Sean Mael
20 min read
By: Sean Mael
125
Results:
#6 Drew Hildebrandt, CMU Dec. #24 Connor Brown 7-5 SV1 (CMU 3-0) #24 Connor Brown Dec. Brendon Garcia, WYO 9-3 (MIZZ 2-0, Brown was hit for an unsportsmanlike call after the bout ended.)
Thoughts:
Honestly, I thought Brown looked great. Man is Brown fun to watch, he just scraps hard and is exciting in every position. He wrestled well from neutral and his head inside singles were really efficient. Brown wrestled extremely well against Hildebrandt. Early on Brown took the pace to him and was in excellent position to knock off the #6 guy in the country with 15 seconds left in the match. Brown scrambled extremely well and had a couple more scoring chances that Hildebrandt scrambled out of. It was a really impressive match between the two and an excellent win for Hildebrandt. These two will likely see one another again in the MAC finals and both guys have a good shot at being All-Americans at the conclusion of this season. I walked away really impressed with Brown’s first bout. In his second bout, Brown came out a bit slow, but his scrambling was extremely impressive throughout and it led to him separating and walking away with a fairly easy 9-3 win over a young kid in Garcia that will beat someone good at some point this season. Garcia competes hard and has a good gas tank. Overall, I was very impressed with Brown’s scrambling game, mat skills and leg attacks. He has some more huge opportunities later this month to net some big wins for NCAA seeding and I am confident at this point, that Brown can compete with and potentially defeat everyone at 125 not named Spencer Lee right now at this juncture.
133
Results:
#14 Matt Schmitt Maj. #19 Drew Marten 11-1 (MIZZ 4-3) #14 Matt Schmitt Dec. Job Greenwood 4-1 (MIZZ 5-0)
Thoughts:
Schmitt is very consistent. He rarely makes mistakes in positioning and he is excellent at attacking early and getting out to leads. He is tough on top, and his mat wrestling is really good. Schmitt’s first bout he won primarily with his strong top game, as he amassed a turn and a ton of riding time throughout.
