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STATE COLLEGE -- Penn State 149-pounder Beau Bartlett couldn't hide his excitement about wrestling in a sold-out Rec Hall on Thursday night.
"This is awesome. I live for this. This is really a great time. This is probably the highlight of the last few months. This is awesome. The crowd, even if it's an opposing crowd, wrestling in front of people, it's awesome," Barlett said, then paused and smiled. "I said awesome a lot of times right there, but it's awesome."
There wasn't much not to like in No. 2 Penn State's 32-7 win over Army West Point. The Nittany Lions won eight of 10 bouts and stacked up a 41-4 edge in takedowns. Penn State notched three technical falls, two major decisions and three decisions.
Despite the lopsided score and bonanza of bonus points, head coach Cael Sanderson sounded pleased but far from satisfied.
"I think we wrestled fine. I don't think we wrestled out of our minds or anything," he said. "Army came in here and you know they have some of the toughest people on the planet there at that institution and on the wrestling team. I think they did a good job and wrestled hard. We're in good shape, strong kids. We just gotta keep getting better was we press forward through the season."
While not quite as exuberant as Bartlett, 197-pounder Max Dean, the transfer from Cornell, sounded like he enjoyed his first time wrestling in front of the Rec Hall faithful.
"It was a lot of fun. We wrestle because it's fun. I'm out there to have a good time. We all love it. Having fans and energy just add to that," he said. "Penn State's been super welcoming to me. Not just the guys in the program, but everybody around town. They really love wrestling here. Everyone you meet is like, 'Oh, I go to every dual.' I'm like, 'man, there's going to be a lot of people at the duals.' They weren't kidding. They showed up and it makes it a lot of fun."
Of course, the Nittany Lions reciprocated by putting on a show at several weights for the nearly 6,500 fans. That started at 133, where top-ranked
Roman Bravo-Young scored 13 takedowns, the last as he literally leapfrogged over his opponent's back for the clinching takedown in a 26-11 technical fall. Through three matches, RBY has racked up 21 takedowns.
No. 1 174-pounder Carter Starocci continued his torrid start to the season with a 23-5 technical fall. He is 3-0 with a fall and two technical falls. He has outscored his opponents 54-9. He was leading 14-4 at the time of his first-period fall in the season opener.
Dean provided the other technical fall, 17-1 in 6:49. Dean, too, is 3-0, with two technical falls and a 16-3 major decision.
"I guess if your teching guys, not pinning them, that's a good problem to have," Dean said. "I'd like to get some falls, too. Looking at that, there's probably some other things I could work on. We'll work in the room to maybe get some six-pointers instead of five-pointers."
Top-ranked 184-pounder Aaron Brooks is also 3-0 with three dominating wins. He added a 21-7 major decision Thursday night to his previous 23-8 technical fall and first-period fall.
Fifth-ranked Greg Kerkvliet dominated again in a 14-3 major decision. He also has a fall and a technical fall on the season.
Creighton Edsell (4-3 at 165), Bartlett (3-1 at 149) and Baylor Shunk (8-4 at 125) all earned decisions.
Second-ranked Nick Lee sat out as a precaution, Sanderson said. Lee hurt his knee in a match Saturday night but was able to continue and win.
"If you watched his last match, I wouldn't tell you that if it wasn't something he'll be back from soon," Sanderson said. "You saw him tweak something in his last match. We saw him running around, bouncing around. He should be back soon."
Penn State has two weeks off to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday and then get back to training for its next dual meet, 7 p.m. Dec. 3 at Penn.
No. 2 PSU 32,
Army West Point 7
125: Baylor Shunk, PSU, dec. Ryan Chauvin, 8-4. 133: No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, won by tech. fall over Dominic Carone, 26-11 (6:35). 141: No. 29 Cory Shie, A, dec. Brandon Meredith, 5-2. 149: No. 27 Beau Bartlett, PSU, dec. No 20 P.J. Ogunsanya, 3-1 SV. 157: No. 32 Markus Hartman, A, maj. dec. Terrell Barraclough, 9-0. 165: No. 32 Creighton Edsell, PSU, dec. Christian Hunt, 4-3. 174: No. 1 Carter Starocci, PSU, won by tech. fall over Clayton Felden, 23-5 (6:56). 184: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU, maj. dec. No. 28 Brad Laughlin, 21-7. 197: No. 4 Max Dean, PSU, won by tech. fall over No. 21 J.T. Brown, 17-1 (6:49). 285: No. 5 Greg Kerkvliet, PSU, maj. dec. Brandon Phillips, 14-3.
Ridge Riley Award winner: Beau Bartlett, 149.
Referees: Ray Santiago; Conrad Duffy.
Attendance: 6,472.
Takedowns: Army 4; Penn State 41.
Records: Army 0-1; Penn State 3-0. Next match: Penn State at Penn, Dec. 3, 7 p.m.