UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa - The annual duel at the Bryce Jordan Center did not disappoint Friday night, with the top-ranked Nittany Lions taking home a 25-11 win over No. 4 Michigan in front of more than 15,000 people.
"That's a very good team," head coach Cael Sanderson said following the match. "We won some close matches, and I think our guys fought hard. Even the matches we lost, I thought our guys gave a good effort. For us, we want to win, but I'm more worried about our performance and wrestling with some fire, especially with 16,000 people here."
With five ranked matchups between the two sides, the highlight of the match came at 165 pounds between No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh, Pa.) of Penn State and No. 7 Logan Massa of Michigan.
Joseph staved off a valiant effort by Massa, getting the loudest cheers of the night from the BJC crowd as he notched a sudden victory with a takedown as time expired in overtime. The first period went scoreless between the two, but Massa got on the board with an escape early in the second frame. Massa would give a point back to Joseph with a hand to the face call to knot the match.
Joseph started down to start the third period and got an escape to take a 2-1 lead. After a coach's challenge for hands to the face, Massa would tie the match at two and send it to overtime. Both wrestlers went back and forth in the extra period, but it was Joseph who got the takedown right as time expired to notch an essential win for Penn State.
After the dramatic finish, Joseph talked about his mindset in crunch time against Massa.
"I felt good," Joseph said after the match. "When we were tied late in the third period, I still felt confident. Talking to my coaches, I would have liked to get on my offense earlier. That was the plan for me, and it will be the rest of the year, no matter who I'm wrestling."
In the ensuing match, No. 1 Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) would notch a 3-2 win over No. 3 Myles Amine of Michigan to give the Nittany Lions their first lead of the night.
The first period saw both wrestlers work to get a feel for each other's styles, with neither wrestler able to notch a point in the opening frame. Hall continued to work on his ground game, trying to get Amine to slip up.
The riding time was even between the two sides with Amine maintaining a slight advantage. Hall opened the scoring in the second period with an early point off an escape. He kept Amine in a hold for some time but was not able to further capitalize, taking a 1-0 lead in the third period.
Amine tied it early in the third period with an escape of his own, sending the bout into the final minute tied at one. With under thirty seconds to go, Hall landed a takedown on Amine to take a late 3-1 lead.
Amine would land a late point off an escape, but Hall held on for the 3-2 win, giving Penn State the lead for good.
Shakur Rasheed (Coram, NY), Bo Nickal (Allen, Texas), and Anthony Cassar (Rocky Hill, NJ) would all notch wins to finish out the dual, extending Penn State's lead over the fifth-ranked Wolverines, putting the match out of reach.
"I'm proud of the guys," Sanderson said. "I believe we can continue to improve between here and March, and I believe we will."
