IOWA CITY, IOWA — Many wrestling observers thought that a mid-winter trip to the Midwest for a showdown with long-time rival Iowa would finally test the No. 1 Penn State wrestling team.
It turns out that not even the once-mighty Hawkeyes can get anywhere close to pushing the Nittany Lions.
Penn State (9-0, 3-0 B1G) posted another pair of lopsided wins over the weekend in trips to Iowa City, Iowa, and Evanston, Illinois, to extend its record win streak to 80 consecutive dual meet victories.
The Nittany Lions won 19 of 20 individual bouts in a 32-3 shellacking of Iowa on Friday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and a 51-0 whitewashing of Northwestern on Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Lions allowed only three takedowns in the two matches combined while scoring 53 of their own.
Penn State has recorded shutouts in five of its nine wins and four of its last five duals.
The 29-point loss to Penn State was the worst home loss Iowa had ever suffered in Carver-Hawkeye Arena and its largest margin of defeat in six decades, since a 39-0 loss to Oklahoma State during the 1965-66 season.
The Nittany Lions have now outscored their opponents 381-19 for an average score of 42.33-2.11. Eight Nittany Lions –– No. 2 Luke Lilledahl (125), No. 4 Marcus Blaze (133), No. 1 Shayne Van Ness (149), No. 3 P.J. Duke (157), No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), No. 1 Levi Haines (174), No. 4 Rocco Welsh (184) and No. 1 Josh Barr (197) –– remain undefeated.
Against the Hawkeyes, Penn State used a fall, two major decisions and six decisions to engineer the win. Two of those wins came against Iowa wrestlers who were ranked higher than their Nittany Lion foe.
Iowa coach Tom Brands was brutally honest in his post-match analysis of the loss.
“They wrestle a style, if you’re trying to stay on the perimeter of their stalk, you’re going to keep taking it, and you have to give some back, and you have to stop that now. I think that we have the right guys to do the job. There is a gap between Iowa and Penn State,” he said
“You know when the whistle blows that, ‘hey, I have to wake up.’ There were matches where, one takedown at the end wins. And we were wrestling really, really hard for 45 seconds in the third period. You have to do that the entire match. Penn State comes with a style where they’re hustling, and they wrestle hard, and they’re wrestling to score points. And that’s the gap. That’s unlike any dual that I’ve been in since I’ve been the coach here. We’ve been beat up before, but not like that.”
While each Nittany Lion win seemed to have a storyline, two stood out.
At 184, Welsh knocked off No. 1 Angelo Ferrari 2-1 in the tiebreaker period. Welsh rode the entire first 30-second period and escaped midway through the second for the deciding point.
At 285, Cole Mirasola maintained a burst of recent momentum with a 4-3 win over No. 5 Ben Kueter. Mirasola scored a counter takedown in the second period that was the difference.
“After the winter break, I just feel really good and I’m ready to make the stretch until the end,” Mirasola told the Penn State Sports Network.
“So, my last match against the Rutgers guy, I got that same position (he was in against Kueter) and I actually was kind jumping the wrong way in that position and kind of got my leg in a bad spot. But in this match, he got to my right leg and I just jumped the right way with that ankle and then kicked his arm out and got the takedown.”
Other notable wins for Penn State included:
Lilledahl avenged a loss last season to No. 6 Dean Peterson, when Peterson wrestled for Rutgers, 11-5.
Blaze made a second-period takedown of No. 8 Drake Ayala, a two-time NCAA runner-up, stand up for a 4-2 win.
Mesenbrink, at 165, improved his record against No. 3 Michael Caliendo to 7-0 with an 11-2 major decision.
At 174, Haines used a first-period takedown and second-period escape to edge Iowa backup Gabe Arnold 4-2. The Hawkeyes’ third-ranked Patrick Kennedy sat out in a move Brands described as best for him and best for the team. Arnold, you might recall, once talked smack in high school about Nittany Lion five-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci.
