Drew Hildebrandt makes Penn State wrestling debut in style as Nittany Lions cruise
Penn State continues to have Maryland’s number on the wrestling mat.
On Friday night, the Nittany Lions shut out the Terrapins 46-0 in a dual that saw new transfer Drew Hildebrandt make his Penn State debut.
The shutout was the Nittany Lions’ first this year. Their last shutout was a 44-0 defeat of Maryland in last season’s finale on Feb. 22. In all six duals that Penn State has had under coach Cael Sanderson, the Nittany Lions have outscored the Terrapins, 260-15, in duals.
“It was nice to get that win,” said Tony Negron to the Penn State Sports Network. Negron was one of eight Penn State wrestlers to earn bonus points. “We just feed off (each other’s) energy. Whenever anyone is out there, we are always rooting. It’s like one guy after another we have a really good bond.”
The Nittany Lions started feeding off of each other’s energy right away with Hildebrandt making his Big Ten and team debut in style at 125 pounds.
The graduate transfer from Central Michigan immediately took down Zach Spence. Hildebrandt worked his way to getting his legs in on Spence with his ride.
Hildebrandt sunk a half nelson and went for nearfall points. He collected four nearfall points, and had to reset his positioning. Once reset, Hildebrandt again rolled Spence to his back to pin the Maryland wrestler in 1 minute, 38 seconds.
Roman Bravo-Young and Nick Lee followed Hildebrandt’s fall with back-to-back technical falls.
Bravo-Young raced out to a 14-0 first-period lead. He took King Sandoval down and went to work with his tilts. Bravo Young locked up a 2-on-1 grip and tilted Sandoval three times for nearfall points. It only took Bravo-Yound 26 seconds to finish off a 16-1 technical fall in 3:26.
Lee, like Bravo-Young, used a huge first period to hold a 12-1 lead. Lee had two takedowns and two sets of nearfall points. In the second period, Lee picked up a reversal early. He tacked on four nearfall points in securing an 18-1 technical fall in 4:14.
The Nittany Lions led 16-0.
Beau Bartlett kept the bonus points coming for Penn State at 149 pounds. He got the initial points against Michael North with a takedown, but North responded with an escape and takedown to take the lead.
Bartlett picked up a reversal before the first period came to an end to hold a 4-3 lead. In the second period, North earned another takedown, that seemed to trigger Bartlett into overdrive. Bartlett escaped, took North down and pinned North in 4:48.
Negron was able to earn his first win in the Nittany Lions’ singlet against Lucas Cordio. Negron went down 2-0 just over midway through the first period, but responded with an escape, takedown and four nearfall points. He led 7-1 after one period.
In the second period, Negron used a full period ride to keep Cordio from scoring off the bottom. Negron added more points in the third period thanks to an escape and a takedown with 30 seconds remaining to secure an 11-2 major decision.
“It feels really good. My first two matches,” Negron said, “I was still a little rusty because I haven’t competed in a while. As the season goes on, I’m just fine tuning, looking to rack up some wins and have some fun.”
Negron’s win gave Penn State a 26-0 lead at the break.
Creighton Edsell opened the second half of the dual with a dominating 7-1 win over Gaven Bell at 165 pounds. Edsell amassed 5:07 in riding time.
At 174 pounds, reigning NCAA champion Carter Starocci used three takedowns to earn an 8-3 win over Dominic Solis. The Nittany Lions started collecting more bonus points after Starocci’s win.
Aaron Brooks snapped off nine takedowns — four alone in the third period — to earn a 19-7 win over No. 12 Kyle Cochran at 184 pounds. Max Dean used seven takedowns to rack up a 20-5 technical fall in 7:00 over Kevin Makosy at 197 pounds.
Greg Kerkvliet finished the dual with an 18-3 technical fall in 4:42 over No. 26 Zach Schrader. Kerkvliet nearly had the bout finished in the first period as he led 14-0 thanks to three takedowns and two sets of nearfall points.
Penn State continues its season on Sunday as it hosts Indiana at 2 p.m. inside Rec Hall. Indiana lost to Rutgers 29-7 on Friday night.
Note: News broke on Thursday that Brady Berge was returning to the Nittany Lions. According to Penn State Sports Network’s Jeff Byers, Berge is expected to wrestle at 165 pounds, saying he beats out Edsell for the starting spot.
No. 2 Penn State 46, Maryland 0
Friday at College Park, Md.
125: Drew Hildebrandt, PSU, pined Zach Spence, 3:03
133: No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, tech. fall King Sandoval, 16-1 (3:26)
141: No. 1 Nick Lee, PSU, tech. fall Danny Bertoni, 18-1 (4:14)
149: No. 20 Beau Bartlett, PSU, pinned Michael North, 4:48
157: Tony Negron, PSU, major dec. Lucas Cordio, 11-2
165: No. 24 Creighton Edsell, PSU, dec. Gaven Bell, 7-1
174: No. 1 Carter Starocci, PSU, dec. Dominic Solis, 8-3
184: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU, major dec. No. 12 Kyle Cochran, 19-7
197: No. 2 Max Dean, PSU, tech. fall Kevin Makosy, 20-5 (7:00)
285: No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet, PSU, tech. fall, No. 26 Zach Schrader, 18-3 (4:42)
Extra bout
157: Terrell Barraclough, PSU, dec. Conner Decker, 6-0
Takedowns: PSU 34, M 3
Records: Penn State (9-0, 1-0 Big Ten), Maryland (3-3, 0-1 Big Ten)
Next match: Indiana at Penn State, Sunday, 2 p.m.
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 9:50 PM.
