Nov. 15, 2010
By Kelsey Detweiler, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -The Nittany Lions faced off against long-time rival No. 15 Lehigh at home on Sunday afternoon. The home-opener drew a crowd of 5,257 fans into Rec Hall, who watched the Lions win five bouts to defeat the Mountain Hawks 21-17.
The younger half of the team really stepped up for the Nittany Lions. Each of Penn State's five winning matchups was won by a freshman.
True freshman Frank Martellotti started off the event facing Lehigh's senior Mitch Berger at 125. Martellotti came out in control with the first takedown and forced three near falls, followed by two escapes from Berger and yet another takedown to finish the first period 7-2. Martellotti controlled for the rest of the match and racked up another three points and then secured the riding time point to defeated Berger 11-6.
Head coach Cael Sanderson pointed out that Martellotti's opening win was a crucial one in hindsight to secure the win for the Nittany Lions.
"That's a big match," said Sanderson. "We knew going out that that was one we needed to get and Frank went out there and scored big. I think he could have continued to build his lead you know but you're looking at a true freshman and I'm proud of him. He did a nice job and went out there and got a huge win obviously looking back that would've been the dual meet. Frank went out there and that was a big match you know that was one of the swing matches so for us to go out there and get that right away that was a big deal."
Two matchups later, true freshman Andrew Alton stepped onto the mat to face off against Stephen Dutton at 141. Within the first few seconds of the first period, Alton secured the first takedown and led 2-0 only to see Dutton pull a reversal and tie it 2-2. Still, Alton made a quick escape to make it 3-2, and then forced a second takedown and notched two more points. A few seconds later, just 1:21 into the first period, Alton pinned Dutton to win by fall.
The crowd went wild. The true freshman had a huge fan club in attendance for the meet, and he said he definitely noticed they were there.
"There was a lot of people out there and that's probably the biggest crowd I've ever wrestled in front of so that was amazing," said Alton. "It felt a lot more like, the big crowd was into the match and always watching it."
Two more matchups after Alton's pin, redshirt freshman David Taylor came out to wrestle Lehigh's Sean Bolideau at the 157 spot. The two went back and forth in the first few moments of the first period, but Taylor quickly went to work and made Bolideau fight back as he recorded eight points to Bolideau's three in the first period. At the start of the second period, the two battled for control again, but Taylor made his move and won by fall at 3:33.
Again, the crowd went wild. But Taylor was even more excited than his audience, jumping up and down on the mat and encouraging the fans to make noise after his exciting win.
"I mean I just, I love wrestling," said Taylor. "That's the most important thing to me and to finally be out there after the last year sitting and waiting and finally being able to go out there and wrestle, it's just so many emotions. Just getting the pin in front of those people and in the dual meet where we lost to them you know we needed bonus points for today's match and it was just a perfect moment I guess."
After a short intermission, two more freshmen notched victories over the Mountain Hawks. At 165, redshirt freshman Jake Kemerer went up against Lehigh's Brandon Hatchett. The two recorded no score in the first period, battling for control for most of the time. In the second period, Hatchett made an escape to record just one point, and Kemerer returned the favor to make it 1-1 at the end of the third period.
The two wrestlers entered a sudden victory period and Kemerer took control as shot at Hatchett's legs and forced the first takedown to secure the win. The freshman's defeat of No. 7 Hatchett also brought the crowd of Nittany Lions faithful to their feet.
Ed Ruth was the final young guy to step it up for Penn State. He faced Austin Meys at the 174 spot and secured the win in a 7-5 decision. Meys struck first with a takedown to begin the first period, but Ruth fired back with an escape and a takedown of his own.
The score was 3-2 at the beginning of the second period as Ruth chose down to start, and he made his way around Meys for a reversal to make it 5-2. Meys made a quick escape, but was soon greeted with a single from Ruth to force another takedown. The score was 7-4 in Ruth's favor at the end of the second period.
Meys started off the third period with an escape to make the score 7-5, but Ruth rode out the rest of the period and held control to secure his victory.
Coach Sanderson pointed out just how important it was for his young roster to step up against the Mountain Hawks and record crucial bonus points.
"Luckily team-wise we had some of those young guys step up big for us," said Sanderson. "It shouldn't come down to that, I mean that's a solid team there they've got some good wrestlers and we've got to give them a lot of credit."
Sanderson was disappointed that his squad dropped five bouts, but is confident in his team and says that he now has a better idea of what they need to improve on.
"We need to work on the little things," said Sanderson. "You know, it's still the first weekend of the season here and now we can kind of go to work. We know where we're at."