The Penn State wrestling team just walked into the most storied wrestling program's back yard and walked away with a 21-18 victory… give me a dancin' monkey!!!
First, as a matter of bookkeeping, I'll tell you that Penn State shut out rival Lehigh 33-0 on Friday night. The Nittany Lions won the battle of takedowns by a 26-4 margin. It was total dominance.
But enough of that, onto Sunday afternoon. For those of you that are unfamiliar with wrestling let me give you some stats to prove how dominant Oklahoma State is in wrestling. OSU has 34 championships; that's more national titles than any other school has in any other sport. From 2003 to 2006 they won four straight national titles and they almost won a fifth last year but were edged out by Minnesota. They're great every year and they were ranked #3 going into Sunday's match.
When the dust settled Penn State and Oklahoma State each had five wins but the difference was, and usually is, bonus points and Penn State managed two falls from super Sophomore Bubba Jenkins (ranked #4) and cradle master Phil Davis who just recently regained his #1 ranking. While Jenkins' and Davis' pins were so important it was equally important that Penn State not give up bonus points in bouts they were outmatched and two freshmen came through. At 133 freshmen Mike Eagen, filling in for an injured Tim Haas faced the #1 ranked wrestler in the nation but managed to only give up an 8-2 regular decision. At 141, highly touted true freshman Garrett Scott got his first real action as a Nittany Lion because 3rd ranked Jake Strayer was injured. Scott faced the sixth ranked wrestler and lost by a slim 6-3 decision and was the aggressor most of the match.
The marquee matchup was No. 10 ranked Dan Vallimont vs. No. 20 Newly McSpadden at 157, the only matchup of two ranked wrestlers. McSpadden got the early takedown but Vallimont got a quick reversal and rode the McSpadden out to end the first period. Vallimont was the aggressor for most of the bout and managed a bout-clinching takedown late in the third and walked away with a 5-4 win.
Penn State is off until Jan 4th when No. 16 Cornell comes to Rec Hall for a 7p.m. dual. Ranked #5, Penn State is sure to move up in the polls after this impressive win.
Bout by bout scoring
125: #6 Mark McKnight PSU dec. Ben Ashmore OSU, 4-3 | 3-0 |
133: #1 Coleman Scott OSU dec. Mike Eagen PSU, 8-2 | 3-3 |
141: #6 Nathan Morgan OSU dec. Garrett Scott PSU, 6-3 | 3-6 |
149: #4 Bubba Jenkins PSU pinned Mike Bizzle OSU, WBF (6:42) | 9-6 |
157: #10 Dan Vallimont PSU dec. #20 Newly McSpadden OSU, 5-4 | 12-6 |
165: #12 Jake Dieffenbach OSU maj. dec. Dave Rella PSU, 13-4 | 12-10 |
174: #4 Brandon Mason OSU maj. dec. David Erwin PSU, 8-0 | 12-14 |
184: #19 Phil Bomberger PSU dec. Cody Hill, 8-5 | 15-14 |
197: #1 Phil Davis PSU pinned Clayton Foster OSU, WBF 5:50 | 21-14 |
HWT: #8 Jared Rosholt OSU maj. dec. Stefan Tighe PSU, 9-0 | 21-18 |
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2 comments:
Hey Galen,
What's the story on the modified format that was used in the Lehigh match?
Yeah, I saw that you mentioned that in the other post but I really have no idea what that was all about. That's the first time I've seen that, I guess I'll have to do some research.
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