Ed Ruth got the night off in Orem, Utah, on Saturday night, but he was the only Nittany Lion who traveled to Utah and found some time to rest. Penn State won nine of ten bouts to cruise to a 39-3 victory over Utah Valley.

Matt Brown, a Utah native, got the nod at 174 pounds to wrestle in front of his home-state crowd. He wrestled with a Ruth-like intensity, scoring five takedowns, two near-fall points and an impressive 3:11 in riding time to clinch a 13-3 major decision over Monte Schmalhaus. That gave Penn State a 9-0 lead after two bouts.

A preliminary match that saw Penn State’s red-shirt freshman Jon Gingrich score a major decision of his own, 13-2, over Utah Valley’s Zac Jensen, led the start of the contest, which began through random draw at 165 pounds.

David Taylor was all business right from the opening whistle in the meet’s opening bout, as he built a 4-1 first-period lead before catching the Wolverine’s Ethan Smith on a counter shot. Once Taylor gained full control, the Penn State sophomore earned a fall seconds later at the 2:42 mark of the first period.

After Brown earned his third victory in three matches, Quentin Wright scored his second fall in two weekends, again using the standing headlock throw he used to win by fall a weekend ago. He decked Utah Valley’s David Prieto at the 4:46 mark of the second period after building up an 8-1 lead on the strength of three takedowns, an escape and two near-fall points.

With Penn State leading, 16-0, heading into the 197-pound bout, Morgan McIntosh made his return to the line-up after taking two matches off to allow his injured right knee to heal. The rust showed early, as Brian Chamberlain took a 3-1 lead into the third period. However, McIntosh was resilient and escaped off the third-period whistle to pull within a point, and then countered a Chamberlain shot, dove behind him and took his first lead of the match, 4-3.

McIntosh was hit with a stall warning with seven seconds left, forcing a reset. But Chamberlain could not complete a low single shot, allowing McIntosh to hang on for the nail-biting victory. Following McIntosh, Cameron Wade won by fall at heavyweight in 1:15 against Dustin Dennison to give Penn State a 25-0 lead.

There was just one bout on the card that featured ranked wrestlers, making the 149-pound showdown between No.1 Frank Molinaro and No.1 4 Josh Wilson the bout of the night.

Molinaro shot and scored first in the opening period against the lone ranked Wolverine, hitting a high single-leg shot to take a 2-0 lead. He rode Wilson out the remaining two minutes of the first period, which was just a preview of what was to come next.

With Wilson getting to chose his position to start the second period, he inexplicably chose down. Molinaro punished him for it, as he repeatedly drove Wilson to the mat for the entire three minutes of the second period with a powerful ride that has become his signature through four years at Penn State.

Leading, 2-0, heading to the third, Molinaro quickly escaped off the opening whistle, then toyed with Chamberlain until he took him down again to give himself a 5-0 cushion. Another powerful ride closed out the period, with Molinaro winning, 6-0, with 4:53 in riding time.

Nico Megaludis and Bryan Pearsall each posted major-decision victories. Dylan Alton won Penn State’s ninth bout at 157 pounds with a high-scoring, 12-9 decision that saw Alton return to his old ways of scoring takedown after takedown against Napoleon Aniciete.

Frank Martellotti dropped the lone decision for the Nittany Lions, 3-1, in a hard-fought bout with Blake Magnum. That saw the Wolverine connect on a shot with just 20 seconds left, turning Martellotti just enough to break their 1-1 tie and give Utah Valley its lone win of the evening.

Penn State improved to 12-1 on the season, with its final regular season bout of the year coming next Sunday at home against Pittsburgh.

Notes

• Wade’s fall marked the 30th fall of his career in a Penn State singlet, placing him sixth on the all-time falls list.

• Penn State won the takedown battle, 31-6, and scored 12 bonus points.

Related coverage

• StateCollege.com's Penn State wrestling page