A young, wounded Penn State team looking to chase down the Big Ten’s elite programs practiced Tuesday afternoon. The similarities between the wrestling and football team’s current plights end there. The wrestling team doesn’t compete this week, and coach Cael Sanderson isn’t dwelling on the loss of senior 125-pounder Brad Pataky and junior 1 4 9 -pounder Frank Molinaro. “Any time you have something like this it forces everyone else to step up,” Sanderson said. “That’s exactly what we expect.” Sanderson offered few specifics on the nature of Pataky or Molinaro’s injuries. Pataky suffered a knee injury last week while Molinaro sustained a foot injury earlier this fall, according to multiple sources. Both wrestlers are rehabbing and neither attended Tuesday’s practice. The Nittany Lions held their first full-team workout Monday.

Sanderson said Tuesday that Pataky’s injury isn’t career ending. “When your are a sixth-year senior and you have already had a redshirt year, there aren’t many things that are going to keep Brad Pataky off the mat,” Sanderson said. Sanderson didn’t reveal a timetable for Pataky’s return, although he said the program will not rush the two-time NCAA qualifier back to action. “You don’t want to force anything,” Sanderson said. “You want to make sure he’s ready to go. We will give him plenty of time. How much time that is, we will know as we move on.”

Molinaro’s rehab is farther along than Pataky’s. But the program is also taking a cautious approach with the two-time All- American. “Frank is doing well,” Sanderson said. “It’s one of those situations, too, where we’re not going to rush him back. We don’t want to rein-jure him. It’s a time thing. He will be back stronger than ever.” The injuries will test Penn State’s depth. The group of 125-pounders behind Pataky include senior Eric Caschera and freshmen Cameron Kelley, Frank Martellotti and Nate Morgan. Senior Adam Lynch returns at 141 and true freshmen Dylan and Andrew Alton and sophomore James English are options at 141 and 149.

Sophomore 184-pounder Quentin Wright said the injuries to Pataky and Molinaro haven’t altered the team’s mindset. “You never know with an injury,” Wright said. “You don’t know how long a person will be out or if he will be out at all. As a team, we don’t pay attention to that. We keep going. If one person gets sick or has the flu, we have people to fill in. Our morale doesn’t really go down. It’s, ‘OK, next person go in.’” This year, the next person is a varsity newcomer. The roster includes 20 freshmen and as many as six could be in the lineup if Pataky and Molinaro aren’t ready by the Nov. 12 opener at Bloomsburg. Penn State wrestles five duals in the season’s first two weekends and open the Big Ten schedule Dec. 19 against Ohio State. Wright said the team is capable of enduring injuries. “We have a lot more depth at the weights now than when I first got here as a freshman,” he said. “We have guys who are good enough that are going to fill and we aren’t going to miss a beat.”

Thanks to Guy Cipriano and the "Centre Daily Times" (State College, Pa.) for the article