What to look for in each Penn State wrestler’s NCAA championship match
Some of the matches may have been too close for comfort for the Penn State faithful, but the Nittany Lions found a way to get it done Friday night at PPG Paints Arena in the semifinals of the NCAA Wrestling Championships.
Penn State sent five out of six finalists — in Jason Nolf, Vincenzo Joseph, Mark Hall, Bo Nickal and Anthony Cassar — into Saturday night’s NCAA finals, tying Penn State’s all-time record.
Here’s what to look forward to in Penn State’s championship matchups:
157-pound championship
No. 1 Jason Nolf (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Tyler Berger (Nebraska)
Having just wrestled to the closest win in his collegiate career, Nolf will now face an opponent in Nebraska’s Berger who is out for blood.
After his win over Iowa’s Kaleb Young in the NCAA semifinals, Berger raised his five fingers in the air and counted down, “5, 4, 3, 2 ...,” then looked over at Nolf, who was still wrestling, and pointed his finals digit: “1.” The gesture was clearly in reference to his tweet that he’d be “taking five heads home with me after the NCAA tournaments and, yes, that includes Jason Nolf’s.”
“I’m going to go out there to tear his head off, and I’m sure he’s going to do the same with me,” the Cornhusker said after his win. “I would expect nothing less.”
Despite the close match, which included a seconds-left takedown attempt from N.C. State’s Hayden Hidlay that nearly spoiled Nolf’s championship dreams, the two-time national champ was calm and cool as ever in his post-match press conference.
“Just didn’t have the offense tonight,” Nolf said with a slight shrug. “But I got it done, and I will (Saturday). I’ll be ready.”
Saturday’s 157-pound final will be the sixth collegiate meeting between the two wrestlers, in what will be sort of a poetic ending to both their collegiate careers in the Steel City, as the pair ended their high school careers against each other in the 2014. Nolf won 6-3 then and every time they’ve wrestled since.
But if Berger wins just once against Nolf, on Saturday — it will be that one match that everyone will remember.
165-pound championship
No. 2 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) vs. No. 8 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)
Saturday’s 165-pound final will feature a familiar storyline: A two-time national champion junior, halfway to becoming a four-time champ, against a freshman nobody thought would make the finals.
But this time, Joseph will be on the other side of the equation than what he was three years ago.
This time, it’s Virginia Tech’s No. 8 Mekhi Lewis, the 2018 Junior World Champ, who took out the No. 1 seed in Iowa’s Alex Marinelli and last year’s third-place finisher in Wisconsin’s Evan Wick — and now gets a shot at the two-time champ.
Joseph, who is well-aware of the parallels, said that while he recognizes Lewis’ skill-set, he’s ready to bring his top game on Saturday.
“It’s going to be a good match,” Joseph said. “He wrestles hard. I’ll wrestle hard. It’s going to be exciting.”
174-pound championship
No. 1 Mark Hall (Penn State) vs. No. 3 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State)
After another one-point win over Michigan’s Myles Amine, Hall is set for a rematch of last year’s national final in what is quickly becoming one of the best rivalries in recent college wrestling history.
Despite all the buzz about rivalries, Hall said he’s going to prepare for Valencia the same way he would prepare for any other opponent.
“Rivalries are great for the sport, I think. I remember growing up, you know, watching matches that everyone was looking forward to, all the big names that everyone wanted to see wrestle, and they got it two or three times a year, every year,” he said. “So I’m really excited for that and like you said, we’re just — at the end of the day we’re just competitors.”
Both Hall and Valencia will be looking to avenge former losses — Hall his national championship loss last year and Valencia his dual meet loss to Hall in December.
Valencia believes the key to reversing the result of their most recent match will be applying offensive pressure throughout the match.
“I just need to work on my conditioning and continue to push the pace,” he said. “I don’t think he will be able to hang with me the third period, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
197-pound championship
No. 1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Kollin Moore
With his third pin in four matches at this year’s NCAA Wrestling Championships, Nickal looks every bit the Hodge Trophy frontrunner. And now, with 59 pins, he trails Nolf by just one in Penn State’s record books for career falls.
Saturday will mark Nickal’s last chance to tie his teammate, and with Moore as his opponent, it’s a possibility.
Nolf pinned Moore in the first period when the pair wrestled earlier this season in Columbus. The last time the two wrestled, in the Big Ten finals, Moore kept Nickal to a 10-3 decision.
“He’s definitely a tough competitor,” Nickal said. “He’s somebody that’s going to wrestle me for seven minutes. That’s something I’m excited about, somebody that’s going to attack. So I’m looking forward to just wrestling hard and it will be an exciting competition because I know he’s going to come out and give 100 percent, and he’s going to bring it and I’m going to bring it, too.”
285-pound championship
No. 2 Anthony Cassar (Penn State) vs. No 1 Derek White (Oklahoma State)
Most people didn’t think Cassar could beat Minnesota’s Gable Steveson once, let alone twice. But he did. Now, Cassar is set up for a championship matchup with fellow fifth-year senior White.
The two wrestlers have some similarities in their storylines. Both were once down at 197 pounds, and like Cassar, White, a Nebraska transfer, took some time before coming into his full form as a collegiate wrestler.
Saturday will mark the second meeting between the pair. White took the last one 3-2 in the Southern Scuffle final, in an uncharacteristic match for Cassar. The typically takedown-minded Nittany Lion was shut down by White, unable to get in on any good shots.
But Cassar isn’t that concerned about past results. When the NCAA seeds came out and he realized he’d have to wrestle both Steveson and White again, Cassar embraced the challenge.
“Personally I would like to wrestle them both just to leave no doubt that I’m the best heavyweight in the nation,” he said, prior to the tournament. “With these seedings, it looks like that may happen, so I’m grateful for that. If it doesn’t, I just want to be the champ ether way; so I don’t really care what happens.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2019 at 11:56 PM.