By Katie Blitz
Onward State staff writer
Rapid Recap: Iowa 22, Penn State 16
How it Happened: Penn State faced its toughest opponent of the season thus far in third-ranked Iowa. Penn State faced a stacked lineup in its first three bouts with No. 2 Nico Megaludis facing top-ranked Matt McDonough at 125, unranked Jordan Conaway against No. 2 Tony Ramos at 133 and unranked Bryan Pearsall facing No. 8 Mark Bellweg.
Ramos pinned Conaway and Bellweg won on a major decision. No. 8 Andrew Alton faced unranked Brody Grothus and gave Penn State a major decision and its first win of the match.
No. 5 Dylan Alton faced top-ranked Derek St. John and lost on a decision, despite leading with 30 seconds left in the bout. Penn State was down, 19-9 going into halftime.
No. 2 David Taylor started the second half with a technical fall against No. 13 Nick Moore. No. 4 Matt Brown faced No. 6 Mike Evans and was upset, 4-3. Top-ranked Ed Ruth had a 21-10 major decision but couldn’t get a technical fall to get Penn State within reach of Iowa.
No. 3 Quentin Wright took on No. 19 Nathan Burak and won, 8-3, but fell short of a major decision.
No. 17 Jon Gingrich faced pressure needing just a decision win against No. 6 Bobby Telford. Gingrich had previously beat No. 4 Michael McClure, of Minnesota, but Gingrich was dominated by Telford the entire match, losing 9-2.
Bout of the Match: No. 4 Matt Brown faced No. 6 Mike Evans and wrestled to a scoreless tie going into the second period. Brown started down in the second period and worked a reversal on Evans to lead, 2-0.
Evans escaped as time ran out in the second period. Evans started down again in the third to tie the bout at two. Evans received a takedown as the two battled for control over each other on the mat with 40 seconds left. Brown escaped with 15 seconds but could not take down Evans and lost, 4-3.
Stat of the Match: This is Penn State’s first loss since Nov. 20, 2011 against Minnesota. Additionally, Ed Ruth was only taken down for the fourth time in a dual all season.
What it Means: Losing to Iowa in Iowa is not a huge loss for Penn State. Iowa’s home crowd is intense, but Penn State dominates in tournament style competition, which will be the type of competition that Penn State will have in the postseason, when it will go for its third straight NCAA championship. There were no huge upsets in the match, but Iowa dominated in bonus points.
On Deck: At 2 p.m. Sunday, Penn State will face No. 6 Illinois in Champaign.
Updated at 11:18
285 bout – No. 17 Jon Gingrich had a lot of pressure against No. 6 Bobby Telford. If Gingrich earned a decision, Penn State would have come from behind to knock off the Hawkeyes at Iowa.
Telford had the first takedown more than a minute into the bout and rode him out for the first period.
Gingrich started down in the second period and was later called for stalling to give Telford a 3-0 lead. Telford rode Gingrich out to end the second period.
Telford started down in the third. Telford escaped to extend his lead, 4-0. Telford took down Gingrich, and Gingrich reversed Telford to close the lead to 6-2. Telford reversed Gingrich to win, 9-2.
Iowa 22, Penn State 16
Updated at 11:04 p.m.
197 bout – No. 3 Quentin Wright took No. 19 Nathan Burak down a minute into the match. Wright tried to add extra points, but Burak escaped to end the first period, 2-1.
Wright started down and immediately escaped. Wright took down Burak but went out of bounds. On the restart, Burak escaped. Burak looked to take Wright down, but Wright countered with a takedown. Burak attempted to escape, but time ran out in the second period.
Burak started down in the third and escaped. Wright won, 8-3 after the riding time point but did not clinch the major decision.
Iowa 19, Penn State 16
Updated at 10:54 p.m.
184 bout – Top-ranked Ruth took down unranked Gambrall within seconds to lead 2-0 early in the first period. Gambrall escaped a minute later and took down Ruth.
Ruth escaped and took down Gambrall to lead, 5-3 going into the second. Gambrall started down and escaped a minute into the period. Ruth took him down again. The bout restarted and Gambrall escaped. Ruth added another takedown and the bout went out of bounds.
On the restart Gambrall escaped again. Ruth added a fifth takedown to lead, 11-6 before time ran out in the second period. Ruth started down in the third period and quickly escaped. Ruth added four take downs to win a 21-10 major decision.
Iowa 19, Penn State 13
Updated at 10:42 p.m.
174 bout – No. 4 Matt Brown and No. 6 Mike Evans fought for the first two-and-half minutes before Evans attempted to take Brown down. Brown put Evans on his stomach and a stalemate was called. The first period ended with no score.
Brown started down in the second period and turned Evans into a reversal. Brown was awarded an escape as the two went out of bounds.
Evans started down in the third and added the escape point to tie the match at two. Evans received a takedown as the two battled for control over each other on the mat with 40 seconds left. Brown escaped with 15 seconds but could not take down Evans and lost, 4-3.
