The #1 ranked Penn State Lions return to the mat in Columbus Ohio, on Friday February 14th at 7pm EST, against the feared Ohio State Buckeyes. The dual features 20 ranked wrestlers, with 10 head to head ranked matches. Including, 5 top 10 matchups.
Don’t Miss: 141, 174, and heavyweight should all be fantastic matches. All three were originally scheduled for the NWCA All-Star Classic. Ohio State has a habit of peaking early, while Penn State peaks at the NCAA tournament. Could that be a factor here?
Keys To Victory: Penn State just needs to win the matches they are favored to win, nothing more. For Ohio State, they need to win the close ones. 133, 141,149,157,174 and Heavyweight are all matches that they could possibly pull off an upset. While not likely, they do have a very slim path to victory. To do this they would need to wrestle almost perfect and Penn State would need to fall apart.
125 Lilledahl, Luke #9 vs Brendan McCrone #16
133 #7 Davis, Braeden vs Nic Bouzakis #10
141 #3 Bartlett, Beau vs Jesse Mendez #1
149 #3 Van Ness, Shayne vs Dylan D’Emilio #8
157 Facundo, Alex or Tyler Kasak #1 vs Sammy Sasso #19
165#1 Mesenbrink, Mitchell vs Paddy Gallagher #12
174 #2 Haines, Levi vs Carson Kharchla #5
184 #1 Starocci, Carter vs Ryder Rogotzke #17
197 #2 Barr, Josh vs Seth Shumate #18
285 #2 Kerkvliet, Greg vs Nick Feldman #8
Conclusion: This is one of the best Penn State Teams I have ever seen, they have no weak links in the lineup, we could be seeing 10 all-Americans on this team, with who knows how many National Champions. In this dual I see Penn State winning 18 of the 10 bouts and claiming a 38-3 victory. Ohio State squeaks out victories at 141. Honestly it wouldn’t surprise me if Penn State wins all 10 bouts. The only real opportunity for victory exists at 141. The dual will be broadcast live on BTN.