Penn State wrestling rolls toward postseason with rout of Clarion
Senior Day and Homecoming are typically days in teams’ schedules where they tend to line up some less talented opponents to almost ensure a win.
When it comes to Penn State, it doesn’t usually matter who they face because as of late, a win is pretty much a lock.
On Sunday afternoon, the Nittany Lions hosted Clarion for Senior Day, and outside of one loss, the No. 1 team in the country came away with a 40-6 dominating win for the eight seniors recognized in Donovon Ball, Roman Bravo-Young, Max Dean, Paul Feite, Konner Kraeszig, Joe Lee, Seth Nevills and Eddie Smith. With the win, Penn State coach Cael Sanderson tied longtime coach Charlie Speidel for the most wins at the helm with 191.
“It’s been a great group of guys. I think they’re a pretty close group. Guys from all over the country and from different backgrounds,” Sanderson said. “Some of them have years of eligibility remaining, so who knows if they’ll use them or not. We still got the big stuff left in the season here to see how things turn out, but so far they’ve been pretty great.”
Things got off on the right foot for the Nittany Lions as Gary Steen picked up a win to start things off.
He took on a familiar opponent in Joey Fischer. The pair squared off twice in the PIAA Championships as high school wrestlers with Steen winning both times.
Steen edged Fischer for third place in the 2019 championships, 2-1 in ultimate tiebreakers. The next year, they faced off in the finals with Steen earning a 4-2 sudden victory win.
It wasn’t as close on Sunday.
The Penn State wrestler used late takedowns late in the second and third periods to earn a 5-1 win.
“This was the first match that never really went into overtime. I’m starting to see a gap a little bit,” Steen said. “I’m just believing in myself and I keep getting better.”
Bravo-Young took the mat for the final time inside Rec Hall and finished his career like he started it — with a pin.
The fall didn’t come right away for the two-time NCAA champion, but he did what he does best against Mason Prinkey: put on a show.
RBY hit two massive headlocks as part of his six takedowns recorded. He built up a 16-4 lead before sticking Prinkey in 4:31.
“It felt good. I just wanted to get a pin because I started with a pin, so I wanted to end with a pin,” RBY said. “It’s kind of weird being done. I’ve came a long ways. It’s a surreal moment, but just like anything in life you got to move on. Like Cael said, the job is really not done. I’m excited for nationals.”
Some more excitement came at 141 pounds as Bald Eagle Area graduate Seth Koleno made a return to the area.
He faced off with Beau Bartlett, who jumped out to a 2-0 lead early with a takedown 39 seconds in. Koleno escaped, and trailed 2-1 to start the second period.
Then, Bartlett started to pull away.
The No. 6 wrestler in the country snapped off two takedowns in the final two periods and added riding time to secure a 12-4 major decision.
“I’ve never been so pumped up to wrestle a dual meet in my life,” Koleno said. “I thought I wrestled well. I wish I would’ve added some more fakes in there and started to get more on my offense. I’ve been struggling on bottom all year, the No. 6 guy in the nation, I could get out on, so there is no excuse why I can’t get out on anybody else. It was a huge confidence builder right before the postseason, so it’s nice.”
The Nittany Lions led 13-0 after Bartlett’s win.
Shayne Van Ness and Levi Haines strung together back-to-back technical falls that saw them outscore their opponents a combined 35-4.
Van Ness had three takedowns, three sets of nearfall points and a stall point to rack up a 17-1 victory in 4:59.
Haines had four takedowns and two sets of nearfall points for his 18-3 win in 4:26. It gave Penn State a 23-0 lead at the break.
Alex Facundo was tossed to his back late in the first period against Cam Pine, which was sort of a wake-up call. Facundo tallied five takedowns after that in a 16-10 win.
Carter Starocci had no problems with John Worthing at 174 pounds. He used four first period takedowns and nearfall points to race out to a 12-3 lead. In the second period, he finished Worthing off in a 19-3 technical fall in 5:00.
“I think the guys looked good. Clarion was aggressive. We made a couple of mistakes here and there,” Sanderson said. “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re probably not progressing.”
Ball got the start in place of Aaron Brooks on Senior Day. He might not have envisioned it going the way it did.
No. 21 Will Feldkamp caught Ball and sent him through the air and to his back. Feldkamp was able to secure a fall in 1:20, thus keeping his team from being shut out.
Max Dean gave up two late takedowns to Ty Bagoly at 197 pounds, but did enough prior to that to win 9-5. Greg Kerkvliet had no problems with Austin Chapman in the final bout as he secured a fall in 5:21.
Now, Penn State shifts its focus toward the Big Ten Championships. The Nittany Lions get a week off before those take place March 4-5 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“Ready or not, here we come. We’re happy with where we are at,” Sanderson said. “We’ll get a couple of good weeks of training in, and we’ll be ready to roll.”
No. 1 Penn State 40, Clarion 6
Sunday at University Park
125: Gary Steen, PSU, dec. Joey Fischer, 5-1
133: No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, pinned Mason Prinkey, 4:31
141: No. 6 Beau Bartlett, PSU, major dec. Seth Koleno, 12-4
149: No. 13 Shayne Van Ness, PSU, tech. fall Kyle Schickel, 17-1 (4:59)
157: No. 8 Levi Haines, PSU, tech. fall Trevor Elfvin, 18-3 (4:26)
165: No. 9 Alex Facundo, PSU, dec. Cam Pine, 16-10
174: No. 1 Carter Starocci, PSU, tech. fall John Worthing, 19-3 (5:00)
184: No. 21 Will Feldkamp, C, pinned Donovon Ball, PSU, 1:20
197: No. 3 Max Dean, PSU, dec. Ty Bagoly, 9-5
285: No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet, PSU, pinned Austin Chapman, 5:21
Takedowns: C 4, PSU 40
Records: Clarion (11-6), Penn State (16-0)
Next match: Penn State at Big Ten Championships, Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 4-5
This story was originally published February 19, 2023 at 5:36 PM.
