Penn State pushed eight wrestlers into tomorrow morning's semifinals at seven different weights. The Nittany Lions are looking for their seventh Southern Scuffle title, having won six in a row before not competing at the event last year. As of 9 p.m. at press time, with a handful of consolation bouts still on the mat, Penn State had 101 team points with Northern Iowa in second with 81.5 and Lehigh in third at 68.
Penn State had 18 wrestlers competing at the team scored tournament, 16 attached and two unattached. Head coach Cael Sanderson's squad had ten wrestlers seeded at the event, including seven top seeds: Senior Corey Keener (Schuylkill Haven, Pa.), ranked No. 18 at 133, was the No. 4 seed; junior Jered Cortez (Carol Stream, Ill.), ranked No. 15 at 141, was the No. 3 seed; true freshman Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.), unattached at 141, was the No. 5 seed; senior Zain Retherford (Benton, Pa.), ranked No. 1 at 149, was the No. 1 seed; junior Jason Nolf (Yatesboro, Pa.), ranked No. 1 at 157, was the No. 1 seed; sophomore Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh, Pa.), ranked No. 1 at 165, was the No. 1 seed; sophomore Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.), ranked No. 2 at 174, was the No. 1 seed; junior Bo Nickal (Allen, Texas), ranked No. 1 at 184, was the No. 1 seed; sophomore Anthony Cassar (Rocky Hill, N.J.), ranked No. 9 at 197, was the No. 1 seed; and junior Nick Nevills (Clovis, Calif.), ranked No. 3 at 285, was the No. 1 seed.
Rounding out Penn State's entrants were red-shirt freshman Devin Schnupp (Lititz, Pa.) at 125; junior George Carpenter (Chapel Hill, N.C.) at 133; red-shirt freshman Bo Pipher (Paonia, Colo.) at 149, true freshman Jarod Verkleeren (Greensburg, Pa.) wrestling unattached at 149; sophomore Francisco Bisono (Hauppauge, N.Y.) at 174; senior Matt McCutcheon (Apollo, Pa.) at 197; junior Shakur Rasheed (Coram, N.Y.) at 197; and red-shirt freshman Alex Nicholas (Allentown, Pa.) at 285.
Schnupp was Penn State's scoring wrestler at 125 and went 0-2. At 133, Keener bounced back from an upset loss in round two to major Carpenter and Northern Iowa's Rudy Yates in consolation action. Keener heads into day two's conso action with a 3-1 mark, all wins by major. Carpenter, with his loos to Keener, ended his tournament with a 1-2 mark. At 141, Cortez roared out to a 3-0 start with a forfeit win and two decisions. But late in the third period of his third round win, Cortez was injured and finished the final :12 unable to put weight on one foot. He ended his Scuffle with a 3-0 mark after injury forfeiting out of the tournament. True freshman Lee, wrestling unattached and therefore not a scoring wrestler for Penn State in the team race, was a perfect 3-0 on the day, including a tech a pin and a major.
Retherford rolled through day one, posting a 3-0 mark with two pins and a tech fall. The Lion senior's performance has him set for tomorrow morning's semifinals. Verkleeren advanced to the quarterfinals before losing, going 2-1 with a major. The unattached true freshman will wrestle in consolation action tomorrow morning. Pipher went 0-2 at 149 as well. Nolf rolled to a 3-0 mark with a forfeit victory and two pins to advance to the quarterfinals at 157. Joseph posted a 3-0 mark to roll into the semis as well, picking up a pin and a tech in the process. Hall went 3-0 to move into the quarters at 174 with two quick pins and a major in the quarterfinals. Bisono went 0-2 at 174.
Nickal was a perfect 3-0 on the day as well, getting three first period pins at 0:56, 1:34 and 1:09 to move into tomorrow's semifinals. Cassar posted a 2-0 mark at 197 as the top seed, moving into the semifinal round tomorrow morning. Rasheed had an outstanding first day at 197, going 3-0 with two wins over ranked wrestlers, including a pin in just :27 over No. 15 Scottie Boykin of Chattanooga in the quarterfinals. Rasheed's 3-0 day has him in tomorrow's semifinals. McCutcheon picked up a first round pin but then suffered an injury default loss in the second round and bowed out of the tournament with a 1-1 mark. Nevills suffered a 4-3 upset loss in the quarterfinals and went 2-1 on day one. He will wrestle in tomorrow morning's consolation action. Nicholas picked up his first win as a Nittany Lion at 285, going 1-2 at 285.
Penn State posted a 36-14 record on day one, with nine majors, three techs and 14 pins. Retherford now has nine pins for the season, 45 for his career (fourth all-time at Penn State); Nolf has ten this year and 39 for his career (fifth all-time); Nickal has eight this year and 33 for his career (ninth all-time) and Hall has seven this year and 19 for his career (nearing PSU's top 20).
The Southern Scuffle continues tomorrow, Jan. 2, at 10 a.m. The Nittany Lions' next home dual is a Big Ten battle against Purdue in Rec Hall on Friday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m. With all home dual meets sold out, a limited number of Standing Room Only (SRO) tickets are available to select Rec Hall duals based on availability. Call 1-800-NITTANY for information or to purchase tickets.
The 2017-18 Penn State wrestling season is sponsored by The Family Clothesline. Penn State Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at @pennstateWREST, on Penn State Wrestling's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennstatewrest. This is PENN STATE. WRESTLING lives here.
2018 Southern Scuffle - Team Standings (Top 3 as of 9 p.m.):
January 1, 2018 - Chattanooga, Tenn.
1: PENN STATE - 101.0
2: Northern Iowa - 81.5
3: Lehigh --- 68.0
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