Against the Wildcats, the Nittany Lions totally dominated in posting their biggest margin of victory of the season. Penn State produced two falls, a forfeit at 165, five technical falls and a major decision.
Duke (2:42) and Barr (1:50) each notched first-period falls. Lilledahl (20-5 in 7:00), Van Ness (18-3 in 7:00), Haines (19-4 in 6:48), Welsh (22-7 in 5:30) and Mirasola (19-4 in 2:47) rolled to technical fall wins. Blaze earned a 15-4 major decision and Davis won 9-0.
Lilledahl, who is likely to move up to No. 1 in the rankings after current No. 1 Vincent Robinson of North Carolina State lost on Friday, said he feels better than ever.
“This is probably the best I felt coming into the season. Just got my weight under control, a couple things like hand fight and just some technique. Things just kind of cleaned up over the weeks and kind of finally just starting to catch that groove towards the postseason, so it felt good,” he told the Penn State Sports Network after the Northwestern win.
The Nittany Lions hit the mats again at 7 p.m. Friday night in Rec Hall when the Indiana Hoosiers come calling.
No. 1 Penn State 51
Northwestern 0
(Sunday at Evanston, Ill.)
174: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU, won by tech. fall over No. 32 Eddie Enright, 19-4 (6:48).
184: No. 4 Rocco Welsch, PSU, won by tech. fall over J.D. Perez, 22-7 (5:27).
197: No. 1 Josh Barr, PSU, pinned Alex Smith, 1:50.
285: No. 13 Cole Mirasola, PSU, won by tech. fall over Gabe Christenson, 19-4 (2:47).
125: No. 2 Luke Lilledahl, PSU, won by tech. fall over No. 26 Dedrick Navarro, 20-5 (7:00).
133: No. 4 Marcus Blaze, PSU, maj. dec. No. 24 Sean Spidle, 15-4.
141: No. 7 Braeden Davis, PSU, maj. dec. No. 32 Billy Dekraker, 9-0.
149: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness, PSU, won by tech. fall over August Hibler, 18-3 (7:00).
157: No. 3 P.J. Duke, PSU, pinned Gunnar Myers, 2:42.
165: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU, won by forfeit.
Ernie Lucas Award winner: Luke Lilledahl.
Referees: Rey Santiago, Nick Rosso.
Attendance: 1,335
Takedowns: Northwestern 1; Penn State 38.
Records: Northwestern 3-3, 1-2 B1G; Penn State 9-0, 3-0.
Next match: Indiana at Penn State, 7 p.m. Friday.
No. 1 Penn State 32
No. 4 Iowa 3
(Friday at Iowa City, Iowa)
125: No. 2 Luke Lilledahl, PSU, dec. No. 6 Dean Peterson, 11-5.
133: No. 4 Marcus Blaze, PSU, dec. No. 8 Drake Ayala, 4-2.
141: No. 11 Nasir Bailey, I, dec. No. 7 Braeden Davis, 3-2.
149: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness, PSU, maj. dec. No. 17 Ryder Block, 13-4.
157: No. 3 P.J. Duke, PSU, dec. No. 12 Jordan Williams, 4-2.
165: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU, maj. dec. No. 3 Michael Caliendo, 11-2.
174: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU, dec. Gabe Arnold, 4-2.
184: No. 4 Rocco Welsh, PSU, dec. No. 1 Angelo Ferrari, 2-1 TB.
197: No. 1 Josh Barr, PSU, pinned Brady Sampson, 4:42.
285: No. 13 Cole Mirasola, PSU, dec. No. 5 Ben Kueter, 4-3.
Ernie Lucas Award winners: Rocco Welsh and Cole Mirasola.
Referee: Nick Rosso.
Attendance: 12,530.
Takedowns: Iowa 2; Penn State 15.
Records: Iowa 8-3, 1-1 B1G: Penn State 8-0, 2-0.
