BLOOMSBURG — If Friday night is any indication, the No. 6 Penn State wrestling team is going to be fun to watch— a lot of fun.
In front of a standing-room-only crowd of 2,374 at the rededication of Bloomsburg’s Nelson Field House, the Nittany Lions (1-0) opened their season with a dominating 41-3 shellacking of the Huskies (3-1).
Penn State won nine of 10 bouts, three by fall and two by technical fall, and rolled up a 24-3 advantage in takedowns. It was a display of technical superiority that drew oohs and aahs from the crowd and praise from hard-to-please Penn State coach Cael Sanderson.
“I think we wrestled well. I think our guys, for the most part, went out and went after it,” Sanderson said. “That’s what we were hoping to see.
“This is our first match. There are gonna be a few cobwebs in there. We’ve got some competitors on our team. And this is a good team. The Bloomsburg guys came out and wrestled hard. The score wasn’t real pretty, but the matches were hard fought.”
Sanderson was far more complimentary of the Huskies than their coach John Stutzman. Of course, when your team’s only win and only three takedowns come at 197 pounds, that’s to be expected.
“I’m just disappointed the way we started, the energy level,” Stutzman said. “We got caught up in the moment a little bit. It was a great crowd and an awesome atmosphere. I just didn’t think we came out ... We were scared.
“I think we’re good, we’re just young. We didn’t rise to the occasion. We got punched in the face and we backed up. That’s not the style of wrestling I preach and we’re going to correct it tomorrow morning.”
The match couldn’t have started better for Penn State as the Nittany Lions roared to a 37-0 lead, sweeping the first eight bouts. Six of those wins came from freshmen or first-time starters.
True freshman 125-pounder Frank Martellotti countered a takedown attempt and turned it into a double with less than a minute to go in a 5-3 win over Sean Boylan.
At 133, returning starter Bryan Pearsall, a sophomore, pinned Bloomsburg’s Nick Wilcox as the buzzer sounded to end the first period.
No. 13 true freshman 141- pounder Andrew Alton needed just 54 seconds to score a fall in his debut, using a half Nelson and isolating the other arm to horse Derek Shingara to his back.
“I had it tight and I knew he was going over,” Alton said. “I knew I was going to pin him. I used that move to get a lot of my pins in high school.
“My worry was just getting too nervous and gassing out there. The coaches told me to have fun out there so I just had fun out there.”
At 149, sophomore James English had to go to overtime before registering an 8-4 win over the Huskies’ Josh Roosa. The match was tied 1-1 after regulation and the one-minute sudden victory period. In the first 30- second tiebreaker period, English reversed Roosa to his back. He tacked on a takedown in the second tiebreaker period.
At 157, No. 6 redshirt freshman David Taylor rolled up 21 points in five minutes in a 21-5 technical fall over Bloomsburg’s Frank Hickman.
Penn State redshirt freshman Jake Kemerer then used a third-period escape and takedown to forge a 3-2 win over Josh Veltre at 165.
And, at 174, redshirt freshman Ed Ruth scored seven takedowns en route to a 21-4 technical fall over Husky Mike Dessino in 6:16.
“I think our freshmen did exceptionally well,” Ruth said. “I’m not real surprised. We knew what we have and we know what we have.
The Nittany Lions’ third-ranked 184-pounder Quentin Wright hit a quick spladle to deck Nate Graham in 3:07.
“In the first period I saw the opportunity to hit that move and in the second period I figured if it was there once, it was there again,” Wright said.
“Once you get it, you’re done. I didn’t advertise it. He didn’t know it was coming. I got it really fast and it was over in 10 seconds. He gets up thinking, ‘What happened?’”
And, at heavyweight, No. 9 Cameron Wade scored a takedown in each period to earn a workmanlike 8-0 major decision over Bloomsburg’s Zac Walsh.
Penn State returns to action at 2 p.m. Sunday when No. 17 Lehigh visits Rec Hall.
