Then, in the next match, Lions heavyweight Pat Cummins lost his second match in a week after starting the season 31-0, when he fell to No. 3 Matt Feast 6-5, setting the final dual meet score at 21-15.
"I didn't want to push Joel back out there when it wasn't totally necessary," Sunderland said. "He could have gutted it out, but I saw his leg wobbling a little bit and I didn't want to take the risk."
Sunderland had the opposite feeling regarding Cummins' match. He wanted him to take more risks.
Feast came after Cummins hard in the first period and hit two strong single leg takedowns to take a 4-1 lead going into the second. From there, the road back was tough for Cummins, who looked reluctant to open up his offense.
Finally, in the third period, Cummins surged into Feast, lifting him completely off the ground and got the takedown to tie the match at 5-5. Feast escaped to make it 6-5 in his favor. A desperation inside trip attempt nearly gave Cummins the winning takedown, but referee Jake Llewellyn didn't see it the way Cummins and the 3,011 Lions fans in attendance hoped he would.
"We're going to pick it up with Pat before he even hits the mat," Sunderland said. "We're going to do some hand fighting or slap in the face or something. He needs to have a sense of urgency. He has to wrestle the first period of every match like he wrestled the third period today."
Cummins' loss along with Adam Smith's loss at 125 to the Quakers' Matt Valenti may haunt them in the future in the form of seedings at the NCAA tournament.
Still, though, it would be wrong to focus on what were pretty much the only two blemishes on a weekend the Lions went 2-0 and pushed their win total to 14, the most since 1998.
Wrestling in their final matches at Rec Hall, seniors Marat Tomaev and Josh Moore both had exciting weekends, Moore was 2-0 and Tomaev beat No. 14 Doug McGraw of Penn.
Other Lions to win both their matches were Matt Storniolo at 141, James Woodall at 157 and Eric Bradley at 184. Storniolo and Bradley just keep rolling through the season and have been models of consistency. Woodall on the other hand has suffered tough loss after tough loss but may have gotten over the hump this week.
"This is the best I've wrestled at Penn State," Woodall said. "I feel great, and my confidence is up. I can't wait for the post season."
The same thing could be said for Penn State overall. They appear to be hitting on close to all cylinders and the post season in March should be exciting.
Still though, there are some rough edges to smooth over.
"I knew Penn thought they could come in here and beat us," Sunderland said. "It's a good win, but still its bittersweet."
