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Once again, Penn State placed a wrestler in five of the 10 NCAA championship bouts.

The Nittany Lions wrapped up the team title hours before any of them stepped on the mat Saturday.

Forget that groundhog. The real signal of spring out of Pennsylvania these days is another national championship for coach Cael Sanderson and the Lions.

They added three individual championships from Jason Nolf (157 pounds), Bo Nickal (197) and Anthony Cassar (285). Vincenzo Joseph and Mark Hall took second at 165 and 174, respectively.

Saturday’s crown made it eight NCAA team titles in the last nine years under Sanderson and the ninth overall in program history. It’s the second time Sanderson’s squad has won four straight championships, matching the Lions’ run from 2011-14.

And this one even came in the Keystone State, with the Lions winning in Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena. The clincher came in the afternoon’s consolation bracket action.

Penn State had entered the day with a massive 32-point lead at 120.5-88.5 over Ohio State, the only team with a mathematical chance of catching the Lions. But the gap was so wide that even losses by all seven Lions still competing and wins by all five Buckeyes wouldn’t be enough — Ohio State needed plenty of bonus points.

So even though the Buckeyes won their first two matches of the early session, Penn State officially claimed the national title because both only came by decision.

The Lions finished with 137.5 points, topping Ohio State’s 96.5. Oklahoma State took third with 84 and Iowa was fourth at 76.

Cassar got the Penn State parade started in the evening by avenging his only loss of the season with an impressive 10-1 major decision over Oklahoma State’s Derek White. It was Penn State’s first national title at 285 since Kerry McCoy won in 1997.

The Lions’ heavyweight missed all of 2016-17 with an injury and wasn’t even in Penn State’s starting lineup a year ago when he was wrestling at 197. Weighing in at roughly 235 pounds Saturday morning, according to ESPN’s broadcast, Cassar was often wrestling bigger and heavier opponents.

But the senior had the edge in speed.

“God made me fast,” Cassar said on the broadcast after celebrating the win. “And I use it.”

White discovered that in the second period when a Cassar shot put him on his back for a takedown and four near-fall points, blowing open what had been an uneventful start to the match.

It was the type of move that neither man was able to hit when they met at the Southern Scuffle in January, a 3-2 decision by White. That win gave White the No. 1 seed at NCAAs, putting Cassar at No. 2 and forcing him into a rematch with monstrous Minnesota freshman Gable Steveson in Friday’s semifinals.

Cassar had handed Steveson the first loss of his career in the Big Ten championship finals and managed to pull it off again by a matching 4-3 score at nationals.

Nolf, meanwhile, closed his career with a 10-2 major decision by dusting off Nebraska’s Tyler Berger, who had earlier in the year predicted he would upset the Lions legend in March.

Berger, who is now 0-6 in his career against Nolf, raised some eyebrows after losing to Nolf in the regular season by tweeting, “I plan on taking five heads home with me after the NCAA tournament and yes, that includes Jason Nolf’s.”

Nolf would then go on to beat him for the Big Ten title and national title. But he elected to defend Berger after winning the latter

“People give him a lot of crap for talking on social media, but he’s just passionate,” Nolf said on the broadcast. “I don’t think you can be mad at someone for being passionate at what they do.”

It was Nolf’s third straight title, giving him a final career record of 117-3 for the Lions.

Joseph wasn’t able to replicate the feat at 165, falling to eighth-seeded Virginia Tech upstart Mekhi Lewis in a 7-1 decision. It was the Pittsburgh native’s first career NCAA tournament loss after winning titles as a freshman and a sophomore.

In 2017 and 2018 it was Joseph who sprung the upset in the final by shocking Illinois star Isaiah Martinez. But it was a role reversal in 2019 as Lewis had Joseph caught in a cradle, nearly scoring a pin.

Joseph avoided that, but the four back points from the move were too much to overcome.

Hall then fell to Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia in the 174-pound final for the second straight year, dropping a 4-3 decision for his first loss of the season.

During the regular season, Hall managed to beat Valencia in a dual meet at Rec Hall but he couldn’t score the late takedown he needed to win his second national title.

Nickal, however, managed to send the Lions out on a high note for the second straight year with a 5-1 decision over Ohio State’s Kollin Moore in the night’s final match.

It was Nickal’s third straight championship to match Nolf at the end of their stellar careers.

Asked what he wanted people to remember him for, Nickal replied, “I wrestled free. I just went for it. And I was the most dangerous wrestler in the NCAA for four years.”

It didn’t have the same drama as the final bout of the 2018 tournament in Cleveland, which also pitted Nickal against a Buckeye. Nickal stunningly pinned Ohio State’s Myles Martin in that one to secure a team title that would have gone to the Buckeyes had Martin won.

A year later, things were far less tense for the Lions, who had seven of their nine NCAA qualifiers earn All-America status. Nick Lee took fifth place at 141 and true freshman Roman Bravo-Young finished eighth at 133.

In the other finals, Pennsylvania native Spencer Lee won his second straight 125-pound crown for Iowa with a thorough 5-0 decision over Virginia’s Jack Mueller.

Former Penn State wrestler Nick Suriano won the first national title in Rutgers history by knocking off top-seeded Daton Fix of Oklahoma State at 133, 4-2 in sudden victory in the second overtime. That total was quickly doubled by Scarlet Knights teammate Anthony Ashnault, as the favorite at 149 beat Ohio State’s Micah Jordan 9-4.

In between, the Buckeyes were denied another upset win as Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis stopped Joey McKenna 6-4 in sudden victory for his second straight title at 149. The Big Red couldn’t make it two, however, as Max Dean was edged 6-4 in the 184-pound championship by Drew Foster of Northern Iowa.

Bo Nickal closed out his Penn State career with his third national championship as the Lions won their eighth team title in nine years.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_AP19083084483972.jpg.optimal.jpgBo Nickal closed out his Penn State career with his third national championship as the Lions won their eighth team title in nine years. Gene J. Puskar | AP photo

By Derek Levarse

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