The morning's semifinal fireworks led way to Penn State crowning four individual champions and getting the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler Award, given to All-American David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) for his 165-pound title. Joining Taylor as titlists were All-American Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.) at 149, All-American Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) at 174 and All-American Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.) at 184.
In the morning's semifinals, Penn State sent nine grapplers into action at seven weights and came away with six finalists in five weights. Three-time All-American Molinaro, ranked No. 1 at 149, downed No. 20 Scott Sakaguchi of Oregon State 4-0; No. 10 Dylan Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) beat Corey Mock of North Carolina 4-1 at 157; teammate James Vollrath (Richboro, Pa.) dropped a tough 6-0 decision to No. 1 Kyle Dake of Cornell at 157; Taylor, ranked No. 1 at 165, downed No. 20 Kyle Blevins to the tune of a 12-3 major; Ruth, ranked No. 2 at 174, majored Patrick Wright of Illinois 10-1; teammate Matt Brown (West Valley City, Utah) downed No. 11 Logan Storley in the other semifinal at 174, 7-5, to set up a meeting with teammate Ruth in the finals; Wright, ranked No. 5 at 184, beat No. 15 Luke Rebertus of Navy 7-3; true freshman Morgan McIntosh (Santa Ana, Calif.), ranked No. 11 at 197, lost 12-5 to No. 1 Cam Simaz of Cornell; and senior Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio), ranked No. 8 at 258, lost a close 4-3 decision to No. 4 Clayton Jack of Oregon State.
The blistering run through the semifinals set up five championship finals matches featuring six Nittany Lions. For Penn State the championship finals began at 149 where No. 1 Molinaro met No. 11 Dylan Ness of Minnesota. Molinaro scored big for Penn State with a dominating 9-1 major over Ness. Molinaro won his first Scuffle title with a 5-0 mark with two techs and a major. Red-shirt freshman Alton, ranked No. 10, met No. 1 Kyle Dake of Cornell in the finals at 157. Alton battled the two-time NCAA champ tough before dropping a 3-0 decision to take second place in his first Scuffle. Alton went 4-1 with two pins and a major.
Top-ranked Taylor took on No. 10 Cody Yohn of Minnesota in the finals at 165. Already owning a tech fall over the 10th-ranked Gopher, Taylor did it one better this time with a team-title clinching pin in the first period (2:36). Taylor, who claimed his second Scuffle crown, went 5-0 with three pins, a tech and a major. At 174, the all-Penn State final pitted No. 2 Ruth against teammate Brown. In a spirited battle, Ruth downed his talented teammate, posting a 6-3 decision. Ruth's win gave him his second straight Scuffle title and he went 6-0 with three pins, a tech and a major. No. 5 Wright met No. 4 Steve Bosak of Cornell in the title bout at 184 and put the exclamation point on the team title by dominating the fourth-ranked Bosak to the tune of a 10-3 win. Wright claimed his first Scuffle title with the victory as he went 5-0 with three pins.
Penn State had 11-place winners at the event. True freshman Nico Megaludis (Murrysville, Pa.) opened up the day in consolation action at 125 and rolled three straight wins to advance to the third place bout at 125. Megaludis downed No. 7 Matt Snyder of Virginia in the conso semis to advance to the bronze medal bout. In the third place bout, the Lion freshman lost another close decision to No. 7 Perrelli of Cornell, this one by a 6-4 score. He ended the tournament with a 5-2 record for fourth place. Vollrath dropped a tough 3-2 (ot) decision to Chattanooga's Daniel Waddell in the conso semis before moving to the fifth place bout. Vollrath ended the tournament with a tough 4-1 loss to Mock of UNC and placed sixth with a 3-3 mark.
McIntosh had a 5-4 win taken from him when a last second reversal was waved off when clock operator was asked by the official and overruled the officials call, sending him to a 4-3 loss to No. 4 Matt Powless of Indiana. He then lost in the fifth place bout and ended the day with a 3-3 mark and with a sixth place finish. Wade rebounded from his close loss to Jack by picking up a key pin at the 1:34 mark over No. 5 Jeremy Johnson of Ohio in the conso semis. He finished the day an upset loss in the third place match and went 4-2 to take fourth place. Red-shirt freshman Jon Gingrich (Wingate, Pa.) was in the heavyweight consolation bracket for Penn State and won his first match, clinching a place. Gingrich ended the day with two losses in consolations but still took eighth place with a 4-3 record.
