The dual beg at 149 and with No. 13 James Woodall (Dupont, Pa.) home with a skin infection, true freshman Jason Lapham (West Chazy, N.Y.) faced No. 9 Doug Withstandley of Purdue. Lapham began the bout with a solid scoring chance, but Withstandley managed to fight the effort off and force a stalemate. The Nittany Lion freshman fought off the Boilermaker senior's scoring attempt as the first wound down and sent the bout to the second scoreless. Withstandley, however, chose down to begin the second and quickly reversed Lapham to go up 2-0. Withstandley rode Lapham out and took a 2-0 lead into the third. Lapham chose neutral to begin the final period. Withstandley quickly got in on a single leg and went up 4-0 with a take down. A second stall on Lapham put Withstandley up 5-0 and the Purdue senior worked onwards to a convincing 10-2 major decision. The victory gave Purdue an early 4-0 lead. Lapham fell to 8-11 on the year while Withstandley improved to 22-8.
No. 12 Nathan Galloway (State College, Pa.) met Jake Murphy at 157. Looking to bounce back from a tough upset loss on Friday night at Ohio State, the Nittany Lion junior got the first take down of the dual early to go up 2-1 after a Murphy escape. Galloway notched a second take down with a minute left and, after three near fall points, took a 7-1 lead into the second. Galloway chose down to begin the middle stanza and escaped to an 8-1 lead, but two stall calls were called in the process on Galloway, cutting the Lion junior's lead to 8-2. Still dominating the bout, another Galloway take down gave him a 10-3 lead after two, plus a 1:06 riding time edge. Murphy chose down to begin the final period and quickly escaped, cutting the lead to 10-4. With Penn State needing a major to tie the dual in the early stages, Galloway added a fourth take down to go up 12-5 after a Murphy escape. A fifth take down with under :30 left cemented the major with Galloway going on to post an important 15-6 major decision. With the dual tied 4-4, Galloway improved to 11-12 and broke a personal five match losing skid. Murphy fell to 9-22.
True freshman David Erwin (Urbana, Ohio) put his No. 12 ranking on the line against Purdue's Dan Bedoy at 165. Erwin wasted no time to take an early 2-0 lead on Bedoy and began working hard on top for a pinning combination, but Bedoy fought Erwin off and escaped to a 2-1 deficit. But Erwin would increase his lead with another take down as the first ended led 4-1 after three minutes. Bedoy chose down to begin the second and was cut loose by Erwin as the Nittany Lion freshmen began working towards bonus points. A second and third stall on Bedoy and another Erwin take down put Erwin up 8-2 as the second period ended. Erwin chose down to begin the third period and quickly escaped to a 9-2 lead. The Nittany Lion freshman continued to dominate the third period, adding one more take down plus a riding time point for a 12-2 major decision. The victory put Penn State up 8-4 and improved Erwin's mark to 23-6. Bedoy fell to 1-7 on the year.
Nittany Lion junior James Yonushonis (Philipsburg, Pa.), ranked No. 9, met Nick Corpe of Purdue at 174. Corpe, a talented freshman with a 16-15 mark entering the dual, took a quick shot but was countered almost immediately by Yonushonis, who got the take down and went up 2-1 early after the Corpe escape. The hard-working junior got in on a pinning combination, looking to pin Corpe and get his second fall of the weekend road swing. Corpe managed to fight off the effort, but Yonushonis went up 7-1 with the move and back points. Up 7-1 with 1:38 in riding time to begin the second, Yonushonis chose down to start the second. He quickly escaped to an 8-1 lead and continued to dominate the second period, getting three more take downs and carrying a 14-3 lead into the third. Corpe chose down to begin the final period and escaped, but trailed 14-4. Yonushonis began working for bonus points. He added two more take downs to post an 18-4 major decision. The victory put Penn State up 12-4 and moved Yonushonis to 19-6 on the year. Corpe fell to 16-16.
