While No. 4 Penn State did not shut out No. 12 Stanford like it did against Army on Friday, the Nittany Lions (2-0) still cruised to a 36-6 win over the Cardinal (1-1) on Sunday.

How It Happened

The dual began at 165 with No. 8 Vincenzo Joseph  (1-1) facing Stanford’s Keaton Subjeck (2-0). Coming off of a technical fall win against Army in his college debut, Joseph was aggressive from the get-go against Subjeck. He took a shot almost immediately before being put on his back and falling into a 6-0 hole less than 15 seconds into the match. That early deficit was too large for Joseph to overcome. After taking a 15-5 lead after the first period, Subjeck won 18-12, handing both Joseph and the Nittany Lions their first loss of the season. A late takedown from Joseph though held Subjeck to a decision and prevented the Cardinal from picking up a bonus team point.

At 174, Geno Morelli (2-0), the only unranked wrestler in the Penn State lineup on Sunday, took on No. 13 Jim Wilson (1-1), dominating him defensively en route to a 6-3 decision to tie the team score. Despite having one wrist taped up, No. 3 Bo Nickal followed by manhandling redshirt freshman Austin Flores (0-2) for the first 6:21 of the match before finally picking up his second fall of the season.

The two bouts following Nickal’s commanding rout of Flores prior to the intermission were closely contended with both decisions going in favor of Penn State. The Nittany Lions held a 15-3 lead halfway through the dual. No. 16 Matt McCutcheon (2-0) took a 3-2 decision over Josh Marchok (1-1) after taking a one-point lead in the first period and maintaining it for the entirety of the 197 bout. In one of only three ranked vs. ranked match-ups, No. 14 Nick Nevills (2-0) topped No. 10 Nathan Butler (1-1) with a 3-1 decision. Two late period efforts from Nevills were the difference in the heavyweight match. A Nevills takedown at the end of the first period that the referee was hesitant to give him put him ahead for good and during the final minute of the match, Nevills held onto Butler’s ankle for the last 40 seconds, refusing to allow the tying takedown.

After the intermission, true freshman No. 12 Nick Suriano (2-0) made a statement in his Rec Hall debut by upsetting senior No. 4 Connor Schram (1-1) 3-0. Suriano rode Schram for the whole third period and picked up the riding time point in front of an awed Happy Valley crowd that showed that it is already fully behind the freshman stud. No. 9 Jered Cortez followed up with an impressive Rec Hall debut of his own, a first period pin over Mason Pengilly, which made the team score 24-3.

No. 2 Joey McKenna of Stanford ended Penn State’s winning streak at six by beating No. 12 Jimmy Gulibon 6-2 before the Nittany Lions’ two top-ranked hammers took the mat.

At 149, No. 1 Zain Retherford pinned Tommy Pawelski at 2:16.

Despite being tied with Paul Fox 6-6 at one point during the second period, No. 1 Jason Nolf ended the dual with yet another pin while leading 25-16 during the third period.

Wrestler of the Match

Nick Suriano, Freshman, 125
After controlling the match against such a highly ranked wrestler, Nick Suriano proved to the country that he is worthy of the hype coming out of high school and the preseason talks about being a national title contender at 125. Beyond what Suriano proved on Sunday, his win over a favored upperclassmen was critical in icing the dual win for Penn State.

What’s Next

The Nittany Lions return to action on Sunday November 20 when they head to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Penn Quakers at the Palestra in the Keystone Classic.