4 Penn State wrestling takeaways from the Lions’ 36-5 win over Ohio State: On Mirasola’s win, the Buckeyes’ lineup, and more

The No. 1 Penn State wrestling team won its sixth consecutive Big Ten dual meet title by taking out No. 2 Ohio State 36-5 on Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions won nine of 10 matches, and put an exclamation on the blowout with a 4-1 sudden victory win from No. 12 heavyweight Cole Mirasola over No. 3 Buckeye Nick Feldman.

“I think it’s a close group, and a lot of tough battles tonight,” Lions coach Cael Sanderson said. “Our guys fought hard, and were able to go find those points at the end in really good matches. So that’s just something we need to keep doing as we prepare for the postseason now.”

Our top takeaways are below. And, you can watch Sanderson’s full post-match news conference on the BWI YouTube channel by clicking here.

1. ‘That’s just what they do, right?’

Penn State, yet again, found ways to score in the moments that matter most to win close matches. This is almost a weekly section at this point, but as Sanderson said, that’s just what his wrestlers do. On this particular evening:

–No. 1 Luke Lilledahl scored a takedown 1:21 into sudden victory to beat No. 4 Nic Bouzakis 4-1 at 125 pounds.

–No. 4 Marcus Blaze scored a reversal 15 seconds into the second tiebreaker period and then rode out No. 2 Ben Davino to win by decision, 3-2.

–Trailing 5-4 with less than 30 seconds to wrestle, No. 1 Rocco Welsh shot and scored on No. 8 Dylan Fishback to win by decision, 7-6, at 184 pounds.

–At heavyweight, No. 12 Cole Mirasola broke a 1-1 tie 14 seconds into sudden victory by driving through a double leg shot to beat No. 3 Nick Feldman, 4-1.

“They get stronger as the match goes on, and so if we find ourselves in a close match late, we’ve got a lot of confidence in our guys,” Sanderson said. “That’s just what they do, right?”

It is, indeed.

2. Mirasola scores an upset

Speaking back on Wednesday, Sanderson said that he felt Mirasola was close to finally beating a higher ranked opponent. On Friday night, he did it. The Nittany Lion had a better gas tank than the Buckeye. Both wrestlers had just an escape after seven minutes of wrestling. To start the two-minute sudden victory period, Mirasols shot and converted a single leg into a double leg attempt and finished it off, sending a Penn State record 16,006 fans into a frenzy.

“I was just wearing on him the whole time, like I knew when we got to overtime, I had him,” Mirasola said. “The look on his on his face; I knew it. So when he shot it just was easy to attack.”

“I just felt like he was really exhausted, and I could go get a score when I had to. He’s a great opponent, really strong, really hard to get to; it’s just fun wrestling good guys.

3. Penn State faced a short-handed Buckeyes team

Make no mistake: This was an impressive and dominating performance by Penn State. But, it was not against the complete Ohio State lineup. We knew coming into the dual that the visitors would be without top-ranked 157-pound wrestler Brandon Cannon, who has been out due to injury. But, when the starting lineups came out, No. 6 Ethan Stiles was out at 149, and so was No. 5 Carson Kharchla at 174.

“We knew coming in that, with three starters out, it’s going to be a tough task, but there were a lot of matches that we we were positioned to win and didn’t win,” Buckeyes coach Tom Ryan told reporters. “You got to win the war. When you have more more opportunities than your opponent, you got to win them. We had a couple, and we got beat later a couple. A tough environment. Just got to get better.”

It’s believed that both Stiles and Kharchla are dealing with injuries, as well. And, it will be interesting to see if either are available on Sunday when the Buckeyes take on Maryland.

4. Final Penn State-Ohio State results

125 pounds: No. 1 Luke Lilledahl, Penn State d. No. 2 Nic Bouzakis, Ohio State, 4-1 (SV) (PSU 3-0)

133 pounds: No. 4 Marcus Blaze, PSU d. No. 2 Ben Davino, Ohio State, 3-2 (TB2) (PSU 6-0)

141 pounds: No. 1 Jesse Mendez, Ohio State TF No. 12 Braeden Davis, Penn State, 18-2 (5:49) (PSU 6-5)

149 pounds: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness, PSU TF Brogan Fielding, Ohio State, 20-5 (6:17) (PSU 11-5)

157 pounds: No. 4 PJ Duke, Penn State F Daxon Chase, OSU, 3:28 (PSU 17-5)

165 pounds: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU md. No. 16 Paddy Gallagher, OSU, 12-2 (PSU 21-5)

174 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, Penn State TF TJ Schierl, Ohio State, 16-1 (4:16) PSU 26-5)

184 pounds: No. 1 Rocco Welsh, PSU d. No. 8 Dylan Fishback, OSU, 7-6 (PSU 29-5)

197 pounds: No. 1 Josh Barr, Penn State md. No. 10 Luke Geog, Ohio State, 11-2 (PSU 33-5)

285 pounds: No. 12 Cole Mirasola, PSU d. No. 3 Nick Feldman, Ohio State, 4-1 (SV) (PSU 36-5)

Penn State 36, Ohio State 5

Takedowns: PSU 25, OSU 5