Penn State wrestling overcomes slow start, missing starters to top Indiana
Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said it was rather “last second” knowing that his team would compete Sunday without defending NCAA champions Roman Bravo-Young and Nick Lee.
The Nittany Lions had a pair of wrestlers move up in weight to fill the voids, and they overcame a slow start to rally past Indiana, 29-11, inside a 75% full Rec Hall.
“I think we were fine, (but) a little flat early. I don’t know what we were down at halftime,” said Sanderson, who collected his 90th Big Ten dual win as a coach. “But, you know you have two national champions out of the lineup. We came back at the half, and kind of got things ramped up a little bit. I think our guys competed. We just got beat up a little bit in a couple of weights.”
As Sanderson mentioned, there weren’t a whole lot of things going Penn State’s way in the first half of the dual outside of Drew Hildebrandt and Beau Bartlett’s matches.
Hildebrandt, who made his Nittany Lions’ debut on Friday with a pin, made his Rec Hall debut on Sunday. He got the crowd into it, too, by taking down No. 25 Jacob Moran late in the first period.
“It was, it was really cool. I got goosebumps when I came out,” Hildebrandt said of experiencing Rec Hall for the first time. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is sweet.’ I made sure I stayed calm. A lot of coaches say, ‘Hey, stay calm, stay calm. Maryland, I might have got a little too hyped. But, today I really tried to stay focused, relaxed and just wrestle my match.”
Moran earned an escape to start the second period of quick, but Hildebrandt didn’t stay down as he quickly escaped. The pair traded shot attempts the rest of the second period, but no one was able to score.
In the third period, Hildebrandt started from the bottom position and switched into a reversal to regain control of Moran. Hildebrandt used his top game to ride out Moran the rest of the period for a 6-2 win.
“He’s a beast, man. He wrestles hard,” Aaron Brooks said of Hildebrandt. “He brings really good energy. 125-pounders have that kind of power to bring and start the lineup with really good energy.”
The energy that Hildebrandt brought to the lineup and dual was quickly sucked right up by the Hoosiers, though.
No. 19 Brock Hudkins took on Penns Valley graduate Baylor Shunk at 133, and went to work early and often. The Hoosiers’ wrestler snapped off three first-period takedowns, and used a 10-point second period to hold a commanding 16-3 lead.
In the third period, Hudkins cranked Shunk to his back for his third set of nearfall points of the bout to finish off an 18-3 technical fall in 5:30.
Brandon Meredith filled in for Lee at 141, and took on No. 26 Cayden Rooks. Rooks put together back-to-back three-point periods to lead 6-2 to open the third period. In the third period, Rooks tacked on a third tackdown and added a riding time point for a 9-4 win.
The Hoosiers led 8-3.
“I was happy our guys were willing and able to kind of jump in there and wrestle,” Sanderson said. “Both (we’re) coming off wrestling the (Southern) Scuffle and having not really prepped for the match. They gave a good effort.”
Bartlett had to fight till the end in his match with Graham Rooks at 149. He did tally the first points of the bout with 1:20 left in the first period.
Bartlett used a takedown with two seconds remaining in the second period to give himself a little bit of a cushion heading to the third period. Up 5-2 late in the third period, Bartlett gave up a takedown with 20 seconds remaining, and managed to eke out a 6-4 win.
Indiana’s Derek Gilcher swung the momentum back to his team’s favor at 157, by controlling Tony Negron the entire match of a 4-1 win — the last bout victory for the Hoosiers, who led 11-6 at the break.
Creighton Edsell got the nod at 165 like he has all year, but it could be coming to an end as Brady Berge is making his return, and is projected to go at that weight. Edsell may have showed that he belongs in the lineup by starting off a string of five straight bonus-point victories for Penn State.
He came out an fired off two first-period takedowns to hold a 4-1 lead. In the second period, Indiana’s Sammy Cokeley threw Edsell to his back with a headlock, but didn’t score any nearfall points, just the takedown.
Edsell escaped, but in the third period he used a 2-on-1 tilt to earn nearfall points and added riding time for an 11-3 major decision. Edsell’s win got the Nittany Lions to within one.
Carter Starocci racked up a 6-2 lead on Sean Grim at 174, before pinning Grim in 2:07. The win gave Penn State a 16-11 lead, its first of the dual since Hildebrandt’s win.
Aaron Brooks took on DJ Washington at 184. Washington, who handed Starocci his first collegiate loss last season, came out and looked to play spoiler on Brooks by recording the bout’s first takedown.
All that takedown seemed to do was trigger Brooks to go on a scoring spree.
“I was saying this a lot. I try to tell the guys a lot too,” Brooks said of that takedown. “I had to live by that today, but ‘You give up that first takedown, they got seven minutes left with you,’ so I just kept that in my head. It definitely woke me up. It was good stuff.”
Brooks said his dad showed him the tape of Washington’s loss on Friday, so knew he was in good shape.
The defending NCAA champ outscored Washington 12-2 over the last 4:13 of wrestling with four takedowns, and earned two stall points in a 13-4 major decision. Penn State led 20-11 after Brooks’ victory.
Max Dean used three takedowns, picked up a stall point and added riding time to earn a 9-1 major decision at 197 over Nick Willham. Greg Kerkvliet racked up a 20-3 technical fall to close out the dual in 4:59.
“We’ve got a pretty darn good team this year. I mean, these guys are tough,” Sanderson said. “We keep talking about that. It’s up to them on how good this team will be. It’s not anything the coaches are going to do or not do, as long as we don’t screw them up.”
No. 2 Penn State 29, Indiana 11
Sunday at University Park
125: Drew Hildebrandt, PSU, dec. No. 25 Jacob Moran, 6-2
133: No. 19 Brock Hudkins, I, tech. fall Baylor Shunk, 18-3 (5:30)
141: No. 26 Cayden Rooks, I, dec. Brandon Meredith, 9-4
149: No. 20 Beau Bartlett, PSU, dec. Graham Rooks, 6-4
157: Derek Gilcher, I, dec. Tony Negron, 4-1
165: No. 24 Creighton Edsell, PSU, major dec. Sammy Cokeley, 11-3
174: No. 1 Carter Starocci, PSU, pinned Sean Grim, 2:07
184: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU, major dec. No. 8 DJ Washington, 13-4
197: No. 2 Max Dean, PSU, major dec. Nick Willham, 9-1
285: No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet, PSU, tech. fall Jacob Bullock, 20-3 (4:59)
Takedowns: I 10, PSU 21
Records: Indiana 2-2, 0-2 Big Ten, Penn State 10-0, 2-0 Big Ten
Next match: Rutgers at Penn State, Sunday, 5 p.m.
This story was originally published January 9, 2022 at 6:35 PM.
