UNIVERSITY PARK — The rabid Penn State wrestling fan base that packed Rec Hall on Sunday was frenzied after Ed Ruth turned Minnesota’s Alec Ortiz to his back for a pin that tied the dual meet score between the two vaunted squads at 14 apiece.
Moments later, you could hear a pin drop.
No. 2 Penn State (1-1-0, 0-1) lost to No. 4 Minnesota 23-14 after the Nittany Lions dropped the final three matches of their first Big Ten dual.
Penn State lost a plodding affair at 184 pounds when No. 6 Kevin Steinhous got the best of his counterpart, No. 1 Quentin Wright; a heartbreaker at 197 when No. 10 Morgan McIntosh gave up a last-second takedown; and a bout at heavyweight when No. 4 Cameron Wade lost to No. 3 Tony Nelson.
“I think the score pretty much sums it up,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “We had some glimpses of some good wrestling and we’re very optimistic about the future and what we can do this season.”
And there’s a lot of future left to return Penn State to national championship form.
Last season, the Nittany Lions used a late-season tie with the Golden Gophers to motivate them to improve. Penn State sophomore David Taylor, who also was motivated by a January loss to Iowa, sees no reason why this year should be any different.
“You only get so many opportunities to go out there and when you let them slip away it’s just frustrating,” Taylor said. “But we moved on from (the Iowa dual) last year, we were national champs and I know we’re going to move on from this and we’re going to be national champs again this year. I still believe we’re the best team in the country and we’re only going to get better.”
Down 14-3, Taylor got Penn State started when he nearly pinned Minnesota’s Cody Yohn with a cradle in the opening 15 seconds at 165 pounds. Penn State had dropped four of the first five bouts to that point, with the only win coming from Frank Molinaro at 149. Yohn, ranked eighth at 165, was outclassed by Taylor. The sophomore notched three takedowns and four tilts in the first 4:29 en route to a 17-1 technical fall.
The capacity crowd of 6,277 barely had time to settle before Ruth stepped onto the mat to face Ortiz. Minnesota, operating without its usual 174-pounder, injured No. 9 Logan Storley, had no shot against Ruth.
With fellow Harrisburg High School alumnus former Nittany Lion national champion Phil Davis looking on, Ruth needed just 2:27 to rock Ortiz into a cradle for a pin to tie the meet at 14-14.
“It has been a go-to move, but it’s just something, right now, I don’t want to put too much out there right now,” Ruth said of his tendency to pin with the cradle. “I’d just rather have them expect the cradle and everything else is a surprise to them.”
After Wright’s 6-1 loss to Steinhous sobered the Penn State faithful, true freshman McIntosh wrestled admirably against Minnesota fifth-year senior and second-ranked Sonny Yohn at 197. Tied 1-1 in in an electric third period, McIntosh got in on a double-leg takedown with just 21 seconds left. However, Yohn escaped and scored a takedown of his own with just 13 seconds left for a 4-3 win.
Nelson finished the meet with a 5-0 decision over Wade at heavyweight.
The Gophers built an early lead, taking advantage of their experience at the lower weights.
At 125, No. 2 Zach Sanders dealt Penn State’s No. 18 Nico Megaludis a 6-2 decision. Then No. 7 David Thorn earned a 14-5 major decision over Nittany Lion junior transfer Derek Reber. Reber was nearly defenseless for the third period when he sustained a lower body injury on the edge of the mat, though he finished the bout not wanting to surrender any more bonus points by defaulting.
“He had his foot in a bad position and he got driven over it,” Sanderson said. “It looked like an ankle (injury).”
The Gophers would get their only other bonus point of the day when No. 10 Nick Dardanes majored Sam Sherlock 19-6 at 141.
No. 1 Frank Molinaro got a dizzying win at 149, building a 5-0 lead on No. 5 Dylan Ness heading into the third period, then a flurry of take-downs followed as Molinaro eventually held on for a 16-10 decision.
“They just wrestled well,” Sanderson said of the Gophers. “They kind of beat up on us today. We need to come back with some fire and hopefully this gives us that a little bit more than maybe we had.”
Notes: Penn State’s No. 11 Dylan Alton lost 9-4 to No. 9 Jake Deitchler at 157 pounds. ... The Gophers earned riding time points in six of the 10 bouts and racked up over 15 minutes of riding time. ... Davis, who had to withdraw from his scheduled UFC 133 bout against Rashad Evans in August due to a left knee injury, said the knee “feels good.” ... Penn State is idle until it hosts the Nittany Lion Open on Dec. 4.
Travis Johnson can be reached at 231-4629.
