Will Penn State wrestle-offs happen at the Keystone Classic?
With the 23rd annual Keystone Classic tournament set for Sunday inside the Palestra in Philadelphia, Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson said he and his staff haven’t completely decided yet which wrestlers will be competing.
“We have a pretty good idea,” Sanderson said Tuesday at practice. In addition to the 10 starters who saw the mat Sunday against Kent State, he said they’ll likely bring wrestlers two or three deep on the depth chart at the weights they’re most competitive at.
That will likely include senior heavyweight Nick Nevills and freshman Brady Berge, he said, but nothing is official yet.
“We’ve still got to make that decision — if we want to throw them in there now,” Sanderson said. “They’re definitely both ready; but do we want to have them wrestle yet? That’s the decision we’ll need to make.”
Sanderson backed off a bit from the statement he made at last week’s media availability, when he said the Classic would likely serve as the first wrestle-off between the two-time All-American Nevills and senior Anthony Cassar, who earned a technical fall on Sunday in his first start at heavyweight up from 197 pounds.
“We’ve just got to see how things play out and just be patient,” Sanderson said. “I don’t know if we’re going to wrestle Nevills this week at the tournament. We were thinking probably a few weeks ago, whenever I said that at media day, and there’s a good chance he’ll wrestle. We just want to make sure he’s ready.”
Nevills sustained an injury near the end of the NCAA tournament in March, but, bandage wrapped around his right shoulder and all, was able to finish out the tournament with an 8-seconds-left takedown against Maryland’s Yousif Hemida to secure a seventh-place finish and help keep the Nittany Lions alive in the team race.
Sanderson confirmed last week that Nevills did have shoulder surgery soon after the tournament ended, and is “wrestling hard right now.”
Another wrestler Sanderson had said last week might see his first action of the year at the Classic was Berge.
Berge, who told reporters last week he was weighing in at about 70 kilograms (or 154 pounds), has been on a “weight decent plan” to cut to 149 pounds.
Although Sanderson said Berge has made weight, they’re not trying to rush anything.
“We just want to do what’s right for the kid in the long run,” he said. “It’s not a race to see how quickly we can get them out there. The challenge is to be ready to be at our best at the end of the season.”
As for 125 pounds, Sanderson said sophomores Devin Schnupp and Justin Lopez would be entering the tournament.
Schnupp, who held down the starting spot for most of last season with a 1-14 record, won the wrestle-off between him and Lopez to earn the start against Kent State. Schnupp dropped that match against Jake Ferri 8-12.
Meanwhile, Lopez went 2-2 at the Clarion Open on Nov. 3.
Sanderson said the two will wrestle off again, maybe as soon as Sunday — if they both make it far enough in the tournament.
“They both need to step it up a little bit, right, if they’re hoping to meet late in the tournament,” Sanderson said. “You’ve got to get to late in the tournament, but yeah, those guys both should be excited for that opportunity.”
True freshmen redshirts Gavin Teasdale and Brody Teske will not be competing this weekend, but Sanderson said they might travel along with the team to Philadelphia.
“Teasdale’s planning on wrestling and Teske wants to wrestle, so we’ve got a lot of great options there we’re excited about,” he said. “Those guys are planning on wrestling this year but still, we want to be patient and let things play out, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2018 at 8:54 PM.