In a marquee match-up, Penn State All-American Eric Bradley (Plaistow, N.H.), ranked No. 7, took on No. 2 Ben Wissel. Wissel nearly got an early take down as the first wound down, but Bradley stepped away. Bradley quickly shot back, only to have Wissel return the favor and fight off the Penn State senior's attempt, forcing a stale mate with :20 left. The first period ended scoreless. Bradley chose down to begin the second and got his escape to go up 1-0 with 1:20 left in the second. Neither of the nation's top grapplers got a take down in the second, sending the bout to the third with Bradley holding a 1-0 lead. Wissel chose down to begin the third and was cut by Bradley, tying the score at 1-1. Wissel got the dual's first real scoring chance early in the third but could not finish as the men scooted off the mat. Wissel quickly got in again on Bradley's legs, but a potentially dangerous hold stopped action again. As time wound down, Wissel got in once more on both Bradley's legs, but the Nittany Lion senior showed his prowess by countering the move and working around behind Wissel to get the winning take down with :02 left. The 3-1 win improved Penn State's lead to 15-4 and moved Bradley to 9-1 on the year. The victory also stated a strong case for Bradley to get a No. 1 seed at the Big Ten Championships with a perfect 6-0 mark in conference duals. Wissel suffered only his third loss in 34 outings (31-3).
Sophomore All-American Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.) took on No. 18 Nathan Moore of Purdue at 197 in another marquee match-up. Moore surprised Davis early by getting an early take down and a 2-1 lead. Davis countered with his own take down to go up 3-2 and never looked back. After a Moore escape, Davis notched another take down to go up 5-3 heading into the second. Davis chose down to begin the second and escaped to a 6-3 lead. The Harrisburg native added one more take down and entered the third period up 8-3. Moore chose neutral to begin the third and took Davis down to cut the Penn State lead to 9-5 after the Davis escape. Davis quickly got in on another single leg and went up 11-5 with another take down. The rest of the dual was scoreless and Davis posted an impressive 9-5 win over the nationally ranked Boilermaker. Penn State moved out to a decisive 18-4 lead while Davis improved to 17-3. Moore fell to 29-12.
At heavyweight, Penn State's Joel Edwards (Upper Darby, Pa.), ranked No. 19, met Purdue's Aaron Keough. Edwards struck first in the bout, getting a take down midway through the first. The Nittany Lion senior added two near fall points before Keough escaped to go up 4-1, added a second take down and led 6-1 with over a minute's worth of riding time. The dominant wrestler on the mat, Edwards got two more back points while nearly pinning Keough. Edwards, leading 8-1, chose down to start the middle period. An escape made Edwards' lead 9-1. Keough got his first take down quickly afterwards and cut the lead to 10-3 after the Edwards escape, which is how the second period ended. Keough chose down to begin the last two minutes and quickly escaped to a 10-4 deficit. The Purdue freshman began to set the tone offensively in the third and nearly took Edwards down. But the Penn State senior managed to fight off the attempts. Each grappler had his chances as the third played itself out, but no more scoring was to be had. Edwards grabbed the hard fought 11-4 win after the riding time point. Penn State went up 21-4 with its sixth straight win in the dual while Edwards improved to 14-4 on the year. Keough fell to 14-23.
Looking to continue his strong performance at 125, true freshman Brad Pataky (Clearfield, Pa.) met Purdue's Jeff Price. Pataky bolted out to a quick 11-0 lead with a lightening fast take down and three quick three-point near fall moves. A fourth and fifth near fall move followed and Pataky posted a blisteringly fast 17-0 technical fall at the 2:15 mark. The five team points moved Penn State out to a 26-4 lead and improved Pataky to 15-6 on the year. The technical fall was the second of the weekend for Pataky and his sixth of the year, a team best.
