Wrestling: Panthers fall to No. 2 Penn State

The Panthers couldn’t carry their momentum from Pittsburgh to State College.

Just two days… The Panthers couldn’t carry their momentum from Pittsburgh to State College.

Just two days after their home win over Edinboro, the Pitt men’s wrestling team faced No. 2 Penn State on the road in front of more than 6,000 fans. Pitt managed to win just two matches and fell 33-6.

“To beat PSU, we simply had to outwrestle them,” Anthony Zanetta said. “We came up short and needed to be tougher, meaner and more aggressive.”

At 125 pounds, No. 8 Nico Megaludis started the match strong for Penn State against No. 16 Zanetta. The two wrestled to a 1-1 tie through the first three periods and they both escaped during their period on bottom in the first tiebreakers.

Megaludis scored a takedown in the second sudden victory to make the score 3-0 in favor of the Nittany Lions.

Pitt’s No. 24 Shelton Mack entered the third period down 3-1 before scoring a takedown with under a minute left in the match. The sophomore held on to Penn State’s Frank Martellotti the rest of the period and picked up the riding time point for the 4-3 victory. His win tied the match 3-3.

At 141 pounds, Travis Shaffer jumped out early on PSU’s No. 28 Bryan Pearsall 6-0. Entering the third period with the huge lead and over four minutes of riding time, Shaffer slipped up.

Pearsall caught him in an early takedown and then the referee hit him with a stall to make the score 6-3. Then the Nittany Lions’ wrestler cradled Shaffer for the pin with three seconds left in the match.

At 149 pounds, No. 1 Frank Molinaro took down No. 15 Tyler Nauman 5-2, running the match score to 12-3 in favor of Penn State. Nauman hung with the top-ranked wrestler for most of the match, but came up short at the end.

“I feel this was my best match this year,” Nauman said. “It ended in a loss though, so I got to keep working and keep improving.”

Donnie Tasser dropped a 5-3 decision to No. 5 Dylan Alton at 157 pounds. The Pitt coaching staff wanted a stall called on the fifth-ranked wrestler but didn’t get it, and Tasser’s late takedown attempts came up short.

Penn State’s other top-ranked wrestler David Taylor beat Tyler Wilps 20-9 in a fast-paced match at 165 pounds. Taylor racked up nine takedowns for the major decision over the Pitt sophomore to make the score to 19-3.

No. 20 Ethan Headlee faced off against Penn State’s Matt Brown at 174 pounds. Brown, a top-10 talented wrestler, usually doesn’t wrestle because he sits behind No. 2 Ed Ruth. Headlee fell to Brown 12-2 in a major decision for the Nittany Lions at 174 pounds.

At 184 pounds, No. 2 Quentin Wright — the defending national champion — defeated Pitt’s No. 32 Andy Vaughan 12-2 for another major decision for the Nittany Lions.

No. 5 Matt Wilps rebounded from his loss on Friday to the top-ranked wrestler with a 4-3 win over No. 12 Morgan McIntosh at 197 pounds.

In the final match of the day, Pitt’s Joel Yahner fell to No. 6 Cameron Wade at 285 pounds in a second period pin at 3:56.

“Penn State is one of the best teams in the country, but we wrestled well,” Nauman said. “One little turn in the first four matches, and we sweep them all.”

Pitt has two weeks off before the EWL Championships in Clarion on March 4.

“I feel I’m wrestling well these last couple matches,” Nauman said. “I’m ready for the EWL Tournament and Nationals.”