I have seen a lot of duals at Carver Hawkeye Arena.  This might be my fourth or fifth sell out that I have attended.  This is by far my favorite.

Iowa has not wrestled Penn State as #1 and #2 since 1986.  That was is Carver, as well.  Iowa won that dual 35-5.  This meet was not that close at all.  It wasn't supposed to be this close, at all.  I had Iowa winning this dual 23-9.

Tonight was epic.  Everyone in attendance will remember being here.  Everyone watching at home will remember who they watched it with.  This dual reignited the love for Iowa wrestling for thousands of fans across the state of Iowa and it created new fans of wrestling.  There will be young wrestlers that started their wrestling careers because of this dual and there is young wrestlers drilling harder than they ever had before in wrestling rooms and basements because of this dual.

This dual also sent 16,000 fans out of the doors at Carver Hawkeye Arena saying, "They are going to be National Champions."

133 #1 Spencer Lee TECHNICAL FALL 16-1 over Brandon Meredith

Lee came out firing right away putting Meredith to his back in the first 10 seconds.  Meredith fought our after giving up 2 near fall.  From there it was all Lee-- rolling Meredith to his back multiple times for near fall points.  The match was terminated early in the 2nd period when the score reached 16-1 in favor of Lee.  Lee has now outscored his last 6 opponents 100-2.  All 6 victories have come by technical fall.

Iowa 5 Penn State 0

#3 Roman Bravo-Young INJURY DEFAULT over #2 Austin DeSanto

DeSanto got in early on a shot but Bravo-Young fought him off. DeSanto tweeked his knee during the scramble and went to injury time.  During the injury time out, Head Coach Tom Brands got a "Control The Mat Area" team point taken away.

Bravo choose down out of the injury time and escaped.  Bravo followed that with a takedown.  After a DeSanto escape, Austin got locked into a cradle and DeSanto stopped the match again.  DeSanto looked up to the coaches and shook his head.  That was the end of the match.

Penn State 6 Iowa 4

#2 Nick Lee TECHNICAL FALL 20-5 over Carter Happel

Happel was never in this match.  If Coach Brands talks about how the Iowa fans will reward your effort and if you entertain them with points- he was not talking about Happel.  Many fans were encouraging Happel to "wrestle".  Lee, with seven total takedowns, just dominated.

Penn State 11 Iowa 4

#3 Pat Lugo DECISION 6-1 over Jarod Verkleeren

The best thing I can say about this match is that it was Lugo's 100th career win.  Lugo was in control as soon as he got the first takedown but the wrestling is so uninspired.  In fact, his last 3 matches have been that way.  At some point, a wrestler needs to look to score team bonus points-- Lugo rarely does.

Penn State 11 Iowa 7

#5 Kaleb Young DECISION 6-1 over Bo Pipher

Didn't we just mention team bonus points?  To Young's defense, Pipher did stall out a lot during this match.  It is hard to score multiple points when your opponent spends 90% of the match fleeing instead of attacking.  Also hard to do when Pipher clammed up underneath and didn't work to escape.  Young had over 3 minutes of riding time.

Penn State 11 Iowa 10


*****BREAK*****

The meet starts back up with two very big matches.  Although Iowa fans were a little nervous being down at break, they brought the excitement to Carver for the heavier weights.


#1 Vincent Joseph DECSION 7-5 over #2 Alex Marinelli

Marinelli, undefeated in his Carver career, was 2-0 against Joseph going into this match.  The crowd at Carver did not want to see him drop a match to Joseph.  "Bull" tried to use locks throughout the scoreless first period to score a takedown but it would catch up to him in the second.  Joseph caught Marinelli, after an escape, in a lock to his back for a 2 point takedown and 4 near fall points.  That 5 point cushion was enough for Joseph to beat the "Bull".

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Penn State 14 Iowa 10

#2 Michael Kemerer DECISION 11-6 over #1 Mark Hall

THE MATCH OF THE NIGHT. Kem-Dawg's upset over Mark Hall, which basically won the meet for Iowa, was incredible from the first blow of the whistle.  When the horn sounded at the end of the first period, Kemerer was leading 5-4.  Kem-Dawg kept fighting as he added two more takedowns along with riding time.

I have never heard Carver Hawkeye Arena this loud.

Penn State 14 Iowa 13

#9 Aaron Brooks DECISION 7-3 over #6 Abe Assad

Kemerer was the match of the night and if it wasn't for Happel's effort in his technical fall loss, this would have been the biggest disappointment of the night.  Coming off a high energy win and the possibility to put Iowa in the driver's seat to win the dual, Assad just didn't have it.  Brooks scored two first period take downs and cruised to the decision.

Penn State 17 Iowa 13

#7 Jacob Warner DECISION 4-2 over #18 Shakur Rasheed

With Iowa down and needing victory in the final 2 matches, the fans in Carver were nervous.  Warner got an early takedown that included his 1:00 riding time bonus.  Warner managed to keep Rasheed away from ever putting himself in danger.  The meet was now in the hands of Redshirt Freshman Tony Cassioppi at 285.

Penn State 17 Iowa 16

#3 Tony Cassioppi DECISION 7-0 over #15 Seth Nevills

I really thought Cassioppi was going to get the FALL in this match and Carver would explode.  After a scramble that led to a Big Cass takedown, a near arm bar-far wrist pin combination looked to be in the works.  Nice mat awareness allowed Nevills to fight off any pin attempt.  Cassioppi cruised after this-- getting more points from an escape, a takedown, and a stalling point.

AND IOWA WINS THE DUAL

Iowa 19 Penn State 17

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