Wrestling Wreport: the Lock Haven Edition

by Galen on Dec 17, 2011 12:00 PM EST in Wrestling

This photo of Frank Molinaro gouging out an opponents eye is now BSD's official wrestling pic for the year. I will use it liberally. (photo:BSD/Galen)

Penn State travels to Thomas Field house to take on longtime neighborhood rival Lock Haven, Sunday at 2PM. It will be the last dual meet of 2011 and a tune-up for the Southern Scuffle beginning January 1st in Chattanooga, Tenn. The 30-team, two-day event will be a team scored tournament which will include powerhouses Cornell, Minnesota, and Missouri. Penn State does not wrestle a home match until January 22nd when Iowa comes to town.

Match-ups

Wt.	Penn State	Lock Haven
125:	#15 Nico Megaludis PSU	Bobby Rehm
133:	Derek Reber PSU,	John Trumbetti
141:	Bryan Pearsall PSU	#14 Matt Bonson
149:	#1 Frank Molinaro PSU	Owen Wilkenson
157:	#10 Dylan Alton PSU	Aaron Fry
165:	#1 David Taylor PSU	Seth Creasy
174:	#2 Ed Ruth PSU	Aaron McKinney
184:	#5 Quentin Wright PSU,	Zach Heffner
197:	#10 Morgan McIntosh	Matt Parlier
285:	#8 Cameron Wade PSU,	Harry Turner

Past Results

Last Year Penn State destroyed Lock Haven, shutting out the Bald Eagles 48-0. Penn State leads the all-time series 33-4.

Tough Match-ups

LHU's best wrestlers are Bobby Rehm at 125 and Matt Bonson at 141. While Bonson is the only ranked Bald Eagle, Rehm is no slouch. Both of them finished 3rd recently in the Body Bar Invitational hosted by Cornell. Rehm is a 2011 PSAC Champ and will be a good match for Megaludis. Outside of those two, the prospects don't look very good for Lock Haven.

Absolute Locks

Last season Molinaro had a tech fall over Owen Wilkenson at 149, I don't expect anything different this year. Taylor did the same thing to Seth Creasy except they were both at 157. Both move up a weight but other than that, nothing has changed, Taylor will dominate. Cameron Wade pinned Harry Turner in just over 2 minutes last season and Wade has a way of dominating unranked wrestlers. Six of LHU's wrestlers have a .500 or worse record including 3 out of the last 4 weights, right in Penn State's wheelhouse. This won't be close.

Predictions

I'm not sure if Sam Sherlock will be back for the Nittany Lions so it's possible Bryan Pearsall will have to wrestle for him again. I don't think it matters, whoever wrestles for Penn State will probably lose to Bonson. Rehm is decent but he's not at Nico's level. Look for Bonson to be the only win for Lock Haven and there will be plenty of bonus points for the Lions.

Penn State 42 - Loch Haven 3

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Comments

Have you heard anything about whether Martellotti is eligible this week. I know Byers mentioned briefly last week that he could be eligible for this weeks if his grades were submitted in time.

by psuwresfan on Dec 17, 2011 12:04 PM EST reply actions

No

Can’t find anything on message boards and none of my wrestling fan friends have mentioned anything about it. Does the new semester officially start or did I miss something?

by Galen on Dec 17, 2011 12:30 PM EST up reply actions

From what was said during last week’s match. He’s eligible once the semester is over and his grades are in. That is assuming his grades are high enough, which from what I understand was expected to be the case.

by psuwresfan on Dec 17, 2011 3:56 PM EST up reply actions