Bravo-Young’s, Verkleeren’s debut highlight Penn State wrestling’s season opener
Penn State coach Cael Sanderson couldn’t have asked for a better start to his 10th year at the helm of the Nittany Lions.
His team recorded seven pins — six in a row, and two technical falls in a 52-3 season-opening rout of Kent State on Sunday afternoon in Rec Hall.
“Bonus points make a big difference in big matches and national tournament, Big Ten tournament, so, and it’s a lot more exciting for everybody,” Sanderson said. “I’m happy with the guys. I thought they wrestled very well today. We’re appreciative of Kent State coming in here. It’s not an easy thing to do with the crowd and being early in the season like this.”
What’s more impressive, true freshman Roman Bravo-Young and redshirt freshman Jarod Verkleeren had two of those pins.
“I mean, this is what they do at Penn State,” Bravo-Young said of scoring bonus points in his debut, “so I just got to follow them. I don’t really get too confident, just keep moving forward.”
Sanderson was impressed with his young wrestlers. However, he knows Bravo-Young and Verkleeren aren’t the typical freshmen wrestlers. He did, though, expect them to do what they did.
“They’re both very good wrestlers. They have had a lot of experience,” Sanderson said. “I kind of thought they were both going to have great performances and I’m happy for them, but just move forward.”
Verkleeren had the quickest of the pins between the freshmen.
The Golden Flashes’ Kody Komara tried to body lock Verkleeren. Verkleeren went over the top of Komara’s arms with a lock of his own. He set his feet and threw Komara to his back and pinned him in 1:20.
“Maybe a little, but I’m pretty comfortable out there, so, took the risk,” Verkleeren said of being nervous when Komara locked him up. “He bodylocked me and then I sent it.”
Verkleeren’s comment of “sent it” got a crack of a smile from Sanderson.
Bravo-Young gave Sanderson plenty to smile about after the Nittany Lions dropped the 125-pound match.
The Tucson, Ariz., native joked about the cold earlier this week but turned the heat up on Tim Rooney. Bravo-Young secured the first takedown of the match with 1:19 remaining in the first period, which he felt helped settle the debut jitters.
Bravo-Young worked on securing an arm bar and half nelson to crank Rooney over for near-fall points and led 6-0 after his first period of college wrestling. The second period saw Bravo-Young again work on that arm bar and half nelson combination. He used the combo again to pin Rooney 29 seconds into the third period.
“I just kept sitting on it. He was giving up his arm,” Bravo-Young said of the success of the combination. “I was just working on riding him. I could have cut him and won on feet but against better guys I need some riding time.”
Verkleeren’s pin began a string of six straight pins for the Nittany Lions.
Jason Nolf rattled off six takedowns before pinning Joe Andrassy in 2:29 at 157 pounds. It gave Penn State a 23-3 lead at the break.
Vincenzo Joseph earned a penalty point for a hands to the face call against Isaac Bast. Joseph took care of Bast 20 seconds into the second period after leading 12-4.
Mark Hall led 10-0 after the first period thanks to two sets of near-fall points. He went on to pin Dylan Barreiro in 3:34 and the Nittany Lions were up 35-3.
Shakur Rasheed took just 83 seconds to pin Andrew McNally at 184 pounds. Bo Nickal got a takedown seven seconds into his first match at 197 pounds, but it wasn’t against No. 2 Kyle Conel. Nickal pinned Shane Mast in 2:06 to finish off the pin parade.
Nick Lee, who sported a brace on his right knee, didn’t seem fazed by it at 141 pounds. He had four takedowns and two sets of near fall points to technical fall Cory Simpson 18-2 in 3:44.
Anthony Cassar finished the match off with a 17-2 technical fall of Billy Bolia.
With all of Sunday’s success, the question had to be asked of Sanderson, is this the most talented team he’s coached.
“I don’t know, that’s a lot of thinking,” Sanderson said with a laugh. “We’re just one match, one day at a time. We’re just excited about the potential of this team this year. We know there is a lot of great competition and that’s what makes this all worthwhile.”
No. 1 Penn State 52, Kent State 3
Sunday at University Park
125: Jake Ferri, KS, dec. Devin Schnupp, 12-8
133: Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, pinned Tim Rooney, 5:31
141: No. 4 Nick Lee, PSU, tech. fall Cory Simpson, 18-2 (3:44)
149: Jarod Verkleeren, PSU, pinned Kody Komara, 1:20
157: No. 1 Jason Nolf, PSU, pinned Joe Andrassy, 2:29
165: No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph, PSU, pinned Isaac Bast, 3:40
174: No. 2 Mark Hall, PSU, pinned Dylan Barreiro, 3:24
184: No. 4 Shakur Rasheed, PSU, pinned Andrew McNally, 1:13
197: No. 1 Bo Nickal, PSU, pinned Shane Mast, 2:06
285: Anthony Cassar, PSU, tech. fall Billy Bolia, 17-2 (5:14)
Takedowns: Kent State 4, Penn State 31
Records: Kent State (3-5), Penn State 1-0
Next match: Penn State at Keystone Classic, Philadelphia, Nov. 18, 10 a.m.
This story was originally published November 11, 2018 at 5:37 PM.