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practice in order to become better at ap- proaching members of the opposite sex. Or that he practices his spladle defense a few times a week just in case he ever gets a rematch with the kid who pinned Joseph with that particular pinning combination when he was 11 years old. Pretty hilarious, actually. But there's nothing funny about his wrestling, about his talent, about his willingness to improve and excel. He be- came an instant hit in 2017 when he pinned top-ranked Isaiah Martinez of Illinois in the NCAA finals in St. Louis. And despite losing to Martinez in dual meets and at the Big Ten tournament, Joseph did it again last season, notching a convincing decision over Martinez in the final in Cleveland. He upped his record to 17-0 this season after defeating childhood friend Te'Shan Campbell (Pittsburgh Penn Hills) in the Ohio State match, and his 10 falls this year total three more than his two previ- ous seasons combined. "I definitely didn't perfect anything, that's pretty much impossible, but I work with Coach Casey [Cunningham] all the time on mat wrestling and I've been doing that for the past few years and I've gotten a lot better at that," Joseph said. "It's just kind of an attitude – but I want to get more pins, I'm going for more pins now." It's something Penn State coach Cael Sanderson has noticed. "He's looking for the fall. When he's wrestling, I don't know if he really did in the past, but he has a nice [pinning] series and he's taken advantage of his time out there trying to lead with points and it's been good to see," Sanderson said. "Again, you have to be willing to do that out there when the lights are on, and he can do that. Hope- fully he keeps it up." The real question is how far Joseph's stock would soar if he were to win his third consecutive title in March in Pittsburgh. Would it be enough for him to win the Hodge Trophy, college wrestling's version of football's Heisman? The two early fa- vorites are teammates Jason Nolf at 157 and Bo Nickal at 197, both highly deserv- ing candidates but not in weight classes as difficult as Joseph's 165-pound bracket. At least five wrestlers at 165 are good enough to win the title, and a minimum of two more can make things really diffi- cult for that group of five. Regardless of whether Joseph emerges victorious, he's already won Sanderson's respect. "Vincenzo is a tough kid. He's going to battle. He's not going to get beat for a lack of effort," Sanderson said. "That's one of the things I really admire about him and that we come to expect. Somebody's going to have to beat him. He's also trying to beat everyone else, and that's what makes it a challenge and entertaining and fun." The challenge at hand is a potential third consecutive NCAA title. When you look at comments Joseph has made after winning the NCAAs in 2017 and '18, it's easy to see that he has things placed squarely in perspective. "I want to win four national titles but I'll just keep taking it one year at a time, one match at a time, just focusing on every match," he said. "Because if you keep looking forward – I want to win four, I want to win four – you kind of lose sight of what's right in front of you. I think if I do everything right, I believe in myself, I wrestle to compete, wrestle hard and have fun, I'll do it. "I get to be on one of the best college sports teams in the country. I get to wres- tle for some of the best coaches and I get to do what I love. I'm going to put 100 percent into this and get the most out of it," Joseph said. One could say he already has. ■ I t will be di:cult 8nding a Penn State wrestling team – or perhaps any Penn State athletic team – better at deliver- ing in the clutch than this year's Nit- tany Lions out8t. While most media outlets and fans alike were projecting a 5-5 split between No. 1 Penn State and No. 6 Ohio State when the two power- house programs met Feb. 8 in Columbus, the Nittany Lions in- stead won upset vic- tories at 133 and 141, took down the Buck- eyes in seven of the 10 bouts and cruised to a 28-9 victory before 13,276 fans in St. John Arena. "I didn't envision it going this way, I thought we were ready to win," Ohio State coach Tom Ryan said. "We thought we were. What happened was tragically di9erent. We needed those 8rst two, and we didn't get them." Ryan called the Lions "one of the great teams" that he's seen in his coaching career. "I've been in college wrestling for a long time," he said, "and they have four guys [who are] the best that I've seen in the last 25 years. Credit to them. Nolf. Nickal. Vincenzo. Mark Hall." Seven times, the Nittany Lions were in bouts in which both wrestlers were ranked, and seven times they emerged victorious. No. 1-ranked Bo Nickal ended up stealing the show by pinning No. 2 Kollin Moore at 197 pounds with an overhead cradle. Nickal got the fall in 1 minute, 38 seconds to cap Penn State's best overall performance of the season. But it started out for Penn State with outstanding performances from fresh- man Roman Bravo-Young at 133 and sophomore Nick Lee at 141. Both were facing wrestlers ranked higher and with more experience but both won inspired matches. The match started at 133, with Bravo- Young returning a;er sitting out the Indiana and Michigan duals with a knee injury. He stayed low and tried to make All-American Luke Pletcher shoot, which he did just once late in the 8rst overtime period, li;ing Bravo-Young o9 his feet. But Pletcher was unable to gain control when Bravo-Young exe- Nittany Lions romp at Ohio State NICKAL

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