Penn State wrestling’s Jason Nolf, Bo Nickal say goodbye in memorable fashion at last Rec Hall dual
Jason Nolf swore he wasn’t emotional in his final Rec Hall dual on Sunday, a 47-3 beating of Buffalo.
But anyone who watched the 157-pound senior get his arm raised for the last time in front of the standing-room-only crowd, and point both index fingers in the air before running off the mat and leaping into teammate Mark Hall’s arms, could be fooled.
Nolf, who started his Penn State dual career with a pin in 2015 against Lock Haven, ended it by sticking Buffalo’s Kyle Todrank in 5 minutes and 41 seconds with a far-side cradle for his program-leading 58th career fall.
In their final Rec Hall performances, Penn State’s seniors — led by Nolf and Bo Nickal — gave the home crowd an afternoon to remember with five straight pins — sparked by Nolf. The win was the 59th consecutive dual meet victory for the Nittany Lions.
Leading 15-5 to start the final period at 157 pounds, Nolf gave up a reversal to Todrank, who then decided to dance around a bit on the mat, taunting Nolf. This was after the Purdue transfer had also mockingly offered his leg to Nolf to end the second period.
The gestures clearly had Nolf — and the crowd — fired up, as he responded by quickly hitting a takedown, letting Todrank out and then locking up the cradle.
The message was clear: Don’t mess with the two-time national champ.
Nolf, an in-state product, was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation for his final performance at Rec Hall.
“Was he mocking me? I didn’t notice,” Nolf said after the match with a smirk. “I just go out there, and put my head on their head, try to wrestle my best every time and try to pin him, I guess.”
Whatever the case may have been, the fact remained — Nolf’s response set off a chain reaction as Vincenzo Joseph, Hall and fellow seniors Shakur Rasheed and Bo Nickal each followed up with first-period pins.
The “pin parade” that Nolf started is what coach Cael Sanderson said Rasheed told him inspired him to look for the fall and wrestle a little harder in his return to the mat at 184 pounds after missing six of the past seven duals due to injury.
Nickal also agreed that it was that momentum that added a little bit of an extra spark to wrap Brett Perry up in a cradle in just 1:19 for his 56th career pin.
“The best you can do for your team is get the pin, and we want to win every match and win by as large a margin as we can,” he said. “So it’s definitely something that gets us all excited.”
The two seniors were a bit coy in answering questions after the match — perhaps in an attempt to avoid facing the reality that their historic dual careers had just come to a close. Over the two seniors’ four-year careers, the Nittany Lions haven’t lost a single dual meet. Of Nolf and Nickal’s combined six career losses, only two have come in duals — and one was an injury default.
Neither has ever lost in a dual in front of the Rec Hall crowd.
When asked to pick their favorite memory of wrestling in Rec Hall over the past four years, Nickal said it was impossible to choose.
“Every match you have in Rec is obviously really awesome,” he said. “We have a great crowd; so many people out there to support us. It’s an awesome environment to get to compete in, no matter what. There are so many moments we’ve had over the past four years that have been awesome. We’re very grateful for all of them.”
The Penn State faithful on Sunday clearly showed that the feeling was mutual. There was scarcely an empty seat in the arena, and the upper track was packed with fans. Each senior in the starting lineup — Nolf, Nickal, Rasheed and Anthony Cassar — were met with standing ovations when their hands were raised and they ran off the mat for possibly the final time. Both Rasheed and Cassar are waiting to hear back from the NCAA on medical redshirt applications.
“It’s just been a blessing to be a part of this program and to have these people surrounding us — the best fans in the country,” Nolf said. “I definitely feel a lot of energy going out and wrestling, and I feel grateful to be here.”
But Nolf and Nickal were both quick to remind reporters that although they’ve just wrestled in their final dual — their careers at Penn State are far from over. In fact, the best is yet to come with the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments on the horizon.
“We train pretty much all year so we can go out there and enjoy the postseason,” Nickal said, “and I think that’s when we wrestle best as a team, so we’re pretty excited about it.”
No. 1 Penn State 47, Michigan State 3
Sunday at Rec Hall
125: Kyle Akins, UB, dec. Justin Lopez, PSU, 0-3
133: No. 11 Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, maj. dec. Derek Spann, UB, 14-5
141: No. 2 Nick Lee, PSU, wins by forfeit
149: No. 11 Brady Berge, PSU, dec. Jason Estevez, UB, 11-4
157: No. 1 Jason Nolf, PSU, pinned Kyle Todrank, UB, WBF (5:41)
165: No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph, PSU, pinned Noah Grover, UB, WBF (1:03)
174: No. 1 Mark Hall, PSU, pinned Jake Lanning, UB, WBF (2:13)
184: No. 2 Shakur Rasheed, PSU, pinned Logan Rill, UB, WBF (1:16)
197: No. 1 Bo Nickal, PSU, pinned Brett Perry, UB, WBF (1:19)
285: No. 3 Anthony Cassar, PSU, maj. dec. Sam Schuyler, UB, 16-5
Records: Penn State (14-0, 9-0 B1G), Buffalo (12-5, 5-2 MAC)
Up next: Big Ten Championships, March 9-10 in Minnesota
This story was originally published February 24, 2019 at 7:58 PM.