Quentin Wright referred to the beginning of Penn State’s second half like a snowball gaining momentum as it rolls downhill.
Not much has stood in the way of that snowball as Penn State has rolled off five straight dual wins to start the New Year. But a snowball may slow Penn State’s momentum literally if the team has to deal with expected snowy conditions this weekend in Omaha, from which the team will try to return to State College for Sunday’s dual with Michigan.
But first things first. Penn State must deal Friday evening with a pesky Nebraska team that comes into the dual at 14-1 and searching for its fifth straight win.
“We’re not going to take them lightly, because they’re a solid team with a lot of ranked guys,” Penn State’s 149-pounder Frank Molinaro said.
“I’ve watched them a couple of times on Big Ten Network, and they just shut out Wisconsin,’ he said. ‘So we have to take this one just like it’s Iowa or Minnesota or anyone else.”
Nebraska presents a different style of wrestling that focuses on working from the feet as opposed to the mat, something Penn State hasn’t seen much this season.
“They’re slick on their feet, and like to shoot out in the open and shoot for double leg takedowns,” Molinaro said.
“So we have to do a good job of hand fighting and close the gap in those matches.”
The Cornhuskers will bring six ranked wrestlers into the bout, but not one of them resides in the 125-pound weight class — a surprise sighting for Nico Megaludis, who has wrestled ranked opponents seemingly every bout this season.
However, Megaludis said, ranking or not, every bout is the same.
“I approach every match the same way; whether the guy is ranked or not doesn’t matter,’ he said. ‘I just have to go out and do what I do and score points.”
A pair of bouts should headline the contest. They come back to back at 157 pounds, where Penn State redshirt freshman Dylan Alton, ranked sixth, will square off with seventh-ranked James Green, who stands at 25-3 on the season, and at 165 pounds, where first-ranked David Taylor will draw sixth-ranked Robert Kokesh.
Neither Alton nor Green is a winner by fall often, meaning the bout should have plenty of points.
“I’m just going to go out there and wrestle and do what I have to do to get the W,” Alton said.
Alton has had seven bouts so far this season decided in the third period, but the late push for a victory doesn’t faze him.
“I’d rather be up by four or five points going into the third period, but I’m just going after it,” Alton said.
Late in the season, injuries haven’t been much of a problem for the Nittany Lions. Nor has conditioning, and Penn State coach Cael Sanderson doesn’t see the quick turnaround this weekend, especially with the first match on the road, as an issue.
“Our guys are just so good at watching their weight, and doing what they have to do to stay in shape, that it’s easy,” Sanderson said.
It will be the first time this season the Nittany Lions have an away match on Friday and then a home dual on Sunday, but Sanderson is confident in his team’s ability to control its weight.
“It’s good for our guys to have a little bit of unexpected stuff happen to keep our guys on our toes, but our guys are good with our weight and they’ll be fine.”
Notes
- Morgan McIntosh went down in the second period in his victory on Sunday, and Sanderson said that while he is doing well and will make the trip, the team will still travel back-up Justin Ortega. Expect to see Ortega wrestle Friday night if Penn State has the dual in hand by the time 197 rolls around, and if McIntosh is still a little gimpy.
- Nebraska owns an 8-4-1 series lead, though this will be its first bout with Penn State as a Big Ten member. Penn State last wrestled Nebraska during the regular season in 1994, but Molinaro does have experience against the Cornhuskers, as Penn State took on Nebraska in the National Duals his freshman year.
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