensive. After getting an escape to start the period he immediately shot back in and nearly got another takedown. Vallimont then countered a bad shot by Jones to to tie the match at 3. I don't know what was up with Vallimont maybe the pressure of Jones effected him but he didn't seem overly aggressive on his feet which isn't normal for him. Vallimont then added an escape in the 3rd and basically stalled the rest of the period. Again the ref didn't seem to eager to call stalling and only hit Vallimont once. To be fair Jones didn't seem to put much pressure on until the final 30 seconds. Had he started sooner I think the ref would have been forced to call Vallimont for stalling or Vallimont would have been forced to open up more. But in the end Vallimont escaped with a 4 3 win. 

174 This bout was close, but I'm just not to sure about Ortega. He only lost 5 2 with 2 points coming on a counter of desperate sloppy shot by ortega. I've never been a fan of defense first wrestlers, and Ortega definitely falls in that category. And frankly I'm not sure why, he has decent offense from his feet when chooses to be aggressive.  This was a disappointing but not too surprising loss.

184 Erwin continues to look pretty awesome at 184 he absolutely dominated 19th ranked Matt Ryan. The final score was 7 1 but the match wasn't even that close Ryan never came close to scoring. It would have been nice to see Erwin pick up a major decision here. He had to have had close to 3 minutes in riding time. I would have liked to have seen him cut Ryan a few times in the third and get takedowns since he had the riding time point assured. But for now I'll just take that fact that he's wrestling the way many expected him to coming into the season. 

197 Penn State forfeited not much to say but it does sound like Steadman's suspension is over and he'll return this weekend in Reno. 

Hwt This was an interesting bout, Wade was winning the whole way and seemed in control but the final score was only 2 0 and one of those points was a stalling point. He was able to ride Williamson well but didn't produce much offense from it. He needs to be much more aggressive from his feet. Thats where heavyweight matches are won and lost. But what made the match interesting was that for whatever reason Willamson decided to do his best Mike Tyson impression and bit Wade's arm right at the end of the bout. It was strange, Wade got 6 points for the disqualification. And West Virginia lost a team point which put me right on my prediction of 12 points. 

Final Score Penn State 33 West Virginia 12

All in all a pretty good effort hard to argue with the 3 pins. Penn State seemed to come out knowing they were the better team and wanting to dominate. Which is a welcome change from the past when they would often sleep walk through matches like this. 

Then something strange happened on the trip from West Virginia to Pittsburgh and the 2008 Penn State Nittany Lions showed up to wrestle Pittsburgh on Saturday night. Things got off to a rocky start before the team even took the mat. The radio broadcast came on the air and informed everyone that Cameron Wade sprained his ankle in warm ups and was out, luckily Brandon Herlihy was along on the trip and able to fill. But that put Penn State in a huge hole. 


Saturday vs Pittsburgh

125 Things only got worse when the wrestling started. Pataky got a quick takedown against Zanetta, who is a good wrestler but shouldn't really be able to beat Pataky. Pataky then went for a title got countered and nearly got pinned but gave up five points in the process. Down 5 2 I thought Pataky was in ok shape because he had dominated the match up to that point and I thought he'd have no problems making up the three point deficit, I couldn't have been more wrong. Zanetta turned Pataky again, nearly pinning him a second time. After that point it was clear Pataky was not the same he shot in on a weak shot and got countered to make it 10 4 and never really got close again after that. He was able to get a takedown in the third to keep it from a major decision. But this is a bout he easily should have won. Absolutely disgusting performance by Pataky. Sanderson said on his radio show last night that Pataky sometimes thinks to much, and that he learned a valuable lesson this weekend but wouldn't explain what that lesson was.  Weekend Grade: D

133 With the loss at 125 Penn State was going to need an upset somewhere along the line to have a chance it quickly became clear it wasn't going to come at 133. Conroy got a takedown 10 seconds into the bout then rode Pearsall the entire rest of the first period to pick two minutes and 50 seconds in riding time. Which is absurd there is no way you can be a college wrestler and be that bad on bottom. Pearsall never got into this bout, losing 7 -3. Penn State has a long way to go at this weight, Cael basically said as much during his radio show this week. He also stated that this is the only weight where there is no longer a clear starter.  Weekend Grade: F

141 This was a match where I didn't really think Pisani would be able to be Nauman again but it got even tougher when Pisani injured his ribs friday against West Virginia. But Pisani wrestled really tough again this weekend against Nauman. Pisani was aggressive and in the match early. Most of Nauman's points came in the 3rd period when Pisani tried to get a reversal and put himself in bad position giving up three back points. It was a tough 5 2 loss. Pisani is really starting to come on strong and I think if he continues to progress he could break the top 20 soon.  Weekend Grade B

