BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — One minor gaffe prevented Penn State from achieving perfection against the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday, but the Nittany Lions still dominated in their first Big Ten road dual of the season.
Penn State gave up six points early after a Nittany Lion was disqualified, but regrouped as the rest of the lineup reeled off eight straight wins, racking up bonus points in four of those matches in a 36-6 win over Michigan State at Kellogg Arena.
“It was a good dual meet. We knew it would be a fight,” Penn State head assistant coach Casey Cunningham told the Penn State Sports Network. “Our guys fought through some positions and figured some things out which was good. It wasn’t our best performance tonight, but you’ve just got to try to get better from this. We’ve got to be better next weekend (at Northwestern). That’s for sure.”
The Nittany Lions’ only loss came in the second match of the afternoon.
Penn State’s 10th-ranked freshman Nico Megaludis was picking Michigan State’s Eric Olanowski apart, leading 8-3 early in the second period of their bout at 125 pounds, when Megaludis tossed Olanowski to the mat. The Michigan State senior was hurt and could not continue, and Megaludis was disqualified for an illegal throw.
While Megaludis was visibly upset with the call, Cunningham dismissed the disqualification, saying Megaludis’ intent wasn’t to injure his opponent.
“Nico’s not thinking that, he’s thinking, just wrestle hard, just wrestle hard, just wrestle hard,” Cunningham said. “He had four takedowns. He’s going for his next takedown. He’s not thinking, ‘I’m trying to hurt the kid.’ He’s thinking, ‘I’m trying to score.’ It’s too bad that that happend but it’s not that huge of a deal.”
It gave Michigan State its only lead of the afternoon, 6-3, after Penn State No. 6 heavyweight Cameron Wade began the day with an 8-3 decision over Steve Andrus.
Penn State welcomed back 133-pound sophomore Frank Martellotti who wrested in his first dual meet since last season. He had been ineligible due to acadmic issues. Martellotti then had to work to dig himself out of a hole when Michigan State’s Brandon Fifield scored a takedown early and put together a strong ride for over a minute. Martellotti escaped, however, and gained control of Fifield for his own takedown.
Martellotti later scored a reversal for a 5-3 lead into the third. Fifield chose down to start the final period and was able to work his way for a match-tying reversal late, but Martellotti escaped and with over a minute in riding time earned a 7-5 decision.
“He went out, got taken down right away and had to fight back. Good first match for him,” Cunningham said. “Probably not what he was hoping for as for how he wrestled, but he will get better also every time out now. First time in a dual meet in over a year — you’re talking about two semesters. The kid’s good. He’s going to be good. He’s going to be fine.”
Meanwhile, Penn State junior Bryan Pearsall pinned Brian Gibbs in 4:21 at 141 pounds to secure his third dual-meet win in his last four bouts since becoming the Lions’ starter at 141.
“Pearsall is in great shape so guys know that they better be ready to wrestle for seven minutes,” Cunningham said. “That guy came out hard but (Pearsall) started to wear on him a little bit, wear on him, wear on him, wear on him. Finally he got what he was looking for and he was scoring points.”
No. 1 Frank Molinaro and No. 9 Dylan Alton secured back-to-back decisions at 149 and 157, respectively, over No. 18 Dan Osterman and No. 14 Anthony Jones before No. 1 David Taylor remained unbeaten on the season with a 13-5 major decision over David Cheza at 165 to improve Penn State’s lead to 22-6.
No. 2 Ed Ruth clinched the dual meet win with a 17-2 technical fall over Curran Jacobs in 6:33 at 174 pounds.
Notes: No. 3 Quentin Wright pinned John Riqallah at 184 pounds in 5:52. ... No. 13 Morgan McIntosh won a 7-5 decision over Nick McDiarmid at 197. ... The dual also served as the main event for the Michigan Youth Wrestling Association’s Spartan Country Tournament. ... Attendance was listed at 3,000.
