University Park– Penn State wrestling beating Ohio State Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center wasn’t surprising.
But not many expected Penn State to take nine of the 10 bouts.
At 125, Penn State had No. 1 Luke Lilledahl going against No. 2 Nic Bouzakis, and that matchup was thought to be a toss-up.
At 133, true freshman Marcus Blaze, ranked fourth, had the biggest test of his college career, going up against Ben Davino, ranked No. 2.
At heavyweight, Ohio State’s Nick Feldman (No. 3) was favored against Cole Mirasola (No. 12).
Penn State fans would have been happy to take two of the three matches.
But PSU ended up winning all three dramatically.
LIGHTNIN AND THE BLAZE
“Lightnin” Luke Lilledahl and Bouzakis went to a tiebreaker, which “Lightning Luke” won with a takedown.
Lilledahl is now 16-1 in all competitions on the season, with four of his wins being against wrestlers in the top 15. The only loss Lilledahl has suffered in 2025-26 came at the hands of his own teammate, with Nate Desmond getting a win over Lilledahl at the Black Knight Invitational in November.
This win set the table for Blaze, who also went into sudden victory.
One period of sudden victory wasn’t enough to decide it, so the bout moved to a second tiebreaker.
In the second, Davino went ahead 2-1 with an escape, and Blaze ended up losing his nine seconds of riding time.
But Blaze, who was bandaged due to an apparent cut over his eye, got a reversal in the third and ultimate tiebreaker and didn’t allow a point the rest of the way.
So what did Blaze prove with the win?
“It just shows that he has a huge heart, and it’s fun to see,” coach Cael Sanderson said afterward.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Sanderson said Lilledahl and Blaze are “both dogs.”
“They’re both competitors, right?” he said. “They get stronger as the match goes on. So if we find ourselves in a close match late, we have a lot of confidence in our guys, and that’s just what they do.”
MIRASOLA MAGIC
By the time Mirasola and Feldman ended the night at heavyweight, Penn State had long since put the dual meet to bed.
But Mirasola was determined to end the night on a high note. The result was the biggest win of his college career.
In the third period, Mirasola got what looked like it could have been a takedown.
But it wasn’t ruled that way, and Penn State’s challenge didn’t change the call.
So the bout went to sudden victory, and Mirasola, like Lilledahl, got a takedown to win it.
Sanderson credited Mirasola’s aggressive approach.
“Very offensive-minded right away,” he said. “Even if the game plan is not to don’t shoot right away, he’s shooting right away. He just stacks a lot. So, you know, we love that about him.”
For Sanderson, Penn State going 3-0 in overtime dual meets shows how well the team prepares.
“Over time, just trust their conditioning is a big one,” Sanderson said. “Their training and just having great training partners all the time, right? But really, it just comes down in a lot of those types of situations is just, I don’t know, you have to find a way, right?”
Perspective is also important.
“It’s just a game, right, and it’s not the end-all be-all,” Sanderson said. “But it is important enough that you give your best effort and you go compete with enthusiasm fearlessly, because we really don’t have a whole lot to lose. I mean, we’re just playing, having a good time, we have so much to be grateful for. Especially a night like this, two of the best teams in the country going head to head with a lot of fun matchups and awesome crowd. It’s exciting stuff.”
No. 1 Penn State closes out its regular season Friday against Princeton. The dual meet is scheduled to begin at 7 at Rec Hall.