Iowa 19, Penn State 9
Updated at 10:32 p.m.
165 bout – No. 2 David Taylor gets the first takedown against Nick Moore a minute into the match. Moore escaped with 40 seconds left in the bout.
Taylor had a second takedown with 15 seconds left in the period and rode him out. Moore chose down and escaped quickly for an escape point, but Taylor took him down again and tilted him to add four back points and two near fall points.
Taylor added three more back points to end the second period leading, 13-2. Taylor started down in the third. Taylor escaped and immediately took down Moore. Taylor received near fall points with 15 seconds left in the bout giving Taylor the technical fall and cutting Iowa’s lead down to 16-9.
Iowa 16, Penn State 9
Updated at 10:10 p.m.
157 bout – No. 5 Dylan Alton faced top-ranked Derek St. John for the third time in his career. The first period ended with no score. St. John started down in the second and received an escape point.
Alton grabbed St. John’s ankle for the first takedown of the bout. St. John tied the bout up for an escape point which would result in a 2-2 score going into the final period.
Alton started down in the third and immediately escaped. Alton attempted a takedown, but neither wrestler was able to gain complete control of each other.
With 30 seconds left, St. John was given the takedown points. With 18 seconds left, the bout was restarted. Alton attempted an escape, but St. John threw Alton to the ground. With eight seconds left, the match was restarted again after going out of bounds. St. John rode Alton out for the eight seconds to win, 4-3.
Iowa 16, Penn State 4
Updated at 9:15
149 bout – No. 8 Andrew Alton took Brody Grothus down immediately and added three near fall points to quickly lead, 5-0.
Grothus received an escape point, but Alton quickly took Grothus down again. Grothus escaped again, but Alton took Grothus down and added three back points. Grothus escaped as time ran out in the first period.
Grothus took down and escaped to start the second. Alton took him down, and Grothus escaped again. With 30 seconds left in the second period, Alton took Grothus down and restarted after going off the mat.
Grothus escaped on the restart and led, 16-6 going into the final period. Alton chose to start the third neutral. Grothus had a takedown with less than 45 seconds left. Alton escaped and won a 18-8 major decision to give Penn State its first win of the match.
Iowa 13, Penn State 4
Updated at 9:45 p.m.
141 bout – Unranked Bryan Pearsall faced No. 8 Mark Ballweg. Pearsall stopped time because of an apparent eye injury 45 seconds into the first round. Pearsall attempted to take down Ballweg, but he turned it to his advantage and got the takedown while time ran out in the first period to lead, 2-0.
Pearsall started down in the second period and attempted a reversal, but Ballweg turned Pearsall for back points to lead, 4-0. Ballweg added more back points while Pearsall escaped and Ballweg led, 7-1.
Pearsall escaped from down in the third, but Ballweg quickly took him down again. Pearsall attempted an escape, but Ballweg added four near fall points to win, 12-2.
Iowa 13, Penn State 0
Updated at 9:30 p.m.
133 bout – Unranked Jordan Conaway was against No. 2 Tony Ramos, who took down Conaway two minutes into the first period before Conaway escaped. Ramos took Conaway down again with more than 30 seconds left in the period. Conaway attempted to escape, but Ramos threw Conaway down against the mat. Conaway started down and escaped to gain a point. Ramos took Conaway down twice more and pinned Conaway with 45 seconds left in the second period.
Iowa 9, Penn State 0
Updated at 9:26 p.m.
125 bout – No. 2 Nico Megaludis and top-ranked Matt McDonough grappled throughout the first period with no score. McDonough took the bottom and attempted to reverse Megaludis but the referees called for a restart.
McDonough received an escape point. McDonough attempted a takedown, but time ran out in the second period before he received the points. Megaludis took down to begin the third period, where he was given an escape point.
Megaludis almost took down McDonough before time ran out. Megaludis and McDonough went into sudden victory for the third time against each other in their careers (in last year’s Big Ten dual meet as well as the finals of the NCAA championship). Megaludis almost had a takedown right before the end of the sudden victory.
In overtime, Megaludis could not escape from bottom. McDonough escaped in the next overtime from bottom to win, 2-1.
Iowa 3, Penn State 0
Earlier at 7 p.m.
Top-ranked Penn State wrestling faces No. 3 Iowa at 9 Friday night on the Big Ten Network. Of the 10 weight classes, Iowa has nine ranked probable starters to Penn State’s eight ranked probable starters in this marquee matchup.
Iowa’s two top-ranked wrestlers are Matt McDonough at 125, who will face No. 2 Nico Megaludis, and Derek St. John, who will likely face No. 5 Dylan Alton.
Penn State’s weak spot will be at 133 with unranked Jordan Conaway facing No. 2 Tony Ramos, while Penn State, on paper, has the upper hand against Iowa in the 149-pound weight class with No. 8 Andrew Alton facing either Michael Kelly or Brody Grothus, who are both unranked.
Top-ranked Ed Ruth and No. 3 Quentin Wright both face considerably lower ranked wrestlers, as well.
