Here’s 5 things we learned from Penn State wrestling’s season opener vs Kent State

The reigning national champion Penn State wrestling team started out its 2018-19 campaign the way many expected — with a blowout.

The Nittany Lions tallied seven falls and two technical falls en route to a 52-3 route of Kent State.

Although wrestling fans didn’t get the marquee matchup between No. 1 Bo Nickal and No. 2 Kyle Conel at 197 pounds, there was still plenty of excitement in Penn State’s first dual meet.

Here’s five things we learned from the Nittany Lions’ opener:

For the record — Penn State is good at pinning

With a fall in 2:29 over Kent State’s Joe Andrassy, Jason Nolf recorded his 46th pin, tying him with Ed Ruth (2011-14) at No. 4 on Penn State’s all-time career falls list. Zain Retherford, Josh Moore and David Taylor are tied at No. 1 with 53 apiece.

Although eight more pins is certainly in reach for Nolf this season, teammate Bo Nickal won’t make becoming Penn State’s all-time leader in career pins easy.

Nickal is hot on Nolf’s heels with 42 pins, at No. 6, after decking his opponent in 2:06. A pin in 3:43 also moved Mark Hall up the ranks, where he’s tied with Shawn Nelson (1990, 92-94) now for 19th place.

Vincenzo Joseph, Shakur Rasheed and freshmen Roman Bravo-Young and Jarod Verkleeren also added pins for the Nittany Lions.

At media availability Tuesday, Hall said he uses his teammates’ results as motivation — to score more points, to get a quicker pin.

That high-scoring mentality and sense of intrasquad competition to one-up each other not only helps Penn State to put points on the board, but also to push individuals to reach their full potential.

That energy has also boiled over to the newcomers.

“That’s what they do at Penn State,” Bravo-Young said when asked how he felt about getting a pin in his debut.

If the Nittany Lions continue to push themselves against not only their competition, but also each other, the potential for this team reckons to be pretty high. It’ll also, of course, make for a fun season for those watching from the stands.

“Bonus points obviously make a big difference in big matches and national tournament, Big Ten tournament, so, and it’s a lot more exciting for everybody,”coach Cael Sanderson said. “You just do the best you can in a match, and if that means bonus, bonus points, then that’s what we should be shooting for.”

The new Zain is — Mark Hall?

No one can replace Zain Retherford, who will go down not only as one of the best in Penn State’s program, but in all of college wrestling. But after the first match, the answer to the question of who will be that guy pulling off limbs from the top position seems to be Hall.

After getting the first takedown in just 35 seconds, Hall brought a little bit of Retherford back into Rec Hall Sunday when he wrapped Kent State’s Dylan Barreiro up in a tilt for four nearfall points. The junior was able to turn his opponent yet again for four more nearfall points before hitting his signature cement mixer for the pin in 3:34.

The improvement Hall showed in his top, Sanderson said, was the result of him specifically wanting to get better in that position.

“I think he put a lot of time and focus into his top game, and you saw that today,” Sanderson said. “He’s gotten a lot stronger. He spent a lot of time with coach (Casey) Cunningham in those positions and it showed today.”

Weight changes no problem for Nittany Lions

The shuffling around of the heavier weight classes seemed to have no affect on Penn State’s wrestlers.

While it’s still early, Rasheed, Nickal and Anthony Cassar seemed to be right at home at their new weights — with Rasheed and Nickal each getting first-period falls and Cassar with a 17-2 tech fall in 5:15.

“I think overall the team just looked really good. ... I thought Cassar looked big and strong, and Bo looked big and strong and Shak looked good down a weight, right. Yeah, so we got a lot to look forward to, we just got to take it one day at a time, keep getting better and enjoy the whole process,” Sanderson said.

Even though he didn’t get to wrestle Conel, Nickal still put on a show, tallying takedowns quicker than many members of the media could keep track.

Cassar will definitely be a problem for Nevills

Sanderson and several of his wrestlers on Tuesday told members of the media that they have two of the best heavyweights in the country in Cassar and Nick Nevills.

Cassar’s debut at 285 gave wrestling fans a little taste of what they were talking about.

Up from 197 pounds, Cassar out-muscled his Kent State opponent, William Bolia, and wore him down, taking him to his back twice for four total nearfall points, on top of five takedowns.

“I think Cassar looked really good. His finishes were very clean and quick. He was very explosive and powerful,” Sanderson said.

When asked Sunday if he had made a decision yet as to who his permanent starter might be, Sanderson said it was too early to tell.

“We have two really good guys at that weight and that’s going to be between those two,” he said. “They will face off here down the road. We will see how that turns out.”

Both are expected to meet in a public wrestle-off next weekend at the Keystone Classic.

Schnupp showed improvement, but it wasn’t enough

A bigger Devin Schnupp, one who seemed to have bulked up since last season, took the mat Sunday at 125 pounds.

His increased strength and improvements his coach talked about at media availability on Tuesday showed, as the sophomore converted on a low-single-leg trip to mark the first takedown of Penn State’s dual season. Schnupp, who had some trouble with converting on takedowns last season, tacked on another before the period’s end.

The Lititz native also showed athleticism in getting out of a second-period scramble and several takedown attempts. However, after the dynamic first period, Schnupp was unable to record another takedown and fell 12-8.

With the Nittany Lions heading to the Keystone Classic tournament next weekend, Schnupp should get the opportunity get some more matches under his belt and improve on being able to finish a full match strong.

How much he’s able to improve should be a leading factor in deciding whether true freshmen Brody Teske or Gavin Teasdale keep their redshirts, and for how long.

Editor’s note: The freshmen debuts were covered in: “Bravo-Young, Verkleeren’s debut highlighting Penn State wrestling’s season opener”

This story was originally published November 11, 2018 at 6:54 PM.