American won six of 10 bouts on the day with four Eagles earning bonus points, including No. 1 Steve Fittery, No. 4 Ryan Flores, No. 19 Daniel Mitchell and Patrick Graham.
157-pounder Fittery opened the dual with a 17-1 technical fall over Chad Lowman. The 2009 All-American took a 7-1 lead after the first period and pushed his advantage to 13-1 with three backpoints late in the second. Fittery added three more backpoints in the third and with riding time advantage earned the 17-1 victory.
Graham made it two in a row and gave American a 9-0 lead with a 10-1 major decision against Dan Rivera. Graham scored a takedown five seconds into the match and after two backpoints in the second period held a 6-0 margin. The sophomore tacked on an escape and takedown in the third and with riding time won by the final 10-1 margin.
Old Dominion got on the board with a pair of victories at 174 lbs. and 184 lbs. to cut American's lead to 9-6. Tristan Warner won by decision, 11-4, over Phillip Barreiro at 174 before Joe Budi knocked off Thomas Barreiro by decision at 184, 6-0.
Mitchell put American back in the drivers seat and ended the Monarchs' run with a 10-2 major decision over Jacob Henderson. Mitchell built a 6-2 lead in the first period with three takedowns and pushed the score to the final margin with an escape, takedown and riding time in the third.
American owned a 17-6 advantage after Flores defeated Grant Chapman by major decision at heavyweight, 11-0. Flores opened the bout with a takedown in the first period and extended his lead to 5-0 in the second with three backpoints. The junior then tacked on a reversal and three more backpoints in the third and with riding time advantage walked away with the 11-0 victory.
Old Dominion once again made it a tight race picking up wins at 125 lbs. and 133 lbs. This time it was No. 4 James Nicholson earning a 19-5 major decision against Thomas Williams and No. 12 Kyle Hutter defeating Kevin Tao by technical fall, 18-3, which put the score at 17-15.
American was able to rebound and closed the dual out with victories at 141 lbs. and 149 lbs. to seal the victory. 141-pounder Matt Mariacher won the day's most dramatic bout, taking a 6-5 decision over Brennan Brumley. Mariacher held a 2-1 advantage after the first period and after each grappler scored a reversal in the second Mariacher led by a 4-3 margin. After Brumley scored an escape to even the match in the third period, Mariacher was able to get in for a takedown and a 6-4 lead. Brumley cut his deficit to 6-5 with an escape late in the period but could not convert a takedown, giving the match to Mariacher.
No. 10 Ganbayar Sanjaa won by the same 6-5 margin against Joey Metzler at 149 lbs. to close out the dual. Sanjaa and Metzler took a 3-3 tie into the second period where Sanjaa earned an escape point for a 4-3 lead. Metzler retied the match at four with an escape of his own in the third but Sanjaa quickly worked his way in on a takedown for a 6-4 advantage. Metler scored one more escape point but could not finish a shot down the stretch, allowing Sanjaa to take the 6-5 decision.
American will return to action December 29-30 at the 48th annual Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill. Fittery was named Champion of Champions at last year's tournament, leading the Eagles to a program-record eighth-place finish.
Results:
157 – No. 1 Steve Fittery (AU) tech. fall Chad Lowman (ODU), 17-1
165 – Patrick Graham (AU) major dec. Dan Rivera (ODU), 10-1
174 – Tristan Warner (ODU) dec. Phillip Barreiro (AU), 11-4
184 – Joe Budi (ODU) dec. Thomas Barreiro (AU), 6-0
197 – No. 19 Daniel Mitchell (AU) major dec. Jacob Henderson (ODU), 10-2
HWT – No. 4 Ryan Flores (AU) major dec. Grant Chapman (ODU), 11-0
125 – No. 4 James Nicholson (ODU) major dec. Thomas Williams (AU), 19-5
133 – No. 12 Kyle Hutter (ODU) tech. fall Kevin Tao (AU), 18-3
141 – Matt Mariacher (AU) dec. Brennan Brumley (ODU), 6-5
149 – No. 10 Ganbayar Sanjaa (AU) dec. Joey Metzler (ODU), 6-5
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now