Unseeded Bryan Deustsch wins Mac Championship

[Drooke]

YPSILANTI, Mich. - Redshirt sophomore Bryan Deutsch defeated Ohio's Clay Tucker, 12-7, to win the Mid-American Conference 157-pound Championship, Sunday at the conference tournament. The win gives Deutsch an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships, Mar. 19-21, in St. Louis.

 

Fellow redshirt sophomore Tristen DeShazer (Wichita, Kan./Wichita West) also earned a trip to St. Louis. DeShazer punched his ticket to nationals by avenging a February loss to Eastern Michigan's Sean Clair, and placing third in the MAC.

 

DeShazer and Deutsch helped the Huskies to a third place finish in the team standings. The Huskies finished fifth in the regular season MAC standings, but scored 47.5 points to finish with the bronze. Central Michigan won the title with 111.5 points, followed by Kent State in second. Buffalo finished fourth, followed by Eastern Michigan and Ohio.

 

"As a team, we had a great effort," Grant said. "We busted away from a couple of those teams, Eastern, Buffalo and Ohio, to finish among the top teams in the MAC. We had five freshman and five sophomores, and we were still at the top of the conference that shows where we can take this over the next couple years."

 

Deutsch entered the tournament unseeded and surprised the tournament field by winning all three of his matches en route to the title.

 

"I was really proud, happy to represent Northern Illinois," Deutsch said. "It was kind of a weight off because I've been working a long time to get to nationals."

 

Deutsch caught the field's eye in the first round by pinning top-seeded Tyler Grayson of Central Michigan. In the next round, he upended Kent State's third-seeded Ross Tice, 9-2. In the final, Deutsch went up 7-3 after the first period to beat Tucker, the second seed, to win his first conference title.

 

"I got in a little bit of a flurry, a real high energy situation where I pushed down on the gas and it just went," Deutsch said of his win over Tucker. "I wasn't trying to hang on, I was trying to win."

 

Deutsch won despite having the hardest possible route to the title.

 

"Bryan Deutsch beat the first, second and third ranked guy at this tournament," Grant said. "He's been a consistent, hard-working guy for us all year long, and it showed."

 

The Huskies have now had at least one Mid-American Conference champion in each of the last 10 seasons, one or more NCAA qualifiers for 38 straight years.

 

DeShazer, who lost twice to Clair this season, defeated his rival 3-2 in overtime to earn his way to St. Louis.

 

"I couldn't sleep last night because I was thinking about this match," DeShazer said. "I was just thinking that I've worked so hard for this moment and I wasn't going let him take it away from me."

 

The bout went to overtime, where DeShazer escaped from the bottom in the first tiebreak, and rode out Clair in the second tiebreak to win 3-2.

 

"Tristen hasn't been a big guy to ride out people, and he had to do something that was a gut check for him" Grant said. "He had to dig down deep, and that's what that whole match was about. Having guts and wanting to go to the NCAA Championships."

 

DeShazer leads the MAC with 15 pins, but displayed his versatility by winning two decisions on his way to a third-place finish.

 

"You can't pin them all, and we won a couple matches with solid takedowns, and solid riding, and that's how you win the big one," Grant said.

 

Two other Huskies also finished third, but did not qualify for the national championships because of the number of bids allocated to the MAC at their weight classes. Redshirt sophomore Pat McLemore (Hinckley, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) concluded the tournament with a 3-1 record, including an 8-3 decision over Ohio's Germane Lindsey to place third at 141 pounds. Sophomore John Odeen (Coal City, Ill./Coal City) also took third. Odeen went 3-1 at 165 pounds with wrestleback wins over Steve Wilson of Ohio and Buffalo's Ron Majerus.

 

Sophomore Brad Dieckhaus (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell Central) and true freshman Steve Zimmerman (Chicago, Ill./St. Rita) took fourth, at 184 and 149 pounds, respectively.

 

The Huskies have now finished third or better at the MAC Championships in seven of the last eight seasons, and had multiple NCAA qualifiers for 12 straight seasons

 

[Dingo Brigade]

You have to root for a hard-working kid like Deutsch. Even as good as Tucker and Grayson are, I'm not the least bit surprised that he won the title. He will be a very hard out at Nationals.

[tyandky]

man he has Cyler Sanderson first match

[Dingo Brigade]

Yeah you're right that's a nasty draw.