Evanston, Ill. -- The No. 14 ranked Penn State wrestling team completed a two-match road swing through the state of Illinois Saturday with a come from behind 24-13 victory over No. 17 Northwestern. Penn State lost four of the first five bouts and trailed 13-3 at the mid-way point but stormed back behind terrific performances from freshmen Bryan Heller and Jack Decker, sophomore Nate Galloway, junior DeWitt Driscoll and senior Jarrad Turner to win the final five bouts of the night and leave Evanston on a high note.
Penn State improved to 8-1 all-time against the Wildcats and 10-9 (3-4 Big Ten) on the year. Northwestern fell to 9-4 (2-4 Big Ten). The Nittany Lions will take on Ohio State in their final dual meet of the season Feb. 18 in the Bryce Jordan Center. That match is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start and will be shown live on WPSX (channel 3) and FOX/Sports Pittsburgh (channel 34).
Northwestern jumped out to an early 4-0 lead when No. 3 Jake Herbert posted a 14-2 major decision over James Yonushonis at 174. Herbert got a takedown and turned Yonushonis twice in the opening period for a pair of two-point near-falls and was in charge from there.
Penn State got on the board at 184 pounds where junior Eric Bradley rebounded from a tough 2-1 loss to No. 3 Brian Glynn the night before with a win over No. 16 Mike Tamillow. Bradley posted the opening points with a takedown early in the first period, but Tamillow tied things up at 2-2 going into the third. Bradley took down, escaped and then took Tamillow down for a 5-2 lead. Tamillow escaped but Bradley took him down again. The Wildcat escaped again but could not score at Bradley added a riding time point for an 8-4 win to improve to 22-3 on the year. All of his losses have come to the top three ranked wrestlers in the nation.
That brought up another showdown of ranked wrestlers at 197 where No. 13 Phil Davis brought a 10-math win streak into his match with No. 16 Matt Delguyd. Delguyd, who beat Davis earlier in the year at the Midlands Championship, posted the opening takedown in the first period. Davis escaped to make it 2-1 going into the second. Delguyd took down to start the period and quickly escaped. He then slipped behind Davis for a takedown. Davis escaped but gave up another takedown to Delguyd late in the period and trailed 7-2 going into the third period. Davis took down and escaped but was unable to take Delguyd down as the Wildcat won 7-3 for a 7-3 Northwestern lead in the dual.
In the heavyweight match Joel Edwards weighed in at 223 and gave up 56 pounds to No. 13 Dustin Fox who weighed in at 279. The pair wrestled through a scoreless first period. Fox took down to start the second and worked for an escape in 26 seconds. Fox then took Edwards down but Edwards managed to escape just before the period ended and trailed 3-1 going into the third. Edwards escaped to start the third but could not score from there as Fox won 3-2.
Northwestern extended its lead at 125 as No. 10 John Velez posted a win over Adam Smith. Velez scored the opening takedown in the first period and escaped after starting down in the second for a 3-0 lead. Smith started down to start the third and escaped but gave up another takedown to Velez. Smith escaped but Velez took a 5-2 win and gave Northwestern a 13-3 lead.
Penn State then came storming back behind the wrestling of No. 18 Bryan Heller and No. 12 DeWitt Driscoll. Heller racked up a 14-4 major decision over Daniel Quintella at 133. Heller posted three second period takedowns and added another in the third as he dominated the Wildcat to improve to 20-12 on the year. Meanwhile, Driscoll and No. 11 Ryan Lang had furious first period and when it was all said and done the Nittany Lion came out with a fall at 2:12. The fall tied the dual meet at 13-13 and improved Driscoll to 26-13 on the year.
Freshman Jack Decker seized the moment and wrestled one of his best matches of the season in posting an impressive 11-2 major decision over Jimmy Kim at 149. Kim got the opening takedown, but Decker took control from there escaping and then escaping again to start the second. Decker then worked Kim into a cradle taking him down and to his back for a five-point move. Another takedown, a stalling penalty and riding time made the final as Decker won his fourth dual meet of the season and gave Penn State its first lead at 17-13.
Sophomore Nate Galloway then put the match on ice for the Nittany Lions as he stormed to a 14-4 major decision victory over Greg Hagel. Galloway posted four takedowns, turned Hagel for a three-point near-fall and logged more than four minutes in riding time to improve to 26-11 on the year. The win gave Penn State a 21-13 lead heading into the final bout at 165.
Senior Jarrad Turner completed the sweep of the last five bouts with a thrilling overtime victory over Mike Kimberlin. Turner trailed 4-3 starting the third but escaped from the down position to tie the match. Neither wrestler scored from there as the match went into the one-minute overtime. The pair battled for 50 seconds before Turner got in deep and completed the winning take down for a 6-4 sudden victory decision and his first dual meet win of the year.