No.16 Rutgers Wrestling Suffers Crushing 46-0 Loss Against No.1 Penn State
No.16 Rutgers wrestling was crushed in their first match back after a long break, as they were defeated by No.1 Penn State 46-0. Despite the overall talent of the Scarlet Knights wrestling program, the Nittany Lions swept them aside with ease as many of Rutgers wrestlers struggled to keep their bouts competitive.
The Knights would not win a single bout in their match against Penn State. The 125-pounders and the heavyweights were the closest bouts of the night as Rutgers only lost in those by decision, rather than a major decision, technical fall, or a fall. Heavyweight No.21 put up a valiant effort against No. 15/14 Cole Mirasola, as he lost by a 4-2 decision. The same occurred in the 125-pounders as No. 29/33 Ayden Smith put up a valiant losing effort against the Nittany Lions Luke Lilledahl, who beat Smith by an 8-3 decision.
Unfortunately for Rutgers, in eight of the ten matches, they would either lose by tech fall, fall, or major decision. The Knights would suffer three losses by major decision, three losses by fall, and two losses by technical fall en route to their blowout loss.
Despite the daunting task of playing against Penn State, Rutgers gave a lot of their freshman/ younger players the nod to compete in this match. The true frshman that saw time in this game were ahir Parkins (141), Devon Magro (149), Easton Doster (157), and Jordan Chapman (174). For Chapman and Doster, this was their first time wrestling at the college level.
125:2/2 Luke Lilledahl (PSU) over 29/33 Ayden Smith (RU) by dec., 8-3; PSU leads, 3-0
133:5/6 Marcus Blaze (PSU) over 24/24 Dylan Shawver (RU) by MD, 12-2; PSU leads, 7-0
141: Braeden Davis (PSU) over Tahir Parkins (RU) by MD, 18-7; PSU leads, 11-0
149:1/1 Shayne Van Ness (PSU) over Devon Magro (RU) by fall (4:54); PSU leads, 17-0
157:4/3 PJ Duke (PSU) over Easton Doster (RU) by TF, 19-4 (3:18); PSU leads, 22-0
165:1/1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) over Ryan Ford (RU) by fall (2:28); PSU leads, 28-0
174:1/1 Levi Haines (PSU) over Jordan Chapman (RU) by fall (4:49); PSU leads, 34-0
184:4/4 Rocco Welsh (PSU) over 15/18 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (RU) by MD, 13-3; PSU leads, 38-0
197:1/1 Josh Barr (PSU) over 18/16 Remy Cotton (RU) by TF, 18-3 (7:00); PSU leads, 43-0
HWT: 15/14 Cole Mirasola (PSU) over 21/21 Hunter Catka (RU) by dec., 4-2; PSU wins, 46-0
The Knights struggles in this game display a concerning trend that has continued all season. Despite competing well in individual events, Rutgers, as a team, has struggled against ranked competition. They stand at 0-3 on the season vs ranked competition as they lost to No.20 Oklahoma and No. 10 NC State.
Rutgers wrestling has two upcoming home match ups against No.12 Michigan and Purdue. Their match up against the Wolverines will be on January 16th at 7 pm while their match against the Boilermakers will be on January 18th at 1 pm. Both matches will be streamed on Big Ten Plus
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Andrew Rice has covered Rutgers athletics for two years for the Rutgers site, OnTheBanks.com. In February of 2025, he took over as the site manager of OnTheBanks and has been running the site ever since. His other professional journalism experiences include being a Rutgers beat reporter for GridironHeroics.com, along with being a general New York sports journalist for Sports Radio America.