Wrestling: Penn State Beats Buffalo in Convincing Fashion
Penn State closed off this year’s regular season with a strong performance against the University of Buffalo, winning 47-3. Penn State (14-0, 9-0) saw their winning streak extended to 58 straight duals on a wonderful senior day.
Justin Lopez made his Penn State dual debut at 125 pounds. Devin Schnupp was held out of the lineup for precautionary measures. Lopez was held in check by UB’s Kyle Akins, who defeated Lopez 3-0.
This was the only time a Penn State wrestler would lose.
Roman Bravo-Young made his return to the lineup, after flying back to his hometown of Tucson for a funeral, and made his presence known. Bravo-Young won by major decision, a score of 14-5 that put the Nittany Lions on the board.
Buffalo did not have a wrestler weigh in at 141 pounds therefore 6 points were awarded to Penn State for the forfeit victory. Nick Lee’s day consisted of running onto the mat to get his hand raised and then returning to the locker room.
Coach Cael Sanderson picked Brady Berge to start at 149 pounds today. Berge battled Jason Estevez but prevailed by an 11-4 final score.
Senior Jason Nolf stepped onto the mat for the last time today, putting on a show. Nolf was taunted by his opponent Kyle Todrank after being taken down. He responded by pinning Todrank shortly after, yelling in pure excitement.
Vincenzo Joseph stepped up next and wanted to relive the “pin parade” from last year’s dual with Buffalo. Joseph pinned UB’s Noah Grover in one minute and 13 seconds for the fastest fall of the day.
Mark Hall, Shakur Rasheed, and Bo Nickal all won by fall as well. Anthony Cassar finished the day for the Nittany Lions with a 16-5 victory, helping Penn State secure the win over Buffalo 47-3.
Penn State will now travel to the University of Minnesota for the Big Ten tournament, starting on March 9. Seven of the last eight Big Ten championships have come back to Happy Valley, with the Nittany Lions claiming numerous individual titles.
Last year, Zain Retherford, Mark Hall, and Bo Nickal won in their weight classes while Vincenzo Joseph and Shakur Rasheed look to bounce back from coming in second place. The Big Ten Championships will be televised by the Big Ten Network.
Ryan Simpson is a senior majoring in statistics and minoring in sociology. To contact him, email ras6193@psu.edu.
