Stanford Falls at Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Keaton Subjeck and Joey McKenna won bouts Sunday, but the 12th-ranked Stanford wrestling team fell 36-6 to No. 4 Penn State in front of a sellout crowd (6,544) at Rec Hall. 

The Nittany Lions (2-0), the defending national champions, won eight of the 10 bouts, scoring bonus points with four falls. Stanford dropped to 1-1 on the young season.

The dual began at 165 pounds, where Subjeck came out as the aggressor, spoiling eighth-ranked freshman Vincenzo Joseph's Rec Hall debut. Subjeck jumped out to a six-point lead in the blink of an eye, scoring a takedown and collecting four near fall points with a throw. After Joseph escaped, Subjeck again registered a six-point throw for a 12-1 advantage, and led 15-5 after the first. Subjeck, a redshirt junior out of El Dorado Hills, California, tacked on two escapes in the second for a 17-7 advantage. Joseph picked up two takedowns and an escape to avoid the major decision in the third as Subjeck put the Cardinal on the board with an 18-12 decision.

Penn State reeled off wins in the next six bouts to hold a 24-3 lead in the dual. Redshirt senior Jim Wilson dropped a tough 6-3 decision to Geno Morelli at 174 pounds. There was no score after the first. Wilson chose down to start the second and tallied the escape. He then gave up a takedown to Morelli, but tied it with another escape. Wilson, who had been warned for stalling in the first period, was hit again in the second to give Morelli a 3-2 lead going into the final frame, where he scored an escape and another takedown to knock-off Wilson.

After redshirt freshman Austin Flores was pinned in 6:21 by No. 3 Bo Nickal at 184 pounds, redshirt senior Josh Marchok was edged 3-2 at 197 pounds by Matt McCutcheon, who is ranked 16th nationally at 184 pounds. In the battle of the heavyweights, 10th-ranked Nathan Butler fell 3-1 to No. 13 Nick Nevills, the younger brother of Cardinal fifth-year senior Zach Nevills. Nevills scored a first-period takedown which proved to be the difference in the bout.

At 125 pounds, No. 4 Connor Schram was shut out by 12th-ranked Nick Suriano, 3-0. Redshirt senior Peter Russo, wrestling at 133 pounds, was then pinned in 2:39 by ninth-ranked Jered Cortez.

Stanford was finally able to quiet the crowd at Rec Hall as No.2 Joey McKenna posted a dominating 6-2 decision over No. 12 Jimmy Gulibon. McKenna scored a takedown in the opening period and tallied two near fall points on the edge for a 4-0 lead after one. Up 5-0 in the third, McKenna gave up a late takedown, but held 2:16 of riding time for the final point. He moves to 2-0 on the year and has twice defeated Gulibon in his career.

The Nittany Lions tacked on 12 more points to the final dual score as top-ranked Zain Retherford (149 pounds) and No. 1 Jason Nolf (157 pounds) recorded falls over Stanford's Tommy Pawelski and Paul Fox, respectively.

Stanford returns to The Farm next week to take on another Big Ten foe in Purdue on Friday, Nov. 18. The Cardinal and Boilermakers will square-off at 6:30 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion.
 

No.4 Penn State 36, No.12 Stanford 6