Penn State Wrestling shows who’s boss in pounding Michigan 29-6: Full results

No. 1 Penn State Wrestling improves to 12-0 on the season after defeating the Michigan Wolverines 29-6 in front of a sold out crowd in Ann Arbor

No. 1 ranked Penn State Wrestling brought their perfect 11-0 dual record to Ann Arbor on Friday night in one of the most anticipated dual meets of the season, emerging with a statement victory establishing the Nittany Lions as the team to beat.

No. 1 versus No. 3. It doesn’t get much better than this.

So how did Penn State handle the rowdy Crisler Center crowd decked out in a “Maize Out”? With a commanding 29-6 victory to stay undefeated, that’s how …

How No. 1 Penn State Wrestling’s victory over No. 3 Michigan went down

Onto the action!

The dual meet started out at 125 where a pair of top ten ranked grapplers took to the mat. Although the action was a little slow at times, the ending had some fireworks as Drew Hildebrandt got a late escape to tie up the match at 1-1 and a final seconds takedown would win the match.

Hildebrandt wasn’t able to land his shot and Suriano held onto the 2-1 decision thanks to his riding time bonus. As such, Michigan jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

Next up was RBY in the second top 10 matchup of the evening against Dylan Ragusin. And as mentioned in our preview of this dual, this was a match where Penn State Wrestling could absolutely use some bonus points.

And it was there for the taking, however, Ragusin squirmed out for a late escape to move the outcome from a major decision to a decision. Even though it appeared RBY locked in a last-second takedown towards the far end of the mat, the referees reviewed the play and deemed no takedown.

Well, a win is a win and Penn State Wrestliong evened the score 3-3.

Unfortunately for Michigan, No. 4 ranked Stevan Micic was a scratch for the Wolverines. And Nick Lee took advantage for the Nittany Lions, by earning a technical fall midway through the third period to push Penn State’s lead to 8-3.

The Wolverines had another late scratch in the 149-match with No. 16 Kanen Storr unable to go. Cole Mattin stepped in for Michigan however Beau Bartlett was all over him from the opening whistle. After snagging a quick takedown, Bartlett tried to turn Mattin to get his back to the mat. In the process, Mattin severely twisted his ankle and he was unable to continue.

No one likes to see outcomes like this, but they happen. Going into the 157-match Penn State Wrestling lead 14-3.

Terrell Barraclough got the nod at 157 and he wrestled a solid match against his ranked opponent, No. 15 Will Lewan. The match was only 1-0 in favor of Lewan late in the second period but back-to-back takedowns and escapes pushed the deficit to 5-2 towards the end of the third. Barraclough attempted a late shot but couldn’t gain any penetration and Lewan went on to win the match in a decision 5-2.

If Michigan had any chance to win the dual, then they had to have that match. Going into halftime the score was 14-6 in favor of the Nittany Lions.

Coming out of the break another ranked matchup was in store with No. 16 Brady Berge facing No. 10 Cameron Amine. The match was a back and forth, low scoring affair and ultimately Berge was able to win the 3-1 decision. The win was his first ranked win of the season and further pushed Penn State’s lead to 17-6.

Carter Starocci was next to hit the mat to face one of his toughest opponents so far in the 2021-2022 season, No. 6 Logan Massa. The match was an action-packed shot-fest, however not many were able to hit home. Starocci ended up hanging on to a 3-2 decision in a match very similar to Berge’s and the Nittany Lions added three more points to make the dual 20-6.

I probably sound like a broken record here but Aaron Brooks was once again involved in the official “Chris Snyder Top Matchup of the Dual (on paper)”. I mean how can a match involving the No. 1 and No. 2 wrestlers in the same weight class not be a fantastic match?

Well, let’s just say it did not disappoint at all.

The match was tied 1-1 late in the third period and after a late shot by Amine, Brooks had to go on the defensive in trying to not give any leverage. With only 20 seconds remaining in the match Brooks was able to somehow loosen Amine’s grip, slide around the side, and score the takedown to win the decision 3-1.

Holy. Cow.

With only two matches remaining in the dual Penn State Wrestling owned a commanding 23-6 lead.

Penn State Wrestling fans had just watched the match of the evening in the Brooks match. Max Dean then promptly said “Hold my beer”.

Using a full third-period ride out to earn the riding time bonus, Dean forced sudden victory with the matched tied 4-4. And roughly 2.3 seconds after the start of sudden victory, Dean swung around Brucki and dropped the hammer to win the decision 6-4.

Penn State Wrestling, it’s what we do.

In the final match of the evening, Greg Kerkvliet had his hands full with the No. 2 ranked Mason Parris.

And by “hands full” I mean he had his hands full of Parris’ left leg all match. Kerkvliet controlled the match from the opening whistle and he earned three takedowns in the match and was simply to much to handle. Parris had no answers.

Kerkvliet went on to take the decision 7-5 and hand Parris his first loss to anyone other than Gable Steveson in almost three years.

Cael Sanderson and Penn State fired a warning shot across the bows of college wrestling tonight. And they’re not going to back down to anyone.

Next up for the Nittany Lions is another road tilt in East Lansing against Michigan State. Wrestling kicks off at 1:00 p.m.

No. 1 Penn State 29 No. 3 Michigan 9

125 No. 1 Nick Suriano (UM) dec over No. 7 Drew Hildebrandt (PSU) 2-1, PSU 0 UM 3
133 No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (PSU) dec over No. 8 Dylan Ragusin (UM) 8-1, PSU 3 UM 3
141 No. 1 Nick Lee (PSU) tech fall over Drew Mattin (UM) 21-6, PSU 8 UM 3
149 No. 19 Beau Bartlett (PSU) injury forfeit over Cole Mattin (UM), PSU 14 UM 3
157 No. 15 Will Lewan (UM) dec over Terrell Barraclough (PSU) 5-2, PSU 14 UM 6
165 No. 16 Brady Berge (PSU) dec over No. 10 Cameron Amine (UM) 3-1, PSU 17 UM 6
174 No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) dec over No. 6 Logan Massa (UM) 3-2, PSU 20 UM 6
184 No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) dec over No. 2 Myles Amine (UM) 3-1, PSU 23 UM 6
197 No. 2 Max Dean (PSU) dec over No. 9 Patrick Brucki (UM) 6-4, PSU 26 UM 6
285 No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) dec over No. 2 Mason Parris (UM) 7-5, PSU 29 UM 6