Penn State Wrestling: Nittany Lions’ path to Big Ten Championship crown

Brady Berge

157 lbs.
1. Ryan Deakin (NU)
2. Kaleb Young (IOWA)
3. Will Lewan (MICH)
4. Kendall Coleman (PUR)
5. Peyton Robb (NEB)
6. Chase Saldate (MSU)
7. Garrett Model (WIS)
8. Robert Kanniard (RU)
9. Bryce Hepner (OSU)
10. Brady Berge (PSU)
11. Derek Gilcher (IND)
12. Joe Roberts (ILL)
13. Lucas Cordio (MD)
14. Sebas Swiggum (MINN)

Opening Match: Garrett Model

Berge and Model squared off last year in a regular-season dual meet with Brady winning a relatively easy major decision 12-4.

Key Match: Quarterfinals – Kaleb Young

Assuming Berge gets past his opening round match, then Iowa’s Kaleb Young will be there waiting fresh off a bye.

The two faced each other in last year’s NCAA Tournament where Berge’s 3-2 decision was followed by him getting injured against Jesse Dellavecchia and then subsequently retiring from wrestling.

But hey, a lot has changed since then and as I’ve stated many times, Brady Berge came back to prove something. And the proving process begins on Saturday.

Creighton Edsell

165 lbs.
1. Carson Kharchla (OSU)
2. Alex Marinelli (IOWA)
3. Dean Hamiti (WIS)
4. Cameron Amine (MICH)
5. Caleb Fish (MSU)
6. Dan Braunagel (ILL)
7. Hayden Lohrey (PUR)
8. Clayton Wilson (NEB)
9. Cael Carlson (MINN)
10. Creighton Edsell (PSU)
11. David Ferrante (NU)
12. Andrew Clark (RU)
13. Kasper McIntosh (IND)
14. Gaven Bell (MD)

Opening Match: Hayden Lohrey

Purdue’s Lohrey has had a bit of an up and down year for the Boilermakers. While Edsell spent a portion of the year on the bench to let Berge get his sea legs at 165.

Key Match: All of them (see also: Bartlett, Beau)

While I feel fairly confident Edsell can get past Lohrey, I just don’t see many realistic scenarios in which he downs Marinelli in the quarterfinals. So just as with Bartlett, Edsell is going to have to do some damage in the wrestle backs where every match will be a do or die situation in regards to his NCAA chances.