November 17, 2010

Wrestling Wreport: the inaugural 2010-11 edition

The Penn State wrestling team started the season off with a bang beating outmanned Bloomsburg 41-3 (Friday night) and slipping by fifteenth-ranked Lehigh 21-17 (Sunday afternoon). All five freshmen (2 true, 3 redshirt) went undefeated on the weekend. Frank Martellotti, filling in for injured Brad Pataky, went undefeated and James English, filling in for injured Frank Molinaro (No. 3), went 1-1.

#6 Penn State 41, Bloomsburg 3                                                     Team score
125: Frank Martellotti PSU dec. Sean Boylan BU, 5-3                           3-0
133: Bryan Pearsall PSU pinned Nick Wilcox BU, WBF (2:59)               9-0
141: #14 Andrew Alton PSU pinned Derek Shingara BU, WBF (0:54)     15-0
149: James English PSU dec. (TB) Josh Roosa BU, 8-4                         18-0
157: #6 David Taylor PSU tech. fall Frank Hickman BU, 20-5 (5:00)      23-0
165: Jake Kemerer PSU dec. JoshVeltre BU, 3-2                                   26-0
174: #13 Ed Ruth PSU tech. fall Mike Dessino BU, 20-4 (6:16)               31-0
184: #3 Quentin Wright PSU pinned Nate Graham BU, WBF (3:07)       37-0
197: Richard Perry BU dec. Justin Ortega PSU, 7-4                               37-3
285: #9 Cameron Wade PSU maj. dec. Zac Walsh BU, 8-0                    41-3

#6 Penn State 21, #15 Lehigh 17
125: Frank Martellotti PSU dec. Mitch Berger LU, 11-6                          3-0
133: Frank Cagnina LU maj. dec. Bryan Pearsall PSU, 12-3                    3-4
141: #14 Andrew Alton PSU pinned Stephen Dutton LU, WBF (1:21)       9-4
149: Joey Napoli LU dec. James English PSU, 6-4                                   9-7
157: #6 David Taylor PSU pinned Sean Bilodeau LU, WBF (3:33)           15-7
165: Jake Kemerer PSU dec. (SV) #11 Brandon Hatchett LU, 3-1 (SV) 18-7
174: #13 Ed Ruth PSU dec. Austin Meys, 7-5                                           21-7
184: #14 Robert Hamlin LU dec. #3 Quentin Wright PSU, 4-3                 21-10
197: Joe Kennedy LU maj. dec. Justin Ortega PSU, 8-0                          21-14
285: #1 Zach Rey LU dec. (TB) #9 Cameron Wade PSU, 4-2 (TB)         21-17

The Bad
It wasn't all sunshine though, Penn State split the Lehigh bout 5-5 but won because of bonus points and Quentin Wright (ranked #3), came out of the gate slow. He managed to pin Nate Grahm of Bloom but got upset by Robert Hamlin (ranked 14) of Lehigh in a close 4-3 bout. It appears the book on Wright is to stay away from his upper body, freestyle throws and wait for him to settle down, he's usually a fast starter. At least that's how Hamlin won; on a second period takedown after Wright dictated tempo throughout the match. Justin Ortega continues to frustrate fans, losing both matches and hardly taking a shot. I don't know if it's a confidence problem but Ortega has to step up the offense if he wants to keep his job. Right now 197 is a giant hole in the PSU lineup. Heavyweight Wade lost a tough 4-2 overtime (tie-breaker) bout to top-ranked Rey of Lehigh. If Rey is the best heavyweight, then that weight class is wide-open this year. If Cameron can open up his offense he could go deep into the nationals.

The Good
Andrew Alton was one of the most sought after recruits last year and made his college debut in amazing fashion. Alton was a pinning machine in high school and he started out where he left off getting two pins. Not only were they dominating pins, but he hasn't made it past the first period yet.

The other pin Sunday came from David Taylor the top-ranked recruit two seasons ago who, after a redshirt season, is looking like the beast
David Taylor pins to win
everyone thought he would be. Taylor put on a clinic and destroyed Hickman of Bloom by tech fall and pinned Bilodeau of Lehigh in one of the most stunning moves I've seen in a long time. Taylor was ranked 7th before even stepping on the mat and he looks like he deserves that preseason ranking.

Redshirt freshman Jake Kemerer, who was unranked in the preseason, went 2-0 including a tough 3-1 sudden victory win over 11th ranked Brandon Hatchett of Lehigh. Kemerer doesn't look like the offensive firecracker some of his fellow freshman are but he definitely looks like his future is bright.

Ed Ruth also went 2-0 and looked great with a tech fall against bloom but not so great, barely beating Austin Meys of Lehigh 7-5.

The Crowd
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the crowd was great Sunday. I know Lehigh is ranked and they are an old rival of Penn State but I didn't expect that much of a turnout. Over 5,000 people packed

Rec Hall and they made themselves heard. I would suggest if anyone out there is interested in Wrestling season tickets you get them now they are very cheap ($42) and it looks like they will be selling out in the next couple seasons.

Moving on
Penn State heads to Binghamton, New York for the Sprawl and Brawl Duals Sunday November 21st. The Nittany Lions will take on Harvard, West Virginia, and Rutgers and we will see quite a few ranked wrestlers. After that the team is off a couple weeks until the Nittany Lion open on December 5th.


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