149 With Penn State already in a 9 0 hole they need big points in a hurry. This bout got off to a rocky start Albright got a quick takedown off the whistle to jump out to an early lead. He then got his second takedown countering a Molinaro shot. Frank than hurt his elbow on a scramble, down 4 2 it looked like he may injury default as he used almost all of his injury time. But he returned to wrestled and seemed to be a lot more focused and agitated after the injury. He was simply dominate in the 2nd and 3rd periods getting penn state a much needed major decision and turning the momentum back in their favor. It was good to see Molinaro battle through the pain and finish strong I'm not sure he would have done that a year ago.  Weekend Grade A

157 Sanderson came clearly trying to get Penn State back into the dual meet. He had 4 takedowns in the first period alone, while giving up a fluke takedown. From there the rout was on Sanderson spent a minute or so in the final period trying to get back points but was unable to do so. Smartly when he was unable to get backs he let Powell up and took him down two more times to get the four point tech fall. Cyler has been as good if not better than advertised. And you can see his attitude starting to rub off on the other middleweights.  Weekend Grade A

165 This was a vintage Dan Vallimont match nothing to flash just solid consistent workmanlike effort. He doesn't do anything remarkable but in the end he scored 16 points aided by a four takedowns in the second period, three coming in the final 50 seconds of the period. He's starting to look more and more like the Vallimont of old which will be a big boost to Penn State's chance in March.  Weekend Grade B

174 Ortega was able to get the upset Penn State needed to have a chance in the match but it wasn't always pretty. The two wrestlers exchanged escapes but that was about it until Ortega countered a shot late in the match to pick up the win. It was a huge win for Penn State and I'm glad Ortega won but it would have been nice to see some urgency out there with dual meet on the line.  Weekend Grade C

184 Penn State badly needed bonus points to have a chance to win and Erwin delivered. He was agressive from start to finish. He was close several times to getting back points or a pin but was unable to finish on any of the chances. Looks like he might finally be reaching his potential we've all heard about for the past 4 years. He starting to look more and more like  he could be an all american candidate at 184 pounds, although 184 is extremely deep this year.  Weekend Grade A

197 Forfeit for Penn State

Hwt With Cameron Wade out with a sprained ankle Penn State was really up against it in this one needing to keep it to a decision loss to win the dual meet. Brandon Herlihy filled in admirably but he was incredibly over matched in this bout. It looked for awhile like he might pull it off but he gave up a stalling point and a takedown in the final 20 seconds of the bout. It was a great effort but it would have been nice to see him have the wrestling smarts to at least take a shot to ward off the stall call. Weekend Grade Wade C / Herlihy B

Final Score Penn State 19 Pittsburgh 19

I thought Penn State would have trouble winning coming in, and then to start the way they did I thought the match was as good as over. It was a great effort by the middle weights to spark the comeback and give Penn State a chance. But in the end you can't help but be disappointed with the lightweights especially Pataky's loss at 125. 

This weekend Penn State will head to the Reno Tournament of Champions. This should be a good individual test for a lot of guys. Wade won't make the trip due to his sprained ankle, but Crowell will got at either 184/197 and will count towards the Penn State team score which should be interesting. Clay Steadman will also return after being suspended last weekend.  I'm a bit surprised even though a team can take 13 guys(only 10 count towards the team score) Cael is not taking both guys at 133. 

Some interesting potential match ups for Penn State's ranked wrestlers
125: #6 Brad Pataky
 #2 Anthony Robles
#7 Eric Morrill
#10 Mike Martinez

149: #9 Frank Molinaro
#6 Jason Chamberlain
#14 Albert White

157: #3 Cyler Sanderson 
#5 Adam Hall
#7  Chase Pami
#9 Neil Erisman
#10 Thomas Scotton

165 #9 Dan Vallimont
#1 Jarrod King
#7 Alex Meade
#10 Shane Onufer

184 #14 Dave Erwin
#4 Kirk Smith
#7 Joe LeBlanc
#11 Clayton Foster

Sanderson is the highest ranked wrestler at 57 but that bracket is going to be a gauntlet if he comes out of this with a title that will be a pretty big statement. At 165 Dan Vallimont could get his chance at a rematch with Jarrod King who narrowly beat him at the Sprawl and Brawl duals. A potential semifinal bout with Meade should be interesting style wise. At 184 Erwin will finally get a chance to prove himself against some of the big boys. No matter how this tournament shakes out it's loaded with ranked wrestlers so we should know a lot more about Penn State after this weekend.