UNIVERSITY PARK — It was no surprise that the two-time defending NCAA champion Penn State wrestling team raised a banner to celebrate its latest championship, then went out and started laying the foundation it needs to build toward another.
The No. 1 Nittany Lions kicked off the 2017-18 season with a pair of lopsided wins in front of Rec Hall sellout crowds.
Penn State amassed a combined 81-9 team score and an amazing 83-8 margin in takedowns in a 45-3 Nov. 9 win over Army West Point and a 36-6 Nov. 12 shellacking of Bucknell.
The manner in which the Nittany Lions won the duals was as dominant as the scores and stats suggest. They won 17 of 20 individual bouts, seven by fall, three by technical fall, three by major decision and four by regular decision.
And, as easy as the wins looked, the harder part, it seemed, was maintaining a level of intensity and energy between matches. The atmosphere Nov. 12 lacked the level that was evident in the opener.
“You are talking the first weekend of the year. We’ve just got to improve,’ said head coach Cael Sanderson. ‘Bucknell is a tough team. The energy level was a bit low for whatever reason, but our job is to still do our job. For the most part, I think our guys did, but the effort wasn’t great in a couple of matches also.”
The good news came at eight weights, where each wrestler — Corey Keener (133), Jered Cortez (141), Zain Retherford (149), Jason Nolf (157), Vincenzo Joseph (165), Mark Hall (174), Bo Nickal (197) and Nick Nevills (285) — won twice.
New 197-pounder Anthony Cassar, who displaced returning starter Matt McCutcheon for the starting job, had a mixed weekend. He looked crisp and full of promise against Army, but not nearly as energetic against Bucknell, spending long stretches of the match trapped on bottom.
There was a simple explanation, Sanderson said.
“Obviously, he has to get off the bottom. He can get off the bottom. He just has to make his mind up there. That was kind of the issue today. That’s why he lost; he spent a lot of time on his belly,” he said. “That had a lot to do with him not doing a good job with his weight management, more than anything else.”
Freshman Devin Schnupp, who took over for last year’s starter, Nick Suriano, who transferred over the summer to Rutgers, struggled to establish his offense in a pair of losses, 6-4 and 3-1.
“I think Schnupp just needs some experience. He’s got to know that he can win. He’s got some nice shots. He’s got to finish some shots,” Sanderson said.
“He’s got some things he can work on. I think more than anything it’s just him knowing that he’s good, because he is. He can wrestle.”
Sanderson cautioned against making any long-range projections based on just one weekend of wrestling in November. He didn’t rule out, however, future changes to the lineup.
“We’re happy with the team we have. We’ll see how things develop,” he said. “There are still opportunities for guys to earn spots or take spots, however you want to look at it. We have some open tournaments coming up. We feel good about the team we have out there right now.”
Where might changes come? Well, 133, 149, 157, 165, 174, 184 and 285 appear to be spoken for.
As for the other three weights?
Well, 125 is a work in progress, but Schnupp is a young wrestler thrust into a starting job he surely wasn’t expecting as recently as late summer. His development would seem to be a priority because it’s unclear if there is a better alternative on the team.
At 141, Cortez has shown flashes of rounding into shape after being sidelined for nearly a year with a shoulder injury, then surgery and rehab. He’ll need to keep improving to keep blue chip freshman Nick Lee under redshirt.
Cassar, at 197, won the spot and then looked uneven in two matches. He’s returning to competition after two years on the sideline with a shoulder injury that required two surgeries. If he should not develop as expected, McCutcheon, who had been ranked No. 4 nationally in the preseason polls, could step right in and be an instant All-America candidate.
As it stands, Penn State has team that, in its current composition, looks like it could handle all but a couple teams in the country.
A dual meet Friday, Nov. 17, at Binghamton and the Keystone Classic tournament Sunday, Nov. 19, in Philadelphia should provide two more opportunities to file down some rough edges. A dual meet Sunday, Dec. 3, in Allentown against long-time rival Lehigh will be Penn State’s first stern test of the season.
