Penn State Wrestling takeaways from Day 1 of B1G Championships

Quarter-final Recap – Session I

133

Match 64
No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (PSU) vs. No. 8 Jacob Rundell (PUR)

Nothing about RBY’s match was spectacular as he cruised to a 9-3 decision. With how things were going so far today, Nittany Lion fans will gladly take any W they can get.

Bravo-Young is the best wrestler in the B1G at 133, evident by his No. 1 seed. And as I’ve said before, he needs to prove it. No. 4 Chris Cannon is next in line for RBY in the semi-final matchup.

141

Match 71
No. 2 Nick Lee (PSU) vs. No. 7 Dylan D’Emilio (OSU)

Now we’re talking. Lee jumped all over D’Emilio from the opening whistle and never took his foot off the gas en route to a 16-1 technical fall.

That’s the good news. The bad news?

Lee’s next match could be one of the matches of the 2021 B1G Championships as he faces No. 3 seeded Sebastian Rivera of Rutgers. Sebass is attempting to win three consecutive B1G titles in three different weight classes. This should be a good one to watch.

157

Match 77
No. 5 Brady Berge (PSU) vs. No. 4 Kendall Coleman (PUR)

This match was tied 1-1 into the 3rd period and I’m sure Penn State fans were sitting comfortably since they’ve already seen Berge in this position multiple times this past season. Each and every time Berge was able to secure the late takedown and win the match.

While these matches aren’t great for the blood pressure of fans, it seemed like Berge was at ease with his wrestling skill and was confident in his abilities in situations like this.

Well this wasn’t a good time to be confident because Coleman ended up being the guy who secured the late 3rd period takedown. Berge got the escape but there was just too little time left to set up a good attack. Coleman took down Berge in a 3-2 decision and the cracks in the armor are starting to turn into gashes.

174

Match 86
No. 3 Carter Starocci (PSU) vs. No. 6 Kaleb Romero (OSU)

The last time these two squared off was back on February 19th where Starocci was able to pull out a thrilling match 2-1 in TB2. Would this be revenge for Romero or just another day on the mat for Starocci?

Neither scenario played out as Starocci took a 2-0 lead into the 3rd period with Romero starting on bottom. Would Romero escape and get an opportunity to earn a takedown and steal the match?

Nope.

Starocci rode Romero the entire 3rd period to completely eliminate drama from the equation. Carter pulled out the difficult 2-0 decision and moves on to the semi-finals.

184

Match 88
No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) vs. No. 9 Nelson Brands (IOWA)

Speaking of drama, this match had plenty of it.

Things looked incredibly bleak early on as Brands had Brooks on the ropes early on. To make matters worse, Brooks rolled his ankle in the 2nd period and had to take an injury timeout. He appeared to be okay but shortly later he rolled it again and immediately went to the mat grimacing in pain.

Uh oh.

Brooks was able to use the remaining amount of injury time to get his ankle taped while Iowa’s Tom Brands cried an entire river over at the scorer’s table. Brands was complaining about Brooks’ injury time and insisted the match should have been over. The referee made the correct call, awarded Brands 1 point for the 2nd injury time, and the match continued.

Aaron Brooks took matter into his own hands and landed a huge takedown while also getting some near fall points. Ballgame. What a gritty performance from Brooks. Ice, rest, and plenty of tape on his ankle will be in-store before his semi-final match later tonight.

197

Match 95
No. 7 Michael Beard (PSU) vs. No. 2 Myles Amine (MICH)

Amine SV Beard, 8-6

Ahhhhhhhh!

I still can’t believe what my eyes just witnessed. With the score knotted up at 4-4 late in the 3rd period, Beard took a shot and landed it to grab the lead 6-4. With riding time not an issue, Beard wisely chose to let Amine get the easy escape so the two could be squared up for the final 20 seconds.

As Beard let him go, his one foot got tripped up and he stumbled backwards on the mat. Amine quickly recognized this and pounced on Beard to get the reversal and once again tie the match at 6-6.

Time expired and we went to sudden victory where Amine landed a shot of his own and he landed the victory.

*sigh*

285

Match 99
No. 7 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) vs. No. 2 Mason Parris (MICH)

Parris maj. dec. Kerkvliet, 11-3

I guess I should have pumped the breaks a little on Kerkvliet. He’s still trying to get into wrestling shape and Parris is one of the nation’s best.

Kerk Kong did take Parris to the mat with a nice takedown of his own. So, small victory?

Let’s see how the consolation bracket unfolded.