No. 2 Penn State wrestling took care of business on Sunday afternoon, beating No. 21 Lehigh 23-16 in front of a packed home crowd at Rec Hall.
Despite having a few starters once again out because of illness and multiple reviews by officials more often than not working against the Nittany Lions, Penn State was still able to win thanks to a strong performance through the second half of weight classes.
How It Happened
Starting at 125 pounds, senior Jake Campbell made his debut for Penn State, taking on No. 14 senior Jaret Lane. Campbell kept it close in the first period and went into the second down 2-1, but Lane opened up a 10-3 lead in the third and went on to score an 11-3 major decision to give the Mountain Hawks an early 4-0 lead.
At 133 pounds, top-ranked senior Roman Bravo-Young took on Lehigh sophomore Sheldon Seymour. Bravo-Young scored three takedowns in the first period, including a counter on a Seymour shot, to take a 6-2 lead. The defending national champion was aggressive in the second and third periods, picking up six more takedowns and a riding time point for a 19-7 major decision that tied the match at 4-4.
Senior and No. 1 Nick Lee met Lehigh junior Connor McGonagle in the 141-pound bout. Lee quickly took McGonagle down and scored back points as the Nittany Lion built up 2:30 in riding time. A stalling call on McGonagle gave Lee a 5-0 lead heading into the second. A McGonagle reversal at the start of the second cut into the lead, but Lee responded with a reversal of his own. After McGonagle scored an escape point, Lee got in for another takedown and finished the second period on top with a 9-3 lead and 3:46 in riding time.
An escape and takedown in the third gave Lee a 12-3 lead with the extra riding time point in hand, but McGonagle didn’t give up, scoring on a high double with 20 seconds left to prevent a major decision. The 13-6 decision was Lee’s 100th career victory and Penn State took a 7-4 lead in the dual meet.
At 149 pounds, Nittany Lion sophomore and No. 20 Beau Bartlett faced Mountain Hawk sophomore Manzona Bryant IV. Bartlett had a quick takedown in the first period and with an escape and a takedown in the second opened up a 5-1 lead. Bryant, however, would narrow that to 5-3 with a reversal before the period ended.
The third period would be the most interesting of the day to that point. Bryant scored an escape to pull within one and got in for a takedown with 25 seconds left on the clock to take a 6-5 lead. Bartlett appeared to have an escape with three seconds remaining, but the point was not awarded and Lehigh tied the match at 7-7 with Bryant’s 6-5 upset decision
Junior Tony Negron made his Penn State dual debut in the 157-pound bout, taking on No. 10 Josh Humphreys. Negron got out front early, getting in on a low double for a takedown in the first period. After a Humphreys escape, Negron had a near takedown before the end of the period, but Penn State lost another review by the officials and the takedown was not awarded to Negron. After an escape and a takedown out of a scramble, Humphreys took a 4-2 lead into the third period.
In the final period, Penn State finally had a review by the officials work in its favor as Rec Hall’s crowd erupted when Negron was awarded a takedown. Humphreys escaped to take a 5-4 lead.
Negron rolled through for another takedown to give him a 6-5 lead with under 10 seconds left in the bout, but after review, the takedown was revoked, and Humphreys came out on top 5-4. Lehigh led 10-7.
As Lehigh led halfway through, the 165-pound bout saw No. 32 Creighton Edsell against senior and No. 27 Brian Meyer of Lehigh. A scoreless first period was followed by an Edsell escape in the second. Meyer took down to start the third and got the escape to it at 1-1, but not before Edsell got up to 1:23 in riding time. That extra point was enough to give Edsell a 2-1 decision and tie dual score at 10-10.
Penn State redshirt sophomore and No. 1 Carter Starocci took on Jake Logan at 174 pounds. Starocci had two takedowns in the first period, including a textbook single-leg, giving him a 4-1 lead and 1:23 in riding time. Starocci extended the lead with two more takedowns to end the second period up 9-2 with 2:17 in riding time. Picking up a quick takedown in the third period, Starocci built a comfortable lead and secured a riding time point. Following his 13-3 major decision victory, Penn State took the lead in the dual score 14-10.
Nittany Lion sophomore Donovon Ball filled in for top-ranked Aaron Brooks at 184, facing off against Lehigh’s AJ Burkhart. Ball got in on a low single for a takedown and ended the first period up 2-1. Burkhart tied it with an escape in the second, but another Ball takedown followed by an escape gave the Nittany Lion a 4-3 lead heading into the final period. Ball took down to start the third and fought off Burkhart for an escape and a 5-3 lead with less than a minute remaining. Ball had a takedown taken away but fended off Burkhart’s late shots and emerged with a 5-3 decision to extend the Penn State lead to 17-10.
At 197 pounds, Nittany Lion junior Max Dean, ranked No. 4, controlled the bout against Lehigh’s JT Davis. Dean got a first period takedown and four near fall points to take a 6-0 lead before finally pinning Davis at the 2:58 mark. The win clinched the dual victory for Penn State, giving it a 23-10 lead.
With Greg Kerkvliet out with an illness, Penn State forfeited the heavyweight bout, giving No. 10 Jordan Wood the victory for Lehigh. The Nittany Lions won the dual 23-16.
What’s Next?
The Nittany Lions won’t have any action for just over two weeks. They’ll return to the mat for the Collegiate Wrestling Duals on Monday, Dec. 20 in Niceville, Florida. Cael Sanderson’s group is set to take on University of Northern Iowa and Cornell.
StateCollege.com’s Geoff Rushton contributed to this story.
