Aggressive Nittany Lions take care of Cal-State Bakersfield on the mat
Aggressiveness.
That is the way to describe No. 1 Penn State’s west coast opener on Friday night.
The Nittany Lions tallied 42 takedowns and used two first-period pins in their 39-3 victory over Cal-State Bakersfield inside the Icardo Center.
“They were very aggressive,” Penn State associate head coach Cody Sanderson said to the Penn State Sports Network. “From what I could see from the side there, guys were a little bit fatigued. That was a long travel day (Thursday). It is an unusual time for these guys to be competing but they fought through it. We were happy to see it.”
Zain Retherford and Bo Nickal captured those first-period victories for the Nittany Lions.
Retherford dispersed of his opponent, Ian Nickell, in 1:17 at 149 pounds.
Nickal’s victory was impressive. He squared of with No. 16-ranked and returning All-American Bryce Hammond at 174 pounds. Hammound tried to roll through on an escape, but Nickal caught him and stuck to the mat with three seconds left in the first period.
“Bo looked great,” Sanderson said. “He looks experienced out there already. Bryce made a mistake and Bo felt it. The next time he went to do the same thing Bo capitalized on it. He knew what was going to happen before it happened.”
Nickal was named the Ernie Lucas award winner, which is handed out to the outstanding wrestler of an away meet.
The night opened with Jordan Conaway capturing a 16-5 major decision over Carlos Herrera at 133 pounds. Jimmy Gulibon followed with an 8-1 decision to put Penn State ahead 7-0. Following Retherford’s pin, Jason Nolf stepped onto the mat and racked up 12 takedowns in his 24-9 technical fall over A.J. Fierro.
At 165, Shakur Rasheed bounced back from a heart-breaking loss to Virginia Tech with a 6-0 win over Adam Fierro. Matt McCutcheon and Morgan McIntosh earned major decisions at 184 and 197 pounds, respectively, pushing the Nittany Lions’ lead to 35-0.
The Roadrunners picked up their lone victory of the night at heavyweight. Matt Williams took advantage of two Jan Johnson stall points en route to a 4-0 victory.
Nico Megaludis finished the night off with a 23-10 major decision for Penn State.
Notes: Nick Nevills, who was the lone heavyweight on the Nittany Lions roster before the season, was working as an analyst with Jeff Byers during the radio broadcast. Nevills confirmed that he suffered a torn pectoral muscle injury. He said that he tore about 90 percent of the muscle off the bone. … McIntosh made a long awaited trip back to his home state of California. He grew up in Santa Ana, which was three hours south of Bakersfield. … CS-Bakersfield tallied just one takedown in the match.
This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 12:29 AM with the headline "Aggressive Nittany Lions take care of Cal-State Bakersfield on the mat."