Grapplers go 1-1 over weekend

It was supposed to be a firecracker. It ended up a dud.

On Saturday, the Penn State wrestling team intended to use the Wisconsin Badgers as a tune-up for Sunday's rematch against Minnesota, and they did so, beating the Badgers 31-10.

However, they were thumped yesterday afternoon by the Golden Gophers, 28-7, as they could only win two of 10 matches.

Against Wisconsin, the Nittany Lions took seven of 10 matches, including two forfeits.

At 118 pounds, Arturos Cabanas, filling in for the injured Jeremy Hunter, received a forfeit to start the dual meet. Hunter did not make the trip due to a knee injury he suffered last weekend against Indiana.

Wisconsin then put points on the board next as No. 2 Eric Jetton won, 5-3, by decision over Jason Betz, who is ranked No. 10 in the country.

Penn State ran off the next three weights as Biff Walizer downed Mark Beebe, 5-2, No. 8 Clint Musser pinned Dusty Coufal in four minutes, 27 seconds and freshman Shad Benton won by major decision over Zach Anderson, 10-2.

With the Nittany Lions out to a 19-3 lead, Wisconsin looked as if they may stop the bleeding by winning the next two bouts, but Penn State took the last three to set the score.

At 158 pounds, Badger Kole Clauson looked as if he was the cog for a comeback as he scored a major decision over John Lange, 17-6. But the biggest upset of the night happened at 167, when Penn State's No. 2 Glenn Pritzlaff was beaten by No. 5 Kevin Wilmot, 8-3.

Penn State finished the dual meet with Frank Morici's 14-7 decision over Chad Lipton, Rob Neidlinger's 3-2 win over Steve Alf, and Kerry McCoy's forfeit win at heavyweight.

Against Minnesota, the Nittany Lions had their game plan taken away from them early, and could not rebound as they lost the first six matches. Pritzlaff picked up the first victory of the day for the Nittany Lions, as he defeated nationally-ranked Zach Taylor, who he has wrestled three times this year, 3-1. McCoy won the only other match by winning by major decision over Mike Benjamin, 15-3.

In the loss, which is the third time that Penn State (12-4) has lost to the Golden Gophers (13-4) this year, Penn State head coach John Fritz sees that there still needs to be a lot of improvements.

"This is gut-check time," Fritz said. "We've seen these guys at the National Team Duals.

"I thought our guys were aggressive, but it is time for us to make some decisions when we get back to the wrestling room. We need to show more character."

A question mark on this weekend's slate against Ohio State and Clarion will be Lange. Lange, who is wrestling with torn cartilage in his left knee, hurt his right knee Saturday against Wisconsin.

Penn State returns to action Friday night against Ohio State at Rec Hall.