Penn State Takes Nine of Ten from #2 Ohio State

The “dual of the year” turned out to finish just the way that the previous 13 duals have this season for Penn State. With complete dominance. Friday night’s dual at the Bryce Jordan Center pitted the top-ranked Nittany Lions against an Ohio State team that was 17-0 and ranked second in the nation. The Buckeyes came in with their lofty ranking on the strength of wins over #4 Iowa State, #5 Iowa (x2), and #6 Nebraska, among others.

Despite an imposing Buckeye lineup, Cael Sanderson’s team was able to take nine of ten matches from Ohio State.

The dual started at 125 lbs and featured back-to-back toss-up matches between top-five-ranked opponents. Each went the Penn State way. Top-ranked 125 lber, Luke Lilledahl, maintained his top billing with an overtime takedown to beat Nic Bouzakis. Both came into the bout unbeaten.

Undefeated freshmen clash at a weight above at 133 lbs, as redshirt freshman Ben Davino of the Buckeyes took on true freshman Marcus Blaze. The two engaged in a tactical affair that Blaze won in tiebreakers, 3-2.

141 lbs saw Ohio State get their only points of the dual as two-time national champion Jesse Mendez took care of business in an 18-2 tech fall.

The Buckeyes were working with a limited starting lineup and were without their typical starters at three of the next four weights. Top-ranked 157 lber, Brandon Cannon, was injured in the Minnesota dual and has missed almost a month of action. All-Americans Ethan Stiles and Carson Kharchla were held out and those decisions were announced on the day of the dual.

A path to victory for the Buckeyes was narrow with Stiles and Kharchla in the lineup, but it got even smaller with both out of the lineup.

As one might expect, Penn State capitalized and earned bonus points at those three weights (two techs and a fall).

The only suspense through the back half of the dual came from the heavyweight class as redshirt freshman Cole Mirasola took out All-American #3 Nick Feldman. In sudden victory, Mirasola got in deep on a leg attack. Feldman tried to use that momentum and take him over his head; however, Mirasola was able to keep his hips down and converted the takedown.

With the win, the Nittany Lions clinched the Big Ten regular season championship for the sixth straight season. They also have 11 undefeated conference campaigns under Sanderson.

Penn State packed 16,006 fans into the Bryce Jordan Center, which is a program record.

Ohio State will wrap up its regular season on Sunday at Maryland, while Penn State hosts Princeton next Friday.

Penn State 36 Ohio State 5

125 - Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) dec Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State)  4-1SV

133 - Marcus Blaze (Penn State) dec Ben Davino (Ohio State)  3-2TB

141 - Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) tech Braeden Davis (Penn State)  18-2

149 - Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) tech Brogan Fielding (Ohio State)  20-5

157 - PJ Duke (Penn State) fall Daxton Chase (Ohio State)  3:28

165 - Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) maj Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State)  12-2

174 - Levi Haines (Penn State) tech TJ Schierl (Ohio State)  16-1

184 - Rocco Welsh (Penn State) dec Dylan Fishback (Ohio State)  7-6

197 - Josh Barr (Penn State) maj Luke Geog (Ohio State)  11-2

285 - Cole Mirasola (Penn State) dec Nick Feldman (Ohio State)  4-1SV