Wrestling Wreport: Weekend Wrap-up

Penn State beat #20 Illinois 23-13 Friday night and then battled back to salvage a tie (18-18) against #5 Minnesota on Sunday. The Minnesota dual saw the return of Brad Pataky as the 125 pounder saw his first action in weeks. Results and thoughts after the break.


Results

Weight	Winner		Loser		Bout Score	Team Score
285	Cameron Wade	PSU	Pat Walker	ILL	5-0	3-0
125	Nathan Morgan	PSU	Logan Arlis	ILL	6-5	6-0
133	Andrew Long	PSU	B.J. Futrell	ILL	9-6	9-0
141	Jimmy Kennedy	ILL	Andrew Alton	PSU	5-3	9-3
149	Frank Molinaro	PSU	Eric Terrazas	ILL	5-0	12-3
157	David Taylor	PSU	Jackson Morse	ILL	26-10 (TF; 6:21)	17-3
165	Conrad Polz	ILL	Nick Fischer	PSU	10-5	17-6
174	Ed Ruth	PSU	Ben Friedl	ILL	WBF (4:56)	23-6
184	Tony Dellago	ILL	Quentin Wright	PSU	8-7	23-9
197	Joe Barczak	ILL	Nick Ruggear	PSU	15-6	23-13

Weight	Winner		Loser		Bout Score	Team Score
125	Zach Sanders	MN	Brad Pataky	PSU	10-8	0-3
133	Andrew Long	PSU	David Thorn	MN	14-4	4-3
141	Mike Thorn	MN	Andrew Alton	PSU	1-4	4-6
149	Frank Molinaro	PSU	Danny Zilverberg	MN	6-5	7-6
157	David Taylor	PSU	Matt Mincey	MN	16-1 (TF; 6:15)	12-6
165	Cody Yohn	MN	Jake Kemerer	PSU	8-0	12-10
174	Ed Ruth	PSU	Scott Glasser	MN	12-5	15-10
184	Kevin Steinhaus	MN	Quentin Wright	PSU	10-1	15-14
197	Sonny Yohn	PSU	Nick Ruggear	MN	10-2	15-18
285	Cameron Wade	MN	Tony Nelson	PSU	2-0	18-18

Thoughts
The first thing that jumps out at you is the two losses by Quentin Wright. Dellago was unranked and Steinhaus was ranked lower the Quentin and in a bout that ends in a tie every match counts and Wright got majored. Of course the message boards are all aflutter over this as one would expect from their ilk. I have no answers and cannot find anything on the intertubes that points to any problems. Wright no longer gets his shoulder taped up so the injury must be completely healed. Is it a mental problem? Is he cutting too much weight? One thing is for sure, he doesn't have the snap or the energy he wrestled with as a true freshman. Quentin is a very valuable member of the team and an important cog if they want a chance at winning a national championship. Whatever the problem is it needs to be worked out fast because there is only one dual left.

It was a tough weekend for Andrew Alton who lost to two top-five wrestlers by a combined 5 points. Andrew is so close to moving up to that top tier but he's just not there yet. For a true freshman he's had an amazing season, hopefully he'll take the next step come tournament time. I know a boxer from my hometown that won a gold glove boxing like Andrew wrestles. He would come out and throw as many fast and furious combinations at his opponents hoping to either knock them out quickly or have them throw in the towel. Andrew kind of has a similar wrestling style, he comes out in the first minute and throws everything at his opponent hoping to get the pin. The good wrestlers have stayed away from that and beat him later in the match, Thorn got the winning takedown with 18 seconds in the third. I'm not being critical of his style, it's just an observation. If it works, who am I to argue.

Of course the return of Pataky was a welcomed sight, I had no idea he was ready to go. His leg is heavily bandaged which limits some of his mobility but he wrestled well. Considering he returned to take on 5th ranked Zach Sanders of Minnesota and lost by only two points, it seems he's going to be ok. I'm sure he's not please with the result but he didn't run out of gas in the 3rd and he was a takedown away from tying it. It didn't help that he got a penalty point on a third caution on the restart late in the 3rd. If that had not happened he may have been able to ride Sanders out and go to overtime.

DT is so awesome it does seem like he has four feet

Ed Ruth, Andrew Long, and David Taylor all had good weekends and like I've said before, look like they are tournament ready. Ruth destroyed 12th ranked Scott Glasser of Minnesota 12-5 and pinned Ben Friedl of Illinois. DT did what DT does, totally dominate overwhelmed opponents getting two more tech falls this weekend. Taylor is going to buzz saw through the Big Ten's.

Next Up
It doesn't get any easier for Penn State as they take on #12 Wisconsin, Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. It will be the last dual of the season and senior night.

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