By Andy Elder
For the CDT
UNIVERSITY PARK – After the drama of Friday night’s loss to No. 6 Lehigh, the Penn State wrestling team picked up a couple more routine wins Sunday over No. 12 West Virginia and No. 25 Pittsburgh at Rec Hall.
Both wins were helped along by forfeits from each team. In a 34-12 romp past the Mountaineers, the Nittany Lions received three gimmes as a result of an upper respiratory ailment that has spread throughout the West Virginia team. In a 26-19 win over the Panthers, the Nittany Lions received two forfeits, one a result of an injury, the other due to a weight issue.
“It’s nice to get two wins, but the second match we were flat, a lot flat, “Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said. “It’s something we’re going to have to be ready for. It was the third match this weekend but we have to be ready to wrestle. That’s why we schedule it this way sometimes, to put them through this so they have to rebound and come back.”
No. 16 Penn State 26, No. 25 Pittsburgh 19
Knowing before the match started it would receive two forfeits, Penn State was looking to coast to its second win of the day.
And that’s the way it looked midway through the 197-pound bout between Nittany Lion Joel Edwards and Lou Thomas. Edwards led 4-1 when he hit a sloppy standup, getting his head and knee dangerously close together. Thomas jumped at the opportunity to cradle Edwards and was inches, maybe millimeters, away from scoring a fall, which would have tied the dual meet at 22-22.
“Obviously, I’m looking at it with Pitt eyes, but I’m not so sure it wasn’t a smack there, “Pitt coach Rande Stottlemyer said. “But that’s how it is.”
Sunderland thought it was close, too.
Edwards eventually reversed Thomas and added a takedown, three nearfall points and a riding time point in the third for a 12-4 major decision that clinched Penn State’s win.
“We fought hard, “Stottlemyer said. “Yesterday, we wrestled Lehigh (a 34-12 loss) and we just stunk the joint out. It was a home meet and we had a lot of people, but we just did not wrestle well at all. I rattled a few chains and I think the guys responded pretty well. They did a good job.”
Beside the two forfeits, which went to Bryan Heller (133) and Nate Galloway (157), Penn State got its other wins from Adam Smith (a fall in 1:51) and Eric Bradley (13-4).
One of Pitt’s wins was an 11-3 major decision by State College High School graduate Matt Kocher over Jack Decker.
“He’s one of my favorites, “Stottlemyer said of Kocher. “He’s just a great kid. I just think the world of the kid. He’ll do anything you ask of him. He’s the first one in and the last one to leave.
“You never have to worry about him socially. He’s a great representative of your institution, of your program. I couldn’t say enough good things. We’re so proud to have him. I just hope he can get himself on that podium. Our job is to try to help him do that. I know he’ll work hard enough.”
No. 16 Penn State 34, No. 12 West Virginia 12
Aided greatly by three West Virginia forfeits, Penn State turned a potential nail-biter into an easy win.
The Nittany Lions and Mountaineers split the two feature bouts of the day — at 157 and 184. Overall, Penn State won seven of 10 bouts, four of the seven that were contested.
At 157, No. 11 Nate Galloway scored a close takedown at the edge of the mat and added three back points with a headlock from the top position to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 7-3 win over No. 7 Matt Lebe.
“I knew I had to get a takedown to win the match, “Galloway said. “I felt him getting tired and I was continually going forward. Eventually, that forced him into taking a bad shot. Pretty much everyone knows that’s my move and I’m willing to hit it from anywhere. I hit it. It didn’t come out the way you always plan it, but I was able to scramble behind and get two points.
“Going back to the middle I felt like he was hoping I would give him an easy escape and send it to overtime. Coming back to the middle I hit him with a move I usually use when I need to ride a guy for 30 seconds. It just so happens he kind of rolled over and he didn’t have the same fight he did in the first two minutes. I was able to put him on his back and the last 10 seconds of the match I was all smiles. It was a good win for me. This was a big win. It was probably my biggest win since I came to Penn State.”
At 184, No.1 Greg Jones, the two-time NCAA champion earned a relatively easy 6-2 win over No. 6 Eric Bradley. Little more than 10 seconds into the match Jones shot in and converted a clean, decisive double-leg takedown. Bradley escaped a short time later and the first period ended with Jones ahead, 2-1.
Bradley chose bottom to start the second and quickly escaped. But late in the period Jones scored another takedown to open a 4-2 lead.
Jones escaped to start the third and added a stall point on Bradley to set the final.
Penn State won three of the other five contested bouts. Jack Decker scored his first varsity dual meet fall, in 2:54 over Teddy Adams, at 149.
James Yonushonis earned an escape, riding time point and three third-period takedowns for an 8-3 win over Eric Mullen at 174. And, at 125, Adam Smith piled up nine points in the third period to turn a 5-3 lead into a 14-4 major decision over Shawn Cordell.
No. 18 DeWitt Driscoll (141), Joel Edwards (197) and Josh Walker (heavyweight) all received forfeits.
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