Here’s how Penn State wrestling scrapped its way past Illinois with a patchwork lineup
When Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson walked into the media room on Friday after the Nittany Lions’ dual, he had a look on his face like something was bothering him.
He joked and said it was because he was being hounded for being late to the press conference after Penn State edged Illinois 22-16.
It really wasn’t that.
“I don’t think we should be thrilled about the way we wrestled,” Sanderson said. “If we lose the dual tonight, you’re going to learn from that. You got to go win it. If you want to win, you got to go score points. We didn’t really do much of that today. We gave up some bonus points.”
Sanderson and Co. had a lot on their plate coming into Friday’s dual with the Fighting Illini. Yes, they knew they were going to be without Anthony Cassar, but also gone were Roman Bravo-Young, Brady Berge and Vincenzo Joseph.
This meant that Penn State had some new faces in the lineup — Austin Clabaugh (133 pounds), Konner Kraeszig (165) and Seth Nevills (285). All are guys who probably weren’t expecting to be in the lineup this season, but they got their shot.
“It’s a little different this year. We’ve got to figure things out a little bit more,” Sanderson said. “We don’t have some of the guys we had in lineup the last few years, it’s kind of a transition year. If you don’t have your team wrestling, you’re going to have to scrap. You got 9.9 scholarships, you wrestle with your best guys. We’re going to have to scrap. We’re going to have to get better as we go along. We’re going to have to find some enthusiasm, that comes with confidence.”
Only Nevills won out of those three making their debuts, but he didn’t hit the mat until the end of the dual. A dual that, as Sanderson said, the Nittany Lions had to “scrap” their way to earning the win, rather than having the dual in hand at intermission.
Nick Lee, who was one of the older ones in the lineup Friday, came to the mat with his team down 9-0. It was a spot that the junior wasn’t very familiar with.
“I mean I’d be lying to say if it didn’t,” said Lee when asked if the score affected how he wrestled his match. “But, I try to wrestle the same, always looking for bonus points, whether we’re down by nine or up by nine. I try to go out there and wrestle as my best self every match. I would’ve liked to get more bonus points, but sometimes you just got to beat guys the way that you can.”
Lee rattled off five takedowns in a 13-5 major decision win to cut Penn State’s deficit to five points. Jarod Verkleeren got the Nittany Lions to within 9-7 with a 6-2 win at 149.
However, Eric Barone picked up a 5-2 win over Bo Pipher, who filled in for Berge, and Penn State trailed 12-7 at the break. Things didn’t seem to get any better out of the break, with Kraeszig suffering a 12-3 major decision loss. The Nittany Lions were down nine with four bouts left.
Senior Mark Hall was solid like he’s been all year long. He pushed the pace so much against Joey Gunther that Gunther was disqualified for too many stall calls.
Freshman Aaron Brooks finally got Penn State even on the scoreboard at 16-16. He earned a 9-4 win over Zac Braunagel at 184 pounds.
Shakur Rasheed made his season debut and wrestled a full seven minutes. He came away with a 3-0 win. Yes, it wasn’t bonus points like Sanderson would’ve liked with the circumstances his team was wrestling with, but he was pleased with Rasheed.
“He’s a little disappointed. Shak likes to come out and put on a show,” Sanderson said. “Seeing him wrestle seven minutes in his first match back, I think that’s beneficial and good for him. I thought he did fine.”
Nevills locked up the dual with a 6-3 victory. It was a bout that Sanderson knew his team needed because he wasn’t sure how it would’ve worked out if the dual went to criteria.
Even though Sanderson wasn’t happy with how his team competed, he was glad to see them “scrap” out a win.
“The guys did a nice job of coming back and winning a match that we very easily could have lost under the circumstances,” he said. “It’s hard to win tough matches when we don’t wrestle with guys in the lineup. They want to win nationals this year. They want to win every duel meet, but we just got to get everything rolling and keep guys in the lineup.”
No. 3 Penn State 22, Illinois 16
Friday at Rec Hall
125: Justin Cardani, I, dec. Brandon Meredith, 6-0
133: No. 7 Travis Piotrowski, I, pinned Austin Clabaugh, 6:54
141: No. 2 Nick Lee, PSU, major dec. No. 16 Dylan Duncan, 13-5
149: Jarod Verkleeren, PSU, dec. Mousa Jodeh, 6-2
157: Eric Barone, I, dec. Bo Pipher, 5-2
165: No. 15 Danny Braunagel, I, major dec. Konner Kraeszig, 12-3
174: No. 1 Mark Hall, PSU, def. No. 8 Joey Gunther, disqualification (stalling, 6:40)
184: No. 8 Aaron Brooks, PSU, dec. Zac Braunagel, 9-4
197: Shakur Rasheed, PSU, dec. Matt Wroblewski, 3-0
285: Seth Nevills, PSU, dec. Luke Luffman, 6-3
Takedowns: Illinois 11, Penn State 19
Attendance: 6,202
Records: Illinois (3-2, 0-1 Big Ten), Penn State (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten)
Next match: Northwestern at Penn State, Sunday, 2 p.m.
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 11:15 PM.