In another marquee match-up, Nittany Lion freshman Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.) met Purdue's Chris Fleeger, a senior. Strayer entered the bout ranked No. 9 while Fleeger was ranked No. 5. Fleeger, a sixth-year senior, got the first take down early in the first to take an early 2-0 lead. Strayer managed to fight off a number of Fleeger attempts to get back points before Fleeger did manage to go up 5-0 with a three-point near fall. After a restart, Fleeger got another three-point near fall but gave up a penalty point on an illegal hold. Two more near fall points were added by Fleeger before Strayer escaped to a 10-2 deficit, ending the first period. Fleeger chose neutral to begin the second period. Strayer got in on a double-leg attempt, but Fleeger fought it off to maintain his eight-point lead. Fleeger added a late take down to carry a 12-2 lead into the final period. Strayer chose neutral to begin the final period but Fleeger quickly went up 14-2 with another take down. Strayer battled out for the escape but could not manage a take down on a late attempt. Fleeger went on to post a very impressive 17-3 major decision over Strayer. Penn State still led the dual 26-8 while Strayer suffered just his third loss of the year (19-3). Fleeger improved to 9-1 on the year.
At 141, the final dual of the day matched senior DeWitt Driscoll (Connellsville, Pa.) against Purdue's Jason Cook. Driscoll was ranked No. 11 entering the bout. Cook nearly got a take down to start the first, but Driscoll's strength and speed allowed him to fight off the attempt. Driscoll, while trying for a countering take down a few seconds later, leaned back on Cook and got the pin, his second of the weekend, at the 2:26 mark. The pin gave Penn State a 32-8 final decision and Driscoll improved to 14-7 on the season. Cook fell to 23-10. The pin was Driscoll's second of the weekend and his seventh of the year, a team best.
"I was very concerned with some of the match-ups coming in, but we controlled a lot of the matches, none bigger than Eric Bradley's win at 184," Sunderland said. "We're very happy to get two road wins this weekend and now we can focus on Big Ten's. We have some things to work on, like how we finish matches, so we'll take these wins and get ready for the next step."
Combining Penn State's wins at Ohio State Friday and today's win over Purdue has the Lions winning 16 of 20 bouts with four pins and two technical falls.
Penn State improved to 13-4, 5-3 in the Big Ten. Purdue falls to 9-9, 1-7 Big Ten. The Nittany Lions end the year with a superb 8-1 record on the road. The 13 wins is the second most for Sunderland in his tenure as PSU's head coach and the five Big Ten wins ties Sunderland's coaching best. From a percentage standpoint, the 13-4 mark (.764) is the best of Sunderland's Penn State head coaching career. A 14-5 (.737) mark in 2003-04 was Sunderland's prior best in both percentage and wins.
The Nittany Lions will now take two weeks to prepare for the 2006 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, hosted by Indiana University. Action takes place in Assembly Hall on March 4-5.
#8 Penn State 32, Purdue 8
Indianapolis, Ind. - Conseco Fieldhouse
149: #9 Doug Withstandley PUR maj. dec. Jason Lapham PSU, 10-2 0-4
157: #12 Nathan Galloway PSU maj. dec. Jake Murphy PUR, 15-6 4-4
165: #12 David Erwin PSU maj. dec. Dan Bedoy PUR, 12-2 8-4
174: #9 James Yonushonis PSU maj. dec. Nick Corpe PUR, 19-6 12-4
184: #7 Eric Bradley PSU dec. #2 Ben Wissel PUR, 3-1 15-4
197: #6 Phil Davis PSU dec. #18 Nathan Moore PUR, 9-5 18-4
HWT: #19 Joel Edwards PSU dec. Aaron Keough PUR, 11-4 21-4
125: Brad Pataky PSU tech. fall Jeff Price PUR, 17-0 (2:16) 26-4
133: #5 Chris Fleeger PUR maj. dec. #9 Jake Strayer PSU, 17-3 26-8
141: #11 DeWitt Driscoll PSU pinned Jason Cook PUR, WBF (2:26) 32-8
Records: Penn State 13-4, 5-3 Big Ten; Purdue 9-9, 1-7 Big Ten
Up Next for PSU: The 2006 Big Ten Championships, Assembly Hall,
Bloomington, Ind. - Hosted by Indiana University, March 4-5.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now