No. 2 Penn State wrestling (3-0) dominated Army West Point (0-1) 32-7 on Thursday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions posted two major decisions and three technical falls en route to their third win of the young season.
Cael Sanderson’s group dropped just two bouts, while Roman Bravo-Young, Beau Bartlett, Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks, among several others, helped lead the charge in front of the first full home crowd since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. RBY earned a technical fall early, while Starocci and Max Dean did the same later in the dual to help solidify a win for the Nittany Lions in this season’s home opener.
How It Happened
Penn State sophomore Baylor Shunk, making his Rec Hall dual meet debut, opened things up in the 125-pound bout against Army’s Ryan Chauvin. The Centre Hall native scored an early takedown to the delight of the packed home crowd, and never looked back from there. Shunk accumulated 3:24 in riding time and finished with a 8-4 decision to open the dual and give the Nittany Lions a 3-0 lead.
No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young did his thing at 133 pounds. The defending national champion score 10 points and racked up 1:23 in riding time in the first period against Army’s Dominic Carone, and made an incredible reversal to finish the second. Bravo-Young hit Carone with a ridiculous leapfrog move to finish with a 26-11 technical fall with 24 seconds left in the final period.
With top-ranked Nick Lee getting the night off, Brandon Meredith moved up a weight to 141 for the Nittany Lions to take on No. 29 Corey Shie of Army. Meredith went down 2-0 and gave up 1:46 in riding time after the first period, but held his own in the second and earned a takedown in the third. That wasn’t enough, however, as the Limerick, Pa. native eventually fell in a 5-2 decision.
No. 27 Beau Bartlett helped the Nittany Lions bounce back against No. 20 P.J. Ogunsanya at 149 pounds. After a scoreless first period, Bartlett took a 1-0 lead with a second-period escape. Ogunsanya evened it with an escape in the third and the pair entered a two-minute sudden victory period tied at one. After an intense battle, the Nittany Lion sophomore completed an electric takedown late in the extra time to finish the bout with a 3-1 decision.
At 157, Nittany Lion sophomore Terrell Barraclough dropped his season debut to No. 32 Markus Hartman, who won with a 9-0 major decision to cut Penn State’s lead to 11-7 lead at intermission.
No. 32 Creighton Edsell opened the second half of the meet against Army’s Christian Hunt in the 165-pound bout. The pair went to the final period tied 2-2, but In the final seconds Edsell scored a decisive takedown to win a 4-3 decision.
With Penn State up 14-7, No. 1 Carter Starocci took the mat to take on Army’s Clayton Fielden. The defending champion sophomore out of Erie quickly earned a 2-0 lead in the 174-bout on a perfect takedown. From there, Starocci pulled away to a 10-2 lead and 1:18 in riding time after the first period. The domination continued for the rest of the bout, as Starocci earned a 23-5 technical fall with four seconds left in the bout.
No. 1 Aaron Brooks, one of the Nittany Lions’ four top-ranked wrestlers nationally, kept the good times rolling at 184 pounds against No. 28 Brad Laughlin. Brooks went up 11-3 with 1:51 in riding time after two periods, and after nine takedowns and plenty of Rec Hall requests for stalling in the third period, finished with a 21-7 major decision.
After Brooks and Starocci’s dominating performances, Penn State held a 23-7 lead with two bouts left.
No. 4 Max Dean made his Rec Hall debut for Penn State at 197 pounds against No. 21 JT Brown. Dean, an All-American Cornell transfer, jumped out to a 2-1 lead with 47 seconds of riding time, and after a few more takedowns took a 9-1 lead into the final period. Dean took care of Brown in the third, as he won with a 17-1 technical fall at the 6:49 mark.
Nittany Lion sophomore Greg Kerkvliet, ranked No. 5, took the mat against Brandon Phillips to finish the dual with the 285-pound bout. Kerkvliet accrued more than five minutes of riding time and six takedowns to handle Phillips with ease in a 13-3 major decision.
That final victory handed the Nittany Lions the 32-7 win at Rec Hall.
What’s Next?
Penn State will hit the road after Thanksgiving for a dual in Philadelphia against Penn at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3.
