If you were to attend the Pennsylvania high school wrestling championships, you'd see potential college national champions winning their class crowns with a series of 3-2 victories. It's how wrestling is done in The Keystone State. Tight, defensive matches. A lot of mat strategy.

That's how Nebraska wrestling coach Mark Manning explained a sluggish performance from his fourth-ranked Cornhuskers Friday night. NU beat unranked Pennsylvania 23-14, trailing for half of the evening before All-Americans Stephen Dwyer and Brandon Browne closed the door on the Quakers with two major decisions.

"They're really savvy in how they wrestle," Manning said of the Quakers, who forfeited a match at 157 to give Nebraska 6 of its 23 points. "You can't let it slow you down."

At times, NU (11-2) seemed frustrated by Penn's bunch, especially those wrestlers who entered matches as decided underdogs. The Quakers (6-5) shut down many of the Huskers' shot attempts by clutching to legs and scurrying for the out-of-bounds area. Both teams spent most of the night on Penn's edge of the mat, battling over subtle position and advantage.

Neither tenth-ranked 184-pounder Vince Jones nor second-ranked 197-pounder Craig Brester were able to notch eight-point major decisions for an extra bonus point in their matches. Then No. 16 heavyweight Tucker Lane dropped a 5-3 decision to unranked Trey McLean, who had two takedowns in the third period.

"Tucker was forcing shots," Manning said. "Beating himself."

The Huskers lost badly at 125 and 141, and senior Robert Sanders narrowly lost at 149 pounds, but Nebraka did get a key ewin from 133-pounder Matt Vacanti, the Papillion native who beat Bryan Ortenzio 3-2 in a tense, emotional match. A couple times Ortenzio pushed Vacanti as the wrestlers broke. Vacanti pushed back. During another clinch Ortenzio thrust his elbow in Vacanti's face.

"That was just wrestling," Vacanti said. "If I went over and talked to him we'd probably friends."

Vacanti could be a key to a run at the Big 12 and NCAA championships if he can provide some point-scoring ability at 133 to bolster the Huskers' strong upper weights. The last two weeks in practice, Vacanti, have helped him turn a corner.

After the forfeit at 157 pounds - which gave third-ranked Jordan Burroughs the night off - Dwyer and Browne cleaned up at 165 and 174 pounds, respectively.

Dwyer, ranked fifth, dominated Andrew Coles 12-4, wearing Coles down with his consistently solid defense. Arguably the toughest Husker to score on, Dwyer easily resisted any of Coles' shot attempts.

"My position really helps me," Dwyer said. "Even if they get inside, they still have to get past my head and my hands. I never want to give up two points."

In a match that spanned nearly 15 minutes because of four injury timeouts, the second-ranked Browne iced Scott Griffin 14-4. Browne was able to score nine points in the third period, punctuated by three takedowns.

Browne, Manning said, wrestled aggressive enough to chip away at the Quakers' defensive style, and "the floodgates opened." It was the kind of performance he had hoped to see all night.

"Look like a national champion every night," he said. "I know that's unrealistic, but that's what we strive for, what we push for, what I want us to aspire to."

The Huskers will need that motivation for two difficult weekend duals with Virginia Tech and at Central Michigan. Nebraska left directly after the Penn victory to stay in Omaha Friday night, and will leave from there Saturday.

"We're used to it," Manning joked.

The unranked Hokies haven't lost a dual yet this year. Sixth-ranked CMU, meanwhile, has only lost to Iowa, and owns several impressive wins over Oklahoma State, Lehigh and Michigan. The Chippewas will host all four dual matches, and generally draw strong crowds.

"It'll be in their gym," Manning said. "So we expect it to be loud."

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