Wrestling: No. 10 Penn State sends No. 12 Hofstra packing 28-11

by InterMat

Before Saturday’s match with Hofstra, Penn State coach Troy Sunderland reminded his team how long last year’s bus ride from Hempstead, N.Y., actually was.

Now, it’s coach Tom Shifflet’s Hofstra wrestlers that will have to endure the ride to Hempstead from State College after being soundly defeated in almost a reversal of what occurred last year on Long Island.

Second-ranked Phil Davis got the Nittany Lions rolling with a 12-1 major decision at 197 pounds over sixth-ranked Joe Rovelli and Penn State never looked back in a 28-11 victory at Rec Hall in front of 1,858 fans.

“I think Troy mentioned (the bus ride),” said Davis. “We wanted to send them packing like they gave to us last year.”

He did indeed mention it.

“We spent a long trip back and forth to Hempstead,” said Sunderland of last year’s 24-10 loss to the Pride. “We wanted to make sure (our guys) remembered that. We want to focus on this year obviously, but we want to make sure they get better every time they step on the mat and they did that today.”

Davis set the tone and was followed by Stephan Tighe’s third-period fall over James Guerin to extend the lead to 10-0.

Coming back around to 125 pounds, 10th-ranked Mark McKnight put the Nittany Lions up 13-0 after a scramble-filled 3-2 victory over seventh-ranked Dave Tomasette.

McKnight was more mobile and active than he was a week ago in Penn State’s 34-3 victory over Maryland.

“I’m trying to start out slow because it’s a long season,” said McKnight. “This is a good match to provide a good base, something to gauge my abilities right now. I’ll sharpen them up by the end of the season.”

McKnight also had that bus ride on the brain.

“We definitely wrestled well especially after the disaster that happened last year,” said McKnight. “We lost the first five matches. We kept that in the back of our mind – redemption.”

Hofstra scored its first points of the afternoon as fourth-ranked Lou Ruggirello housed Penn State reserve Tim Eagan, picking up a technical fall in the second period.

The afternoon’s marquee match came at 141 pounds with returning All-Americans Charles Griffin, ranked second, and Jake Strayer, ranked seventh.

Strayer scored the first takedown and then in the second period turned the Hofstra senior to his back with a tight cradle, nearly pinning him on three occasions. Griffin escaped the period and the bonus points, but Strayer kept the Penn State machine rolling with a 6-1 win.

The pro-PSU crowd was clamoring for a fall and most thought he had it.

“He had him pretty flat in a couple of situations there,” said Sunderland.

Strayer was a bit more reserved with his assessment. Said Strayer: “During the match, I thought I did.”

Shifflet said Strayer’s game-plan was solid.

“If you looked at the first period, (Strayer) was the aggressor and was relentless on top,” said the Hofstra coach. “That’s tough to come back from.”

Coming up from 133 pounds last season, Strayer said he was fairly calm heading into the match.

“I get more nervous for matches I’m supposed to win rather than kinda iffy,” said Strayer. “I was pumped for this match.”

The weight class shift has also been a benefit for Strayer.

“Last year, I was getting tired,” he said. “It wasn’t because I wasn’t in shape; it was because I was cutting too much weight.”

Bubba Jenkins moved to 2-0 with a 5-3 win over Mitch Smith, while Dan Vallimont followed with another Penn State victory at 157 pounds, topping Jon Bonilla-Bowman 6-3.

Hofstra picked up back to back wins at 165 and 174 with Ryan Patrovich scoring his first win of the season with a late counter takedown to top Penn State’s Dave Rella 3-1 and Alton Lucas capitalized on several strong takedowns and miscues by David Erwin to score a 12-7 win.

20th-ranked Phil Bomberger closed out the victory with a fall over freshman Jeff Siciliano at 184 pounds.

“I thought it was going to be a great matchup,” said Shifflet. “Penn State’s an aggressive team, when the whistle blows, they attack and that’s what they did very well today.”

The match was in stark contrast to what happened last year.

“You want to get out there and get the momentum going on your side,” explained Shifflet. “That’s one thing we did last year a lot. We always seemed to get on a roll. It’s kind of going the opposite way this year. We lost three All-Americans. We have some growing to do.”