| Sophomore Phil Davis went 2-0 at 197 in the first session of the Big Ten Championships, notching a pin and a major decision. Davis advanced to the semifinals and earned a trip to nationals in two weeks. |
Bloomington, Ind. ?C March 4, 2006 ?C The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team, under the guidance of head coach Troy Sunderland, advanced four wrestlers to the semifinals of the Big Ten Championships and find themselves in a heated six team race for the team crown after the first session of the 2006 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. All four semifinalists have assured themselves a trip to the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City in two weeks.
After the first of three sessions, Illinois leads the team race with 62.0 points while Minnesota follows closely behind with 57.5. Iowa (51.0) and Penn State (46.0) are close behind with Michigan (39.0) and Northwestern (39.0) both still within striking distance.
In all, Penn State went 8-6 in the first session. Penn State was solid in its four pig-tails, struggled to begin the quarterfinals but closed out the session with a solid string of wins to remain in the battle for the 2006 Big Ten Wrestling crown.
First up for Penn State in the first of four ??pig-tail?? matches was senior 149-pounder James Woodall (Dupont, Pa.), who met Northwestern??s Marty Gould. Woodall, the No. 7 seed, battled Gould evenly through the first three minutes and took a 2-1 lead into the second with a takedown midway through the stanza. The second period began with Woodall choosing down. After a quick escape, the Nittany Lion senior took Gould down and quickly turned the Wildcat to his back, getting an important fall at the 3:39 mark. In the process, he grabbed three team points for the Nittany Lions (one for advancement and two for the pin).
Junior Nathan Galloway (State College, Pa.) met Northwestern??s Greg Hagel in an early match at 157. Galloway, the No. 8 seed, stormed out of the gate with an early take down and dominated the flow of the first period and led 6-3 heading into the second. The second period was more of the same for the junior from State College, who did not get taken down in the match and entered the third period looking for early bonus points. Galloway accomplished that goal when, leading 10-5, he notched a late take down in the third to go up 12-5. Needing to maintain his top advantage until period??s end, Galloway did just that and, with the riding time point, posted a 13-5 major decision. Picking up both a team point for advancement and a team point for the major.
Second-seeded Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.) met Ohio State??s James Aston in a 197-pound ??pig-tail??. The sophomore All-American notched a takedown at the 2:00 mark of the first period, added two back points and rode Aston out to lead 4-0 after three minutes. With Ohio State choosing neutral to begin the second, Davis took Aston down and, after picking up two points for Aston stalls, turned the Buckeye to his back and picked up the pin at the 4:55 mark. Davis grabbed three team points for the Nittany Lions, one for the advancement and two for the pin.
| Senior heavyweight Joel Edwards went 2-0 in the first session of the Big Ten Championships with a pin and a major decision. Edwards advanced to the evening's semifinals and has already earned a trip to nationals. |
Senior heavyweight Joel Edwards (Upper Darby, Pa.), the No. 4 seed, met Iowa??s Mike Bucklin in the fourth Nittany Lion ??pig-tail?? bout.. The Nittany Lion senior dominated the bout, getting a take down just :16 in. He added three near fall points and eventually getting a solid first period pin at the 2:16 mark. His pin came just seconds after Davis?? pin at 197 on the neighboring mat. Again, three more team points were picked up for Penn State by virtue of the pig-tail pin.
Penn State certainly took advantage of its four pig-tail bouts, going a perfect 4-0 with three pins and a major. In all, the Lions garnered 11 team points in the four early bouts.
Opening up quarterfinal action, true freshman Brad Pataky (Clearfield, Pa.), the No. 8 seed at 125, met No. 1 seed Joe Dubuque of host Indiana. Pataky, very much the aggressor, could not quite finish on early offensive chances, giving Dubuque the opportunity to pull out to an early 2-1 lead after one period. Dubuque added an escape and one more takedown in the second and a final takedown in the third to post a hard-fought 8-2 win. The loss for Pataky, Penn State??s first of the day, sent the true freshman to the consolations and an evening match-up with Ohio State??s Nathan Costello, who lost a pig-tail to No. 7 seed Travis Lang of Minnesota.
Fifth-seeded Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.) met No. 4 seed Mark Moos of Michigan in his first bout of the tournament at 133. The red-shirt freshman gave up an early take down but quickly reversed Moos to tie the bout at 2-2. Moos would escape before the end of the period, sending the bout to the second with Michigan??s Moos holding a slim 3-2 lead. Moos chose down to begin the second and reversed Strayer to go up 5-2, but the Nittany Lion freshmen reversed Moos once again to cut the Wolverine lead to 5-4. Just as importantly, Strayer rode Moos out and built up a 1:20 riding time edge heading into the third. Strayer chose down to begin the final period and escaped, but not until Moos cut the riding time edge down below a minute. As the final period wound down, Moos nearly scored but was countered by Strayer, who nearly scored as well. Still, with no one scoring, the bout went to sudden victory tied 5-5 and Moos got the all-important take down to grab a 7-5 win and a spot in the semifinals. The loss sent Strayer into the consolation bracket.
