Penn State Wrestling: National Championship within Nittany Lions’ reach – Session IV Results

Breaking down the action No. 1 Penn State Wrestling saw in their semifinal matches of the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championship

Friday night of the 2022 NCAA Championships is here and, wow, was it an amazing night of wrestling.

But before we get to the semifinal matches, Brady Berge wrestled his last match as a Nittany Lion earlier today. In the consolation bracket, Berge was beaten by No. 10 Peyton Robb (NEB) in an 8-3 decision and therefore his 2022 season is over.

Unfortunately, Berge wasn’t able to be an All-American this season however he wrestled every match hard and made the Penn State faithful proud.

Now onto the Penn State wrestlers who were still alive in the tournament.

The Nittany Lions sent six wrestlers into the semifinal matches and they ended up sending five grapplers to the 2022 NCAA Finals.

Here’s how everything unfolded on Friday night

Semifinal Matches – Championship Bracket

133
No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (PSU) vs. No. 5 Austin DeSanto (IOWA)

Result: Roman Bravo-Young dec over Austin DeSanto 3-2

So here it is, “RBY/DeSanto Part 8”. To say these two have a bit of history against one another is a drastic understatement.

The first period started and both RBY and DeSanto gave high energy as each guy was trying to look for an opening. However, neither wrestler was able to land a takedown.

Roman started the second period in the top position and DeSanto earned the early escape to take the 1-0 lead.

During a scramble at the center of the mat, it looked like RBY had Austin in a really bad spot with his back near the mat. However, DeSanto wrestled through it, and no takedown was awarded.

The second period ended and RBY trailed 1-0 going into the third.

With a minute left in the third, Bravo-Young was finally able to break free of his opponent’s grip and tie the score at 1-1.

And late in the period, RBY snagged a single leg and was awarded the takedown to lead the match 3-1 with only six seconds remaining.

Roman Bravo-Young held on and he officially punched his ticket to the finals!

141
No. 1 Nick Lee (PSU) vs. No. 4 Real Woods (STAN)

Result: Nick Lee dec over Real Woods 3-2

Lee and Woods last squared off in the 2019 Southern Scuffle where Nick was able to upend Real in a 6-3 decision. January 2019 might as well be a decade ago so let’s see how this matchup will play out.

Lee and Woods got to their offense early and each grappler took turns taking shots. And Nick used a wonderful move to at the bottom of the mat to get Woods to the mat and earn the takedown.

Woods escaped and the first period ended with Nick up 2-1 going into the second.

Lee started the second period on bottom and he pulled free from Real’s grasps, got the escape, and extended his lead to 3-1. Both guys then squared up looking for more action.

However, no action really took place, except for a stall warning on Woods.

Lee began the third period on the top position and he looked to grind out some time. But Woods escaped with a minute remaining in the third and the score was 3-2 in favor of Lee.

And the final seconds of the period ticked away and Nick Lee once again is headed to the NCAA finals!

174
No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) vs. No. 4 Hayden Hidlay (NCST)

Result: Carter Starocci dec over Hayden Hidlay 10-3

This is the first-ever meeting between Carter and Hayden as Hidlay previously wrestled his entire career at 157 pounds.

Both grapplers circled the mat early looking to feel each other out. Starocci was able to land a takedown with a minute left in the first period and Hidlay quickly escape to make the score 2-1.

Carter then landed his second takedown of the period with only seconds remaining in the period and the second period started with Starocci up 4-1.

Starocci started the second period in the bottom position and he was able to earn the early escape to push his lead to 5-1. Both wrestlers were then squared up and on their feet and Carter snagged his third takedown of the match looking to ride Hidlay out for the rest of the period.

Carter started the third period on the top position and he was able to extend his riding time to over a minute. Starocci then let Hidlay up for the escape and the score was 7-3 in favor of Carter with both wrestlers toe to toe.

The third period ended and Carter Starocci punched his ticket once again to the NCAA finals at 174!