Jan. 16, 2016
By Ryan Hickey, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" Every match takes on a theme of its own. Each one different from the last and while wrestling is mainly an individual sport, the match against Nebraska show the team's true identity.
Friday night's 24-10 victory over the 11th-ranked Cornhuskers was a match highlighted by toughness and determination, qualities that have been instilled by head coach Cael Sanderson since day one and were demonstrated in matches like these.
Friday night was only the fifth time in nine matches that an opponent has scored more than one win in a match against the Nittany Lions this season. Penn State captured seven of the 10 wins, which was largely encouraging for head coach Cael Sanderson, but also a point of emphasis.
"We want to sneak one or two of those obviously, but that's a pretty good team and I think our guys did what they had to do," said Sanderson. "I think they wrestled pretty well. We weren't I feel at our best, but we shouldn't be at our best tonight either."
The test could not have come at a better time for Sanderson's squad. The only other tight dual match this season came early on, when the Nittany Lions recorded a victory at No. 7 Virginia Tech 21-15. Penn State moves into the toughest part of their schedule, as the Blue and White will have road contests against No. 25 Northwestern and No. 8 Illinois, while hosting No. 3 Ohio State and No. 10 Michigan in the coming weeks.
The Nittany Lions tied their lowest bonus point total with two wrestlers, Jason Nolf and Zain Retherford, earning the extra points. While the dominating wins were absent most of the night, Sanderson is still pleased with the grit of his guys, as many of them earned hard fought victories.
"We had some big wins in those tight matches. Matt's [McCutcheon] cutting the guy with 20 seconds left and scoring a takedown on an All-American from last year and a tough opponent," said Sanderson. "That was a big win. Even in the first couple of weights, those guys are tough kids. Our guys finished the matches strong, which is good."
Sanderson, who preaches an aggressive wrestling style and encourages bonus points in every match, realizes that the matchups play a big part in scoring those extra team points.
"We won some close matches, but those bonus points are obviously what we are looking for, but it depends on who's wrestling who," said Sanderson. "A win when it's a big win is great. Zain [Retherford] getting a major was huge because that was probably their [Nebraska] best guy. Matt [McCutcheon] I think beat their other highest ranked guy, so those were big matches."
Retherford, who earned a major decision over No. 5 Jake Suefiohn, reiterated how even though he was dominating in his match, Suefiohn, like the rest of his Cornhusker teammates, kept coming and never made it easy.
"Those guys kept coming forward. It's a tough team and they kept battling," said Retherford. "[Suefiohn] was trying to take me down just as much as I was trying to take him down."
The epitome of Friday night's win over the Cornhuskers was McCutcheon's last second victory over No. 5 TJ Dudley. McCutcheon was even with Dudley through two periods before Dudley tallied an escape with just about 10 seconds remaining.
McCutcheon was forced to change his end of the match strategy after that escape and used that as a learning opportunity for the future.
"I think that I should have tried to ride harder there," said McCutcheon. "I let him have an easy escape and that's something that I need to change, but he got to his feet quick and I had a peek at the time and I knew I had time to score, so I let him go and got back to my leg attacks and got the quick takedown."
The sold out crowd of 6,537 patrons became anxious as the clock was ticking down, but engulfed into roar when McCutcheon scored a last second takedown to earn the victory.
"I wasn't really sure on the time, but I knew I needed to finish the right way. I let my head slip out a few times that match and it's something that I'm going to have to work on later on, but I kept my head under and came out and got the takedown," said McCutcheon. "I wasn't sure how much time was left on the clock, but I knew I had to finish quick."
The sophomore, who missed the previous two matches due to back spasms, credits the training staff for getting him healthy and back on the mat.
"I have to give a lot of credit to our trainer, who's worked with me day in and day out helping me out and I am really grateful to have him with us," said McCutcheon.
While the win moves the Blue and White to a perfect 9-0 on the season, McCutcheon, like the rest of his teammates, still see's plenty of room for improvement and echoes a statement that reinforces the philosophy of the entire team.
"I think that I still have a lot to improve on from that match, but it's a good win, but I have to go back and fix some things and try and score more points next match," said McCutcheon.