Senior DeWitt Driscoll (Connellsville, Pa.), the No. 4 seed, met No. 5 seed Ryan Lang of Northwestern in the first action for each wrestler at 141. Lang got the match??s first take down at the 2:10 mark and rode Driscoll for :44 seconds before the Nittany Lion escaped to a 2-1 deficit. Driscoll got his first take down to go up 3-2, but was reversed. Driscoll escaped quickly to know the score at 4-4 heading into the second. Lang chose down to begin the second and reversed Driscoll to go up 6-4. Driscoll escaped just before the period ended to cut the lead to 6-5, but the Lion senior was also facing over 1:30 in riding time. Driscoll chose down to begin the final period and could not escape Lang??s advantage for the entire period and dropped a tough 7-5 decision. The loss sent the Nittany Lion senior to the consolation round.
Woodall met No. 2 seed Ty Eustice in the quarters, with Eustice bolting out to a 4-2 lead after two take downs in the first period. Woodall chose down to begin the second and cut the lead to 4-3 with an escape, but could not take the Hawkeye down and trailed by that score entering the final period. Eustice chose down to being the third period and quickly escaped to a 5-3 lead. The Hawkeye grappler then kept his distance for the final two minutes-plus to sneak away with a 5-3 win. The loss sent Woodall into the consolation bracket.
Galloway met No. 1 seed Alex Tirapelle of Illinois in his quarterfinal match at 157. The Nittany Lion junior put up a very gallant effort, going head-to-head with the nation??s top ranked 157 pounder and putting up a scoreless first period. But Tirapelle would put up five unanswered points in the second, getting an escape, two points from Galloway stalls and a takedown. Galloway chose down to begin the third and escaped for his first point, but Tirapelle would hold off the Nittany Lion junior and get away with a hard-fought 5-1 win.
True freshman David Erwin (Urbana, Ohio), seeded No. 4, met No. 5 seed Eric Luedke of Iowa in his first match at 165. Luedke was coming off a pig-tail win over Michigan State??s Bryan Harney. Erwin was the aggressor in the first period but could not turn his chances into any points. With just five seconds left in the period, Luedke turned a rare shot into a pivotal take down to lead 2-0 heading into the second. While trying to escape, Erwin got caught and injured his knee, leading to a substantial injury timeout. Returning to the center of the mat, the true freshman escaped to a 2-1 deficit with :49 left in the period. Still stung by the injured knee, Erwin would fight hard for the third period but would drop a tough 6-3 decision and move to the consolation bracket.
After a sizzling start to the round with the success in the four pig-tail bouts, Penn State found itself 0-6 in the quarterfinals, meaning no Nittany Lions had yet to secure a spot in the NCAA Championships (a spot in the semifinals guaranteed a trip to nationals). A seasoned veteran at 174 snapped the skid, earned his first trip to nationals and began a late Penn State surge that would keep the Nittany Lions well entrenched in the team title hunt.
Junior James Yonushonis (Philipsburg, Pa.), the No. 4 seed at 174, met No. 5 seed Blake Maurer of Ohio State. Maurer was coming off a win by fall an early round match-up. Maurer got the first take down of the bout, but Yonushonis answered with an escape and a takedown of his own to send the bout into the second period. Yonushonis would dominate the middle two minutes. The Philipsburg native chose down to begin the second, escaped and added a take down to carry a 6-3 lead into the final period. Maurer would get his third period escape but nothing more and Yonushonis became the first Nittany Lion through to the semifinals (and Oklahoma City) with a 6-4 win and a date in the semifinals.
Top-seeded senior Eric Bradley (Plaistow, N.H.) was the final Nittany Lion to take to the mats in the opening session. The returning All-American at 184 met No. 8 seed Tyrel Todd of Michigan, who got an early 9-3 win in a pig-tail. After battling through a scoreless first period, Michigan??s Todd got the bout??s first points with an escape to start the second after choosing down. Neither wrestler could notch a take down in the second and Bradley found himself trailing 1-0 with 2:00 to wrestler. Bradley chose down to begin the third and quickly escaped to tie the score. With a trip to nationals on the line, the two-time defending Big Ten Champion got the bout??s only take down with less than :30 left and went on to post a hard-fought 3-2 win. Bradley became Penn State??s second semifinalist and national qualifier.
Davis met No. 7 Mitch Kuhlman of Minnesota in his second match of the day and thoroughly dominated the Gopher. Davis notched the first period??s only take down to lead 2-0 after one but then piled up a take down, three back points and a point for Kuhlman stalling to lead 8-0 after two. In the final period, Davis chose up to work for team bonus points and added two near fall points to go along with over four minutes riding time. In the end, the Nittany Lion sophomore posted an 11-0 decision, getting two more team points for Penn State. The win moved Davis into the semifinals and on to Oklahoma City.
Edwards hooked up with No. 5 seed Lee Kraemer of Wisconsin in his second bout of the early session. The senior heavyweight got the bout??s first take down to go up 2-0. While working for back points, Edwards nearly got turned himself, but recovered to only give up the escape. With five seconds left in the period, Edwards got a key takedown to lead 4-1 after one. Kraemer chose down to begin the second period but was quickly reversed and taken to his back. Edwards went up 9-1 with the five point move and added three more back points to lead 12-1 entering the third. Edwards chose up to begin the third, looking for bonus points. While not picking up an more near fall points, Bradley did ride Kraemer for the entire period to post a 13-1 major decision. The win gave Penn State two team points and moved Edwards into the semifinals and on to Oklahoma City.
The tournament continues this afternoon with the beginning of wrestle-backs and the semifinals. The evening session begins at 6 p.m. Action on Sunday resumes at 12 p.m.