Penn State Wrestling: Revisiting the best matches of 2021-2022 season

Match No. 3

Date: 02/20/2022
Rider vs. No. 1 Penn State

No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (PSU) tech fall over Richie Koehler (RID) 26-11

Is it crazy for me to think Roman Bravo-Young doesn’t get the love he truly deserves?

I realize he’s a three-time All-American and two-time defending NCAA Champion at 133, and yes, I know I also picked him as the starting guy at 133 for the Penn State Wrestling Dream Team.

But there are times on the mat that RBY does something spectacular and it doesn’t get the credit it really deserves. I’m talking about a lightning quick duck, explosive jump, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it spin around the back of his opponent for a takedown. Stuff that would make a normal person say “Hey Bob, is this kid even human?”.

Most of the Nittany Lion fans would just yawn and say it happens all of the time. Which by itself, is a massive credit to what Bravo-Young can do in wrestling. To say he has spoiled the Penn State faithful is an understatement to end all understatements.

See, I finally threw that in here.

But the guy amazes me every single time he toes the line against an opponent, which was no different went he squared off against Rider’s Richie Koehler back on February 20th.

In the first period alone, RBY landed an astonishing five takedowns to lead the bout 10-4 going into the second period. That was only the beginning.

Roman chose neutral to start the second period and the “takedown and cut loose” barrage continued as he snagged his sixth, seventh, and eighth takedowns of the match with 30 seconds remaining in the period.

Don’t worry, it didn’t end there, as RBY notched his ninth takedown in the second period to lead the match 18-7 with over a minute of riding time built up.

The third period saw RBY on top position and he immediately let Koehler to his feet. In the span of the next 62 seconds, Bravo-Young earned four additional takedowns to win the technical fall 26-11 and end the match at the 6:08 mark.

In six minutes and eight seconds, Roman Bravo-Young amassed an astounding 13 takedowns. That’s a takedown every 28 seconds. Against a strong and agile human being weighing the same, who might I add, is also trying his hardest to not let you do that to him.

All I can do is shake my head at how simply amazing RBY is, and this match is yet another perfect example to add to his already growing list.

Thank goodness Penn State fans will get to see Roman Bravo-Young for one final ride next year!