No. 1 Penn State Outlasts No. 2 Iowa, Asserting its Wrestling Dominance
Roman Bravo-Young and Max Dean, two of Penn State's returning national champs, delivered dramatic wins to lift the No. 1 Nittany Lions to a 23-14 victory over No. 2 Iowa on Friday in the most-anticipated college wrestling match of the season.
Bravo-Young (133 pounds) pinned former teammate Brody Teske, who began his career with Penn State, in the third period for a turning-point Lions' win. Dean (197) then defeated Jacob Warner 2-0 in a rematch of their 2022 NCAA championship bout, essentially securing the team victory.
Penn State (11-0) won its 39th consecutive match and delivered coach Cael Sanderson his 100th career Big Ten victory. Since 2015, the Lions are a stunning 67-1 in Big Ten duals, having lost only to Iowa in 2020. The Lions also ended Iowa's 15-match win streak.
Penn State saved the matside seats for VIPs. Football coach James Franklin had his usual seat on the aisle next to Sanderson, while his freshman All-American linebacker Abdul Carter sat next to former star Micah Parsons. A few seats down, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi cheered alongside to Athletic Director Patrick Kraft.
An announced crowd of 15,998 at the Bryce Jordan Center tied the NCAA attendance for an indoor college wrestling match, which Penn State and Iowa had set in 2018. What's more, Penn State also took the opportunity to show off its 2023 Rose Bowl trophy.
Here's how the Lions defeated Iowa.
285: No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) dec. No. 3 Tony Cassioppi 4-1
A week after sustaining his first loss, Kerkvliet recovered in a big way, punctuating the team victory with a strong win over Cassioppi. The Iowa heavyweight needed a pin to save the team win, but Kerkvliet still was the aggressor in producing the 4-1 win.
Kerkvliet (9-1) fell to Michigan's Mason Parris to lose his No. 1 ranking but looked every bit the championship contender against Cassioppi. Having lost to the Iowa wrestler three times last season, Kerkvliet now has won two straight, including an exhibition bout late last year.
197: No. 4 Max Dean dec. No. 7 Jacob Warner 2-0
In a rematch of the 2022 national-championship bout, Dean wrestled an absolutely bruising third period, riding Warner for the entire 2 minutes for a crucial victory. The bout might have been Dean's best this season, particularly since he lost twice in December.
Dean, who defeated Warner 3-2 in that title bout, escaped in the second period to prevent Warner from reaching 1 minute of riding time. Then he erased that deficit and rolled up a riding point by overwhelming Warner with strength and control.
The victory was pivotal, giving the Lions a 20-14 lead that required Cassioppi to produce a pin.
184: No. 1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) tech. fall Drake Rhodes 22-7
Without regular starter Abe Assad, ranked 12th nationally, Iowa sent essentially Rhodes, effectively ending the match. Brooks, another two-time national champ,
Understanding his position, Brooks (7-1) piled up points for his third technical fall of the season. Brooks' victory gave Penn State a 17-14 lead, setting the stage for Dean's strong victory.
174: No. 1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) dec. No. 16 Nelson Brands 2-1
Starocci, normally one of Penn State's highest-scoring wrestlers, finished what had to be an aggravating with a 2-1 riding-time win. Starocci, who has 59 takedowns, couldn't generate any offense against Brands, who sought to generate little of his own until the end.
But Brands had little shot of finishing a shot, considering that Starocci (11-0) hasn't given up a takedown all season. Instead, Starocci relied on riding time in the third period for the win.
165: No. 13 Patrick Kennedy dec. No. 5 Alex Facundo 2-1 (tiebreaker)
In his second Big Ten overtime bout, Facundo couldn't muster more drama. Facundo escaped in the first tiebreaker period and held on to edge the redshirt freshman. Kennedy continued Iowa's controlled-wrestling strategy, producing a victory the Hawkeyes had to have.
157: No. 9 Levi Haines (Penn State) dec. No. 15 Cobe Siebrecht 3-2
Haines dramatically burned his redshirt with an important Penn State victory. The true freshman scored a third-period takedown, probably of the biggest of his young career, to stop Iowa's two-bout win streak. The Hawkeyes led 11-9 at the match's intermission.
Haines (13-1, 3-0 Big Ten) has solidified his spot in Penn State's lineup with some huge wins. He upset Michigan's Will Lewan 3-1 in overtime last week, then returned in a vital spot against Iowa.
149: No. 7 Max Murin (Iowa) dec. 13. Shayne Van Ness 4-1
Murin scored a third-period takedown on an aggressive bit of late offense to finish the second of two key Hawkeyes decisions. Neither Van Ness nor Beau Bartlett at 141 could generate any significant offensive shots, which made the bouts look rather similar. Yet Murin was more aggressive, and it paid off.
141: No. 2 Real Woods (Iowa) dec. No. 4 Beau Bartlett 4-1
In a duel of top-five wrestlers, Woods and Bartlett put on a show for about 20 seconds. Then Woods scored the only takedown and won a reserved bout with a riding-time edge.
Still, this was the first of two important toss-up victories for Iowa. The loss was the first of the season for Bartlett (14-1).
133: No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) pin No. 17 Brody Teske 6:46
Opponents still haven't learned that late attacks on Bravo-Young rarely work — and often lead to disaster. Leading 7-2 late in the third, Penn State's two-time national champ appeared headed to a simple decision when Teske, his one-time teammate, took a chance.
Big mistake. Teske's fly-by didn't work, and Bravo-Young countered by turning a takedown into a pin. This was a huge early turning point in the match, with Penn State getting six team points instead of three.
125: No. 1 Spencer Lee (Iowa) tech. fall Marco Vespa 18-2
What makes Sanderson so savvy? Seemingly innocuous moves like this one. Vespa (0-3) gave Lee a lankier look that Lee hasn't seen often. He also began the bout with a why-not shot that nearly became a cradle.
Of course, the three-time national champ extended his win streak to 49 with a technical fall. But Lee didn't get his seventh straight pin, and Iowa couldn't cash the extra team point.
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