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Penn State Wrestling

February 5, 2012 by · Comments Off on Penn State Wrestling 

Penn State Wrestling, Friday night’s Big Ten wrestling dual between No. 2 Penn State and No. 7 Nebraska started at a weight class different from what the Nittany Lions were used to, but the results were no different, as Penn State won eight of 10 bouts in another dominating win, 31-6, against the Cornhuskers.

Penn State never trailed in the dual, which began through random draw at 174 pounds. There, No. 2 Ed Ruth showed Tyler Kohen the lights at the 5:58 mark of the third period to give Penn State a 6-0 lead. No. 2 Quentin Wright’s 9-6 decision over Nebraska’s seventh-ranked Josh Ihnen, 9-6, followed. Wright quickly took a 5-1 lead with a shoulder throw; that resulted in three near-fall points. He used another takedown, an escape and a riding-time point to hold off Ihnen late.

The most surprising match of the night came when Matt Brown stepped up to fill in for a healthy scratch in Morgan McIntosh at 197 pounds, moving up 23 pounds in the process to take on Nebraska’s James Nakiashima.

“Coach told me I was going to go during Quentin’s match, so that’s when I found out I’d be wrestling tonight,” Brown told the Penn State Sports Network after the match.

The first period went scoreless before Nakiashima scored the first point of the match with an explosive escape off the whistle to start the second period. The score stayed that way until Brown used an escape of his own after choosing to start the third period down to tie the score at one early in the final period.

Brown missed on two near-takedowns and rolled through a Nakiashima counter that nearly resulted in a takedown for the Cornhusker. Their face-off continued with the two rolling out of bounds and a re-set at center circle with 42 seconds left in the match.

Brown shot again off the whistle and continued to pressure Nakiashima, so much so that it forced Nakiashima to pick up his second stall warning. Brown fought off a spirited takedown effort at the end to win a tight match, 2-1.

Brown said he could feel Nakiashima getting fatigued in the third period, which was part of the reason he shot so often.

“When you feel the other guy getting fatigued, that gives you more momentum, ’cause you feel the other guy getting weak,” Brown said. “I wanted to finish the takedown, but I got the stall call instead.”

The rest of the bout went as expected with Cameron Wade, Nico Megaludis, Frank Molinaro and David Taylor picking up victories. Dylan Alton, ranked No. 7, also earned a hard-fought overtime victory over sixth-ranked James Green, 2-1.

Alton and Green tied at one after each earned an escape through the first three periods, then headed to sudden victory. Alton was nearly taken down with seconds remaining in the first sudden victory period but squared his shoulders up just long enough to move back into a neutral position, send the match into an overtime ride-out period.

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