No.1 Penn State Shuts Out No. 10 Lehigh 42-0
UNIVERSITY PARK – No. 1 Penn State (3-0, 0-0 B1G) rolled to its first-ever shutout win over No. 10 Lehigh (0-3) in front of another Rec Hall sellout crowd on Sunday. The Nittany Lions won all ten bouts in a 42-0 victory over a short-handed Mountain Hawk squad to remain unbeaten on the year.
Penn State got impressive ranked wins from Bo Nickal (Allen, Texas), Anthony Cassar (Rocky Hill, N.J.) and Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.). The Nittany Lions did not give up a takedown in the dual.
The dual began at 197 where senior Nickal, ranked No. 1 nationally, dominated No. 15 Jake Jakobsen. Nickal controlled the action from start to finish and rolled to a 19-4 technical fall at the 5:31 mark. Senior Cassar, ranked No. 5 at 285, followed that up with a big win the dual’s marquee match-up. Cassar dominated No. 6 Jordan Wood on his way to an impressive 12-3 major with 2:21 in riding time, putting Penn State up 9-0 early.
Sophomore Devin Schnupp (Lititz, Pa.) picked up his second straight dual win at 125, and his first in Rec Hall, with a 6-1 win over Luke Resnick and Penn State led 12-0. True freshman Roman Bravo-Young (Tucson, Ariz.) then dominated Brandon Paetzell at 133, rolling to a 13-5 major with over 3:00 in riding time. Sophomore Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.), ranked No. 4 at 141, closed out the first half with an impressive 23-10 major over Lehigh’s Ryan Pomrinca and Penn State led 20-0 at the halftime break.
Redshirt freshman Jarod Verkleeren (Greensburg, Pa.) got the nod at 149 and started the second half and kept Penn State’s shutout hopes alive with a hard-fought 5-3 win over Lehigh’s Jimmy Hoffman. Senior Jason Nolf (Yatesboro, Pa.), ranked No. 1 at 157, kept the Lions rolling by pinning Josh Humphrey’s at the 6:19 mark. The fall was the sixth in seven matches for Nolf. Junior Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh, Pa.), ranked No. 1 at 165, made it two straight pins by getting a fall at the 4:47 mark over Mountain
Hawk Trey Cornish to put Penn State up 35-0. The fall was Joseph’s sixth in seven bouts this year.
Hall, ranked No. 2 at 174, walked away with a convincing win in another of the dual’s most anticipated match-ups. Hall posted the bout’s only takedowns in a 6-2 win over No. 7 Jordan Kutler. Senior Shakur Rasheed (Coram, N.Y.), ranked No. 4 at 184, closed out the dual in dominating fashion, posting an 11-2 major with 3:53 in riding time over Lehigh’s Andrew Price. Rasheed’s win gave the Nittany Lions the 42-0 shutout victory.
The Nittany Lions rolled to a 47-0 takedown advantage and tallied 12 bonus points off two pins (Nolf and Joseph), one tech (Nickal), and four majors (Cassar, Bravo-Young, Lee and Rasheed). Penn State has now won 48 straight dual meets dating back to the end of the 2014-15 season. The sellout crowd of 6,529 was the 43rd straight sellout in Rec Hall and Penn State’s 47th in its last 49 home duals, including four of six in the near-16,000 seat Bryce Jordan Center.
Penn State is now 3-0 overall while Lehigh falls to 0-3. The Nittany Lions host No. 12 Arizona State in its next action. The Lions welcome the Sun Devils to Rec Hall for the first time ever on Friday, Dec. 14, for a 6 p.m. dual that will air live nationally on ESPN2. Arizona State last visited Happy Valley during the 2001 National Duals in an event hosted in the Bryce Jordan Center.
#1 Penn State 42, #10 Lehigh 0
December 2, 2018 – Rec Hall – University Park, Pa.
197: #1 Bo Nickal PSU tech fall #15 Jake Jakobsen LEH, 19-4 (TF; 5:31) 5-0
285: #5 Anthony Cassar PSU maj. dec. #6 Jordan Wood LEH, 12-3 9-0
125: Devin Schnupp PSU dec. Luke Resnick LEH, 6-1 12-0
133: Roman Bravo-Young PSU maj. dec. Brandon Paetzell LEH, 13-5 16-0
141: #4 Nick Lee PSU maj. dec. Ryan Pomrinca LEH, 23-10 20-0
149: Jarod Verkleeren PSU dec. Jimmy Hoffman LEH, 5-3 23-0
157: #1 Jason Nolf PSU pinned Josh Humphreys, WBF (6:19) 29-0
165: #1 Vincenzo Joseph PSU pinned Trey Cornish LEH, WBF (4:47) 35-0
174: #2 Mark Hall PSU dec. #7 Jordan Kutler LEH, 6-2 38-0
184: #4 Shakur Rasheed PSU maj. dec. Andrew Price LEH, 11-2 42-0
: 6,529 (43rd straight Rec hall sellout; 47th of 49 including 4 of 6 in BJC)
Records: Penn State (3-0); Lehigh (0-3)
Up Next for Penn State: home vs. #12 Arizona State, Friday, Dec. 14, 6 p.m. on ESPN2
