With their 21-17 upset of No. 23 Penn, the Sun Devils moved to 8-0 on the year, marking just the fourth time in program history that a Sun Devil team has opened the year with an 8-0 or better record. The start is the best since the 1988-89 team opened the year 8-0 before tying and losing its next two duals.
The day opened with the Sun Devils and Black Knights (5-4) meeting on the mats for the first time with ASU scoring the 22-13 victory. No. 10 Patrick Pitsch opened the dual with a pin at 5:35 to put ASU on top, 6-0. After Army won at 174, the Sun Devils would win the next two bouts, decisions by both Jake Cranford (184) and Jason Trulson (197), to push the lead to 12-3. After a loss at heavyweight, No. 19 Anthony Robles (125) scored an impressive 15-4 major decision before Todd Schavrien (133) won a 4-2 decision with a takedown 18 seconds into overtime for a 19-6 ASU team lead. After two losses, the dual ended with Alex Pavlenko scoring a 7-1 decision at 157 for the final team points and a 22-13 team victory.
Up next was a battle of Arizona schools as ASU faced first-year NCAA Division II program Grand Canyon (Phoenix). The Sun Devils, who are now 54-9-0 all-time against teams from Arizona, picked up all seven of its victories by forfeit for the 42-10 victory. Winners for the Sun Devils included Pitsch (165), Cranford (184), Trulson (197), Kenny Lester (285), Schavrien (133), Orlando Jimenez (141) and Jerrad Trulson (149).
After honoring the alumni in attendance, including the 1988 team, the Sun Devils took on the Quakers as former members of that championship team faced one another with Thom Ortiz guiding his ASU squad and Zeke Jones leading the Penn side. The Sun Devils fell behind early with decision losses at both 165 and 174, trailing 6-0. The tides turned at 184 as No. 18 Brent Chriswell earned a hard-fought, 2-1, upset decision over No. 13 Lior Zamir to not only cut the deficit to 6-3, but also spark the ASU bench.
Jason Trulson tied the team score in the next bout as he won the 197-pound match with a 5-2 decision. The Sun Devils continued their momentum at heavyweight as Lester caught his opponent in a move, put him on his back and scored the pin fall at 1:49 for a 12-6 team lead. Despite an acrobatic loss at 125 pounds, the Sun Devils kept the momentum going with Schavrien scoring a 6-1 decision at 133 before Chris Drouin, who had a 3-1 lead, won by injury default at 141 when his opponent could not continue. Leading, 21-10, ASU lost the last two bouts of the day, but it was not enough for the Quakers as ASU won, 21-17.
On the day, six Sun Devils went undefeated, led by 3-0 showings from both Schavrien (133) and Trulson (197). Also going undefeated were Jimenez (1-0), Cranford (2-0), Chriswell (1-0) and Lester (2-0.
ASU hits the road for a trio of Pac-10 duals next weekend, all three of which take place in California. The weekend opens with a 7 p.m. (PST) dual at Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo) Friday night before heading to Bakersfield, Calif., for a 5 p.m. dual with the Roadrunners of CS Bakersfield on Saturday. The road trip concludes Sunday with a 2 p.m. dual against CS Fullerton in Fullerton.
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