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What We Learned From Penn State Wrestling's Rout of Maryland

The top-ranked Nittany Lions scored their seventh shutout of a dominant season.
Mark Wogenrich|
Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Marcus Blaze gets his hand raised after a win over the Iowa Hawkeyes' Drake Ayala at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Marcus Blaze gets his hand raised after a win over the Iowa Hawkeyes' Drake Ayala at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. | Reese Strickland-Imagn Images

The top-ranked Penn State wrestling team completed a weekend shutout sweep Saturday, dismantling Maryland 51-0 in a de facto home match in College Park. Wrestling on short rest, the Nittany Lions nevertheless scored bonus points in every bout, getting pins from PJ Duke, Rocco Welsh and Cole Mirasola.

Penn State (11-0) won its NCAA-record 82 consecutive dual in front of a loud Penn State crowd at Maryland's Schanwald Pavilion, where fans repeated "We Are!" chants throughout the night. The Nittany Lions, who shut out Indiana 48-0 at home Friday, made quick work of the Terps, allowing them to bus back to State College before the storm that moved the match up a day.

Here's what we learned from Penn State's seventh shutout of the season.

Penn State is on an epic roll

The Nittany Lions, so unstoppable last year in winning their fourth straight NCAA title, are on a similar (and perhaps even better) run this season. Penn State (5-0 Big Ten) has outscored its 11 opponents by a combined total of 480-19, producing an average margin of victory of 41.9 points.

Their Big Ten matches haven't even been that close. The Nittany Lions have outscored conference opponents 228-3 and have a bout record of 49-1 in Big Ten duals. Penn State has blanked four Big Ten opponents and, in consecuitve shutouts of Indiana and Maryland, scored bonus points in 19 of the 20 bouts wrestled.

Maryland brought three ranked wrestlers to Saturday's match. Penn State scored two technical falls and a major decision in those bouts.

Marcus Blaze is becoming a title contender

The Penn State freshman joins a crowded field of contenders at 133 that includes defending champ Lucas Byrd of Illinois and fellow unbeaten freshman (albeit redshirt) Ben Davino of Ohio State. On Saturday, the fourth-ranked Blaze continued his poised first season with a 15-3 major decision of No. 15 Braxton Brown.

Blaze (15-0) beat a ranked wrestler for the eighth time this season, doing so with a strong finish. Blaze had the major clinched but remained aggressive. He took a late third-period shot, then neatly defended Brown's counter and secured the takedown in the final seconds. Blaze scored his fifth major decision of the season, this one against a returning NCAA medalist.

Shayne Van Ness just keeps going

By far the most entertaining bout was Van Ness' 32-15 technical fall over seventh-ranked Carter Young, a midseason transfer from Oklahoma State. Young initially stunned the nation's No. 1 wrestler at 149, putting him on his back for a seven-point move in the first period.

But the rest of the match belonged to Van Ness (14-0). The redshirt junior scored nine takedowns for a season-high 32 points, dropping and cutting Carter relentlessly. Van Ness scored five of those takedowns in a 90-second stretch of the second period to assert his dominance. Carter was the highest-ranked wrestler Van Ness has defeated this season.

Cole Mirasola's confidence is growing

After consecutive losses in early December, Mirasola has won seven straight bouts, punctuating Saturday's dual with a second-period fall. The Big Ten freshman of the week looked both quick and strong vs. Maryland's Joey Schneck, who had the size advantage.

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said that Mirasola gained confidence from his win over then-No. 5 Ben Kueter of Iowa, and it shows. The redshirt freshman, ranked 12th nationally, improved to 12-2 with a weekend pin and technical fall.

Noteworthy Nittany Lions

  • Top-ranked Luke Lilledahl (125) wrestled a monster third period, scoring two takedowns and riding out Maryland's Abram Cline over the last 15 seconds for a technical fall to follow his Friday-night pin. Lilledahl (13-0) needed a period to feel out the defensive-minded Cline, who wrestling just his second Big Ten dual of the season. But after a limited first period, Lilledahl got to his offense, nearly getting the fall before the second-period buzzer.
  • Braeden Davis (8-1 at 141) bookended a strong weekend with an 18-4 decision over Dario Lemus, though he looked annoyed after giving up a late escape to prevent the technical fall. Davis produced two 14-point decisions on the weekend, scoring 42 points in two bouts.
  • Freshman PJ Duke (157) scored 11 team points in two weekend bouts, following his Friday technical fall vs. Indiana with a first-period fall of Maryland's Mekhi Neal. Duke (13-0) began his Penn State career with four straight falls and has seven on the season, re-tying Mitchell Mesenbrink for the team lead.
  • Speaking of Mesenbrink, the nation's top-ranked 165-pounder furrowed his brow after just missing the first-period technical fall against AJ Rodrigues. Mesenbrink (15-0) scored 14 first-period points and clinched his fifth technical of the season with an anticlimatic escape in the second period.
  • Top-ranked Levi Haines (174) gave up a rare takedown, just his second of the dual-meet season, to Maryland's Seth Digby (3-9). That was big win for the Terp, but it didn't prevent Haines from scoring the 23-8 technical fall, his second of the weekend and seventh of the season.

Penn State 51, Maryland 0

  • 125: No. 1 Luke Lilledahl (PS) tech. fall Abram Cline 18-4 in 7:00
  • 133: No. 4 Marcus Blaze (PS) dec. No. 15 Braxton Brown 15-3
  • 141: No. 11 Braeden Davis (PS) dec. Dario Lemus 18-4
  • 149: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness (PS) tech. fall No. 7 Carter Young 32-15 in 6:41 
  • 157: No. 3 PJ Duke (PS) pin. Mekhi Neal in 1:54 
  • 165: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PS) tech. fall AJ Rodrigues 15-0 in 3:24
  • 174: No. 1 Levi Haines (PS) tech. fall Seth Digby 23-8 in 6:36 
  • 184: No. 1 Rocco Welsh (PS) pin Sepanta Ahanj-Elias 3:52
  • 197: No. 1 Josh Barr (PS) tech. fall No. 13 Brandon John 19-4 in 6:51
  •  285: No. 12 Cole Mirasola (PS) pin Joey Schneck 3:56

Up next

The Nittany Lions return home Jan. 30 for one of their marquee duals of the season, hosting sixth-ranked Nebraska at the Bryce Jordan Center. The match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET start Friday.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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