BETHLEHEM — Bryan Pearsall hadn’t been himself lately.
He hadn’t been sleeping well or dieting as steadfastly as before.
When the junior got word Monday that he would replace injured teammate Sam Sherlock as the No. 5 Penn State wrestling team’s starter at 141 pounds in the Nittany Lions’ Friday night
dual at No. 10 Lehigh (5-3), Pearsall needed to remedy his vices.
“The past couple of tournaments I haven’t really felt well,” Pearsall said. “I worked with the coaches a lot this week to try to correct that stuff so I would feel good coming into this dual meet.”
A full, efficient week of practice and preparation was all Pearsall needed to get back on track. His 12-2 major decision over Lehigh’s Jim Carucci was the first match Penn State earned a bonus point in and sparked the Nittany Lions to a 24-12 win over the Mountain Hawks in the 100th meeting between the two teams.
“Pearsall did a great job, doing what he needed to do to get a major,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “And we knew we needed those bonus points.”
Like they were last year when the two teams split the dual’s ten bouts, bonus points were critical inside a packed Stabler Arena.
Penn State (2-1, 0-1) and Lehigh nearly split the evening’s bouts again, this time with Penn State winning six bouts to Lehigh’s four.
But the Nittany Lions earned bonus points in four of their six wins, including major decisions from Pearsall, No. 1 Frank Molinaro at 149 pounds and No. 10 Dylan Alton at 157.
“He’d get the wrestler of the match award if we gave one out, which I think we might, because (Sean) Bilodeau is a tough kid,” Sanderson said of Alton. “Dylan’s looking better and better.”
Alton’s bout was a furious one, mostly because he worked at a feverish pace.
The redshirt freshman wasted little time against Lehigh’s Sean Bilodeau, taking Bilodeau down with a vicious double-leg just seconds into the bout.
Alton would go on to add two more take-downs and tilted Bilodeau for three nearfall points at the end of the first period.
Alton also racked up over three minutes of riding time two weeks after he and the rest of the team committed to improving their rides.
Shortly after the dual ended, Alton called the match “one of my best” in a Penn State singlet.
“That’s one of the big things in college, is riding and mat wrestling, riding a guy, getting the riding time, extra point,” Alton said. “Once you take down a guy and ride him you can get your energy back and once you’re back on your feet you can get another takedown.”
Penn State got the most bonus points on the night at 174 pounds, when Ruth won by injury default over Nate Brown.
Ruth had built a 12-1 lead, the final three points coming on a tilt toward the end of the second period. Brown called for injury time after the period ended, favoring his left arm, eventually deciding not to continue.
No. 15 Nico Megaludis got the first win of the night for Penn State, a 4-0 decision over Mason Beckman, which Lehigh countered with a decision from Chris Dinnien over Penn State’s Derek Reber at 133.
The Nittany Lions took the next five bouts in a row, with No. 1 David Taylor winning a close bout at 165 by a count of 8-5 over No. 9 Brandon Hatchett, before Lehigh won 184, 197 and 285.
In a rematch of last season’s national championship final, Lehigh’s No. 1 Robert Hamlin got the best of Penn State’s No. 5 Quentin Wright with an 8-3 decision after Wright beat him for the NCAA championship in March.
Wright couldn’t finish his shots while Hamlin built his lead with two first period takedowns and a second-period reversal before a late third-period takedown solidified his win. The loss was Wright’s second in a row.
“I’m not worried about Quentin. We’ve just got to make sure we stay positive with him,” Sanderson said. “Because he’s not a guy who thinks, ‘I’ve got to win every match throughout the year.’ He wants to win the nationals and he thinks he has to climb and progress as he moves along even though he’s already good enough to win them right now.”
At 197, junior Justin Ortega made his dual meet debut in place of No. 10 Morgan McIntosh who was feeling the effects of an injury he sustained in the Nittany Lion Open.
Sanderson said there was no reason to wrestle McIntosh with the dual already wrapped up. McIntosh will be questionable when the Nittany Lions take on West Virginia in Rec Hall Sunday.
Notes:No. 8 Cameron Wade lost to Lehigh’s No. 3 Zach Rey, 3-2 at 285 pounds. ... Penn State improved to 63-34-3 all time against Lehigh. ... Pearsall said he will start Sunday against the Mountaineers. … Friday’s attendance at Stabler Arena was 5,583, just 241 shy of Stabler’s attendance record, set on Feb. 13, 2005 when Lehigh faced then No. 1 Oklahoma State.
