ngineer
December 3rd, 2017, 08:07 PM
A record crowd of 9,989 saw #5 Lehigh take #1 Penn State to the wire today in Allentown, PA's PPL Center. The atmosphere was electric with all of the panache of the NCAA Finals with a raised mat in the center of the arena and video boards throwing out highlights and previews. Lehigh stunned the Nits with two falls in the first two weight classes. Cruz at 125 packed Schnupp in 1:13 and Parker at 133 pinned DeAngili (ranked 18) in 3:12. This was followed by State's undefeated Cortez losing his first bout of the year to Karam, 2-0 that vaulted Lehigh to 15-0 lead. Unfortunately, PSU's "Murderer's Row" was coming. Defending NCAA Champ Retherford pinned Schuyler in 2:06 and Nolf had a WTF over Ian Brown at 157 to pull the Nits to within 15-11. Lehigh extended the lead, though at 165 when Gordy Wolfe lit up the scoreboard in beating Pipher (subbing for Joseph), 24-12 to give Lehigh a 19-11 lead, with three four matches to go. However, PSU had two defending NCAA champs and ranked #1's coming up in Hall at 174 and Nickal at 184. Jordan Kutler, ranked #5 took Hall to the ropes but could not get the needed takedown in the last 30 seconds against the backpeddlling Hall, losing 3-2. This followed by a similar frustrating loss by #4 Preisch to Nickal by the same 3-2 score. This narrowed the team score to 19-17. 11th ranked Cassar then edged freshman Jakobsen, 6-3 at 197 giving PSU a 20-19 lead with heavyweight remaining. There Penn State's #3 ranked Nevills took on freshman Jordan Wood, ranked #14 in a very tough match. Wood came very close to a takedown, but unable to convert and almost escaped on two other occasions, but Nevills was able to control for a 2-0 victory (one escape and riding time), for the final 23-19 margin.
In all, a tremendous night for collegiate wrestling. The "We Are's" got drowned out by the Lehigh fans and this young team showed that they may well be a team to reckon with in March in Cleveland at the NCAA's. Mountain Hawks are off until December 10 when they travel to Philadelphia to take on Penn at the Palestra followed by Drexel six blocks away. After this showing Lehigh's ranking of #5 appears legit and some wrestlers should see their individual rankings jump.
In all, a tremendous night for collegiate wrestling. The "We Are's" got drowned out by the Lehigh fans and this young team showed that they may well be a team to reckon with in March in Cleveland at the NCAA's. Mountain Hawks are off until December 10 when they travel to Philadelphia to take on Penn at the Palestra followed by Drexel six blocks away. After this showing Lehigh's ranking of #5 appears legit and some wrestlers should see their individual rankings jump.