Junior Bryan Pearsall (Lititz, Pa.) was in action in consolations at 141 and dropped his first match of the day to No. 15 Michael Nevinger of Cornell. The loss eliminated Pearsall with a 3-2 mark.
Yesterday, Penn State had three wrestlers eliminated but still picked up important wins from them. Red-shirt freshman Seth Beitz (Juniata, Pa.) had a solid showing at 141, going 3-2 before being eliminated. Junior Nick Fischer (Unionville, Pa.) posted a 2-2 mark at 165 before being eliminated. At 133, Nittany Lion junior Derek Reber (Lewisburg, Pa.) went 0-2 one day one.
Penn State posted a superb 56-23 overall mark among its 15 wrestlers, collecting 18 pins, nine tech falls and 11 majors along the way. 38 of Penn State's 56 wins were of the bonus point variety.
The Nittany Lions return to dual meet action this coming Sunday with a 2 p.m. dual against Michigan State. The road Big Ten battle will take part place in Battle Creek's Kellog Center. Penn State's next home dual is on Sunday, Jan. 22, when Iowa invades Rec Hall for a 2 p.m. dual that is already sold out. The Nittany Lions then host Ohio State on Sunday, Jan. 29, at 2 p.m. Fans can purchase a limited number of `standing room only' tickets for the Ohio State dual by calling 814-865-5555. Tickets are priced at $8 for adults and $5 for youth (18 and under) and can be purchased from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day or in person at the Bryce Jordan Center box office. A maximum of four tickets may be purchased per person.
The full season slate of live dual meet and tournament action will air locally on WRSC AM (1390 AM) with Friday evening duals being simulcast on WRSC FM (103.1 FM). Lock Haven's WBPZ (1230 AM) will also carry the entire season live, WIEZ (670 AM) in Huntingdon/Lewistown carries all Sunday events and further affiliates may be added soon. The regular season schedule of radio broadcasts will be streamed live at www.GoPSUsports.com as part of Penn State's All-Access package, which will also feature live video streams of many home events. Ticket information is accessed easily online at www.GoPSUsports.com/tickets/m-wrestl-tickets.html . Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at www.twitter.com/pennstatepat and on Penn State Wrestling's facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling. The 2011-12 Penn State Wrestling season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
2012 SOUTHERN SCUFFLE FINAL TOP TEN TEAM STANDINGS:
Sunday, January 2, 2012 - Chattanooga, Tenn.
1: PENN STATE - 191.5
2: Minnesota - 177.5
3: Missouri - 136.0
4: Cornell - 130.0
5: Oregon State - 103.0
6: Virginia - 82.0
7: Chattanooga - 79.0
8: Appalachian State - 63.5
9: Hofstra - 58.0
10: Ohio - 57.0
Attendance: Day 1 (2,168) 2-Day Total (4,378)
2012 SOUTHERN SCUFFLE CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS AGATE:
Sunday, January 2, 2012 - Chattanooga, Tenn.
125: #1 Zach Sanders MINN dec. #3 Alan Waters MIZ, 1-0
133: Chris Dardanes MINN dec. Nick Soto CHATT, 7-2
141: #5 Michael Mangrum ORE ST dec. Darius Little NCST, 4-1
149: #1 Frank Molinaro PSU maj. dec. #11 Dylan Ness MINN, 9-1
157: #1 Kyle Dake COR dec. #10 Dylan Alton PSU, 0-3
165: #1 David Taylor PSU pinned #10 Cody Yohn MINN, WBF (2:34)
174: #2 Ed Ruth PSU dec. Matt Brown PSU, 6-3
184: #5 Quentin Wright PSU dec. #4 Steve Bosak COR, 10-3
197: #19 Brent Haynes MIZ inj. def. #1 Cam Simaz COR
285: #7 Tony Nelson MINN dec. #4 Clayton Jack ORE ST, 2-0
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