Rutgers wrestling had some positives in defeat to No. 1 Penn State
The Rutgers University wrestling team had a near-impossible task against No. 1-ranked Penn State Monday night in the Nittany Lions' yearly match at their 15,000-seat Bryce Jorden Center.
However, there were some things for the Scarlet Knights - who wrestled without starters Mitch Moore (141), Brian Soldano (184) and John Poznanski (197) - to build on in the 35-3 defeat.
Rutgers (10-5, 3-4 Big Ten Conference) went toe-to-toe with the Nittany Lions (10-0, 7-0) in the first four bouts and had chances to win all of those bouts.
Dean Peterson (125), Max Hermes (141) and Michael Cetta (149) lost by a combined eight points.
Peterson's defeat was in sudden victory to No. 2 ranked Braeden Davis and it was controversial. Hermes was seconds away from sudden victory against No. 1 ranked Beau Bartlett and Cetta was coming on at the end of his bout as he almost erased a five-point first period defeat and lost by two points to No. 10 Tyler Kasak.
Rutgers junior Dylan Shawver continued to make his mark at 133 pounds with a dramatic win over No. 6 Aaron Nagao.
But, not everything was a positive. Rutgers' nationally ranked Jackson Turley (174) and Yaraslau Slavikouski (heavyweight) were defeated by backups.
Here are four takeaways from the match.
1. Another big win for Shawver
Shawver continued to improve his chances for a solid seed in both the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments with a 9-6 win on a takedown 21 seconds into the sudden victory period over Nagao.
Nagao was the NCAA fifth-place finisher last year when he was at Minnesota.
It was Shawver's second straight win over a top 12 wrestler. He defeated No. 12 Ohio State's Nic Bouzakis on Feb. 4.
Rutgers head coach Scott Goodale slammed his hands on the railing in front of the Scarlet Knights' in excitement and joy after the winning takedown.
Shawver (19-5) recorded three takedowns to Nagao's one. He is now 5-2 in Big Ten bouts.
No video replay
The Scarlet Knights could have won the first two bouts, but did not because of controversial non-call at the end of regulation of the 125-pound between Peterson and Davis.
A win would have had huge seeding implications for Peterson, who is ranked 19th nationally. Davis is ranked No. 2.
Even though the match was being held in a basketball arena and televised on the Big Ten Network, the head referee denied Goodale and his coaching staff a challenge at the end of regulation because he said video replay wasn't available.
The dispute was over a neutral danger call that would have given Peterson the winning takedown.
When he was told about the lack of a replay, Goodale dejectedly faked throwing the challenge brick then threw his arms up in the air toward the fans behind the Scarlet Knights' bench.
Davis recorded the winning takedown 18 seconds into the sudden victory period for a 4-1 win.
The non-call came at the end of about a minute-long scramble in which first Davis appeared to be close to a takedown and then Peterson turned it into the potential neutral danger call.
Penn State has big time depth
With Nittany Lions' head coach Cael Sanderson electing not to weigh in three-time 174-pound national champion Carter Starocci and giving top-ranked heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet the night off, the Nittany Lions were still able to win both of those weights with wrestlers who were bumping up a weight.
Senior Terrell Barraclough, who has been a backup his entire collegiate career, but he would probably be a starter at 165 pounds for a lot of teams, defeated 2021 All-American Jackson Turley 4-3 on the riding time at 174 and sophomore Lucas Cochran soundly defeated top 10 ranked Yaraslau Slavikouski 8-3.
Barraclough (12-2) gave a riding exhibition over the last half of the bout. He rode Turley for most of the second period after he tied the bout with a reversal and then rode Turley out the entire third period as the crowd roared.
Cochran (11-2) recorded takedowns in the first and third periods as again the crowd roared.
The depth is something Rutgers will need to improve if it is going to be competitive and beat the top teams in the Big Ten.
Penn State's backups would start for most teams.
Hermes acquits himself well
Hermes, bumping up from 133 pounds, gave Bartlett a major scare before Bartlett won 4-1 on a takedown with four seconds left in regulation.
Hermes (7-6), in just the second dual-meet of his career, was scrappy. He defended well, rode Bartlett well for a little bit in the second period and silenced the crowd.
Bartlett was coming off a solid 7-2 win over No. 2 and returning NCAA runner-up Real Woods of Iowa last Friday. He had defeated No. 3 Jesse Mendez of Ohio State on Feb. 2.
Penn State 35, Rutgers 3
125: 2/2 Braeden Davis (PSU) d. 19/18 Dean Peterson 4-1 (sudden victory).
133: 10/9 Dylan Shawver (R) d. 6/5 Aaron Nagao 9-6 (sudden victory).
141: 1/1 Beau Bartlett (PSU) d. Max Hermes 4-1
149: 10/12 Tyler Kasak (PSU) d. 26/NR Michael Cetta 7-5
157: 1/1 Levi Haines (PSU) p. Dylan Weaver 1:21.
165: 7/7 Mitchell Messenbrink (PSU) tf Anthony White 6:51 (18-3)
174: Terrell Barraclough (PSU) d. 13/16 Jackson Turley 4-3
184: 6/7 Bernie Truax (PSU) d. Shane Cartagena-Walsh 7-0
197: 1/1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) p. Michael Toranzo 1:46.
HWT: Lucas Cochran (PSU) d. 8/10 Yaraslau Slavikouski 8-3
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers wrestling loses to Penn State but there were some positives
