Jan. 22, 2010

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Second-ranked John Dergo (184 pounds), No. 10 Patrick Bond (197) and No. 14 Jordan Blanton (174) all earned wins, but No. 13 Penn State won the other seven bouts on its way to a 24-11 win over the 19th-ranked Illini in both teams' first Big Ten dual of the season. Blanton scored a 22-5 technical fall and Dergo defeated No. 12 David Erwin in sudden-victory time for his sixth win over a ranked opponent this year. The Illini move to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten, while PSU is 9-3-1, 1-0.

"Other than 133 and 141, the match went exactly how it was predicted to go," Illinois head coach Jim Heffernan said. "The problem was we were favored to win both of those matches and we didn't win either of them. That was the difference."

The Illini struggled out of the gate as Penn State's No. 12 Brad Pataky topped John Deneen 7-3. The 133-pound match turned into a third-period shootout as Daryl Thomas tried to battle back after giving up three back points in the first period. He scored three takedowns in the third but Bryan Pearsall held off the deciding fourth takedown as the Nittany Lion held on for the 13-12 win and a 6-0 team lead.

At 141, No. 11 Ryan Prater looked to right the ship for Illinois, getting an early takedown against Adam Lynch and riding the Nittany Lion out for the first period. Lynch started down in the second and started a scramble, where he caught Prater on his back and got the fall at 3:56, pushing PSU's lead to 12-0. No. 20 Eric Terrazas had his work cut out for him at 149 against No. 5 Frank Molinaro but he battled tough as the match was scoreless after the first period. Molinaro started down in the second and got out quickly before recording a takedown with 38 seconds left in the period for a 3-0 lead. Terrazas started down in the third and also escaped quickly, coming within a takedown of tying Molinaro. He had a couple of good shots but Molinaro fended them off and finished a takedown with eight seconds left in the bout for the 5-1 win.

Penn State's No. 5 Cyler Sanderson controlled the bout at 157 throughout on his way to a 9-4 win and an 18-0 PSU lead at the match's intermission. The 165-pound bout was similar in that the Nittany Lions' No. 8 Dan Vallimont kept Joe Barczak from putting together any offense in a 10-3 decision for Penn State.

At 174, No. 14 Jordan Blanton fired out from the start, getting an early takedown and riding PSU's Justin Ortega hard before the Lion escaped. But Blanton got another takedown and was able to turn Ortega for three near-fall points before the Lion escaped to make the score 8-2 in the Illini's favor after one period. Blanton started down in the second and escaped quickly then turned into a takedown machine and added three more back points to make the score 18-5 after five minutes. Ortega started down in the third and Blanton cut him loose before adding two more takedowns for the 22-7 technical fall in 6:26, cutting Penn State's margin to 21-5.

No. 2 John Dergo also came out firing on all cylinders, picking the ankle of No. 12 David Erwin at 184 and scrambling through for the takedown early in the bout. After Dergo rode him for 30 seconds, Erwin broke free to cut Dergo's lead to 2-1. Erwin started down in the second and escaped quickly, and the two got in a wild scramble that ended with Erwin scoring a takedown with 1:04 left in the period. Dergo escaped in 20 seconds and the two wrestled out the period at neutral as Erwin took a 4-3 lead to the final stanza. Dergo started down in the third and got out in 50 seconds to tie the score 4-4. Neither wrestler could mount any late offense and the bout went to sudden-victory time. Erwin took the first shot but Dergo fought it off and grabbed an ankle, then hustled around for the takedown in 12 seconds for the 6-4 overtime win, bringing the Illini within 21-8.

At 197, No. 10 Patrick Bond got a single-leg on Clay Steadman early in the bout, raised it and finished the takedown on the edge for a 2-0 lead. Steadman escaped off a restart but Bond got another single-leg and upset Steadman's balance, scoring the takedown late in the period to take a 4-1 lead after three minutes. Bond started down in the second and got out in 34 seconds before using a sweeping single-leg to notch another takedown for a 7-1 lead. Steadman was awarded a stalling point when Bond didn't work up from the feet at the edge of the mat and the Lion escaped off a restart to make the Illini senior's lead 7-3 after two periods. Steadman started down in the third and escaped off another restart, but Bond used a nice throw-by after a Steadman shot for a takedown. Bond fended off a few Steadman shots late to ice the 9-5 win and cut PSU's lead to 21-11.

Marty Smith battled No. 11 Cameron Wade to a scoreless first period before Wade started down in the second and escaped quickly. Smith shot with 50 seconds left in the period and Wade spun around him for the takedown and a 3-0 lead. The pair started neutral in the third and Smith shot early but Wade defended it and got a takedown to go up 5-0. He cut Smith loose with 33 seconds left and used a quick single-leg, finishing the takedown and added a riding-time point for an 8-1 win and a 24-11 Penn State victory.

The Orange and Blue finish up the weekend road trip by heading to East Lansing, Mich., for a Sunday noon start time against Michigan State. The dual will be streamed live at http://video.bigtennetwork.com and will be shown on the Big Ten Network Monday at 4 p.m. CT.

#13 Penn State 24, #19 Illinois 11
125: #12 Brad Pataky (PSU) dec. John Deneen (ILL), 7-3 (0-3)
133: Bryan Pearsall (PSU) dec. Daryl Thomas (ILL), 13-12 (0-6)
141: Adam Lynch (PSU) pinned #11 Ryan Prater (ILL), 3:56 (0-12)
149: #5 Frank Molinaro (PSU) dec. #20 Eric Terrazas (ILL), 5-1 (0-15)
157: #5 Cyler Sanderson (PSU) dec. Conrad Polz (ILL), 9-4 (0-18)
165: #8 Dan Vallimont (PSU) dec. Joe Barczak (ILL), 10-3 (0-21)
174: #14 Jordan Blanton (ILL) tech. fall Justin Ortega (PSU), 22-7 (6:26) (5-21)
184: #2 John Dergo (ILL) dec. #12 David Erwin (PSU), 6-4 SV1 (8-21)
197: #10 Patrick Bond (ILL) dec. Clay Steadman (PSU), 9-5 (11-21)
HWT: #11 Cameron Wade (PSU) maj. dec. Martin Smith (ILL), 8-1 (11-24)