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Watch: Coach Rivera, McKeown discuss SR1 championship

KUTZTOWN – Redshirt junior Brendan McKeown won the regional title at 174 pounds and was named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler, leading three national qualifiers for East Stroudsburg University at this weekend's Super Region 1 Championships at Kutztown.

Redshirt junior Braden Turner (157) and freshman Tyson Searer (197) were both fourth in their brackets, and will join McKeown at the NCAA Division II Championships on March 8-9 in Birmingham, Alabama.

McKeown, the No. 2 seed at 174, upset Mike Williams of UNC-Pembroke, ranked No. 1 in Division II, with a 3-2 decision in the final. Williams, the defending DII champion at 165, was looking for his fourth straight regional title after winning at 157 in 2010 and 165 the last two years.

McKeown improved to 20-1 on the season with 16 straight wins, including an 8-5 decision over No. 3-seeded Gary Lantz (UPJ) in the semifinals to avenge his only loss of the season. McKeown fell to Lantz by injury default in a dual on December 4, but has been unbeaten since.

McKeown and Turner, an All-American last year, will both make repeat trips to the NCAA Championships. Both wrestlers were the runner-up in their respective weight classes last season.

McKeown is ESU's third regional champion in the last three years, joining Ed Ebewo (197) last year and Jeff Jacobs (174) in 2011. He is ESU's first Outstanding Wrestler at a major qualifying or conference tournament since two-time national champion Jack Cuvo was recognized at the EIWA and PSAC Championships in 1989.

The Warriors will take multiple wrestlers to the NCAA Championships for the fourth straight season (all four of their years in DII). ESU had four qualifiers last year in McKeown, Turner, Ebewo and Thad Frick (165).

ESU is one of five schools to produce a Super Region 1 champion in each of the last three years, along with Newberry, UNC-Pembroke, West Liberty and Kutztown.

ESU had two other placewinners this weekend in sophomore Anthony Marino (5th at 125) and redshirt sophomore Luke DeLuise (6th at 184).

McKeown opened the day with a hard-fought 8-5 decision over Lantz to reach the final for the second straight year. He scored on a reversal in the first period, an escape early in the second and takedown with 13 seconds left in the period to take a 5-3 lead into the third. Lantz evened it with a reversal at the 1:13 mark, but McKeown got out about a half-minute later and scored a late takedown to secure the victory.

Williams had a pair of falls and an 8-1 decision over No. 4-seeded Zach Benzio (Seton Hill) to set up the final with McKeown.

McKeown trailed 2-0 early in the third period, as Williams got an escape 35 seconds into the second and another 12 seconds into the third. McKeown had built a crucial riding time advantage of 47 seconds, and scored a takedown with 32 seconds left in the third period. He rode out Williams the rest of the way, pushing his riding time over a minute, for a 3-2 victory.

Turner and Searer, both the No. 1 seeds in their brackets, had to do more work to earn their NCAA spots after falling in the semifinals.

Turner dropped his semifinal meeting with No. 4 Art Hobley by an 8-6 decision after leading 3-1 going into the third period. They were set to go to overtime after Hobley used a pair of takedowns to tie it at 6-6 (with the riding time point), but scored a final takedown with five seconds left to secure the victory in regulation.

Turner reached the consolation finals with a 1-0 decision over No. 7 Tyler Berger (Mercyhurst), riding out Berger in the second period for his second 1-0 victory of the tournament. He also beat No. 8 Matt Martoccio (Kutztown) in a similar fashion in the quarterfinals.

Turner took a medical forfeit against No. 2-seed Taylor Knapp (Newberry) in the consolation final to finish fourth. He did not have to wrestle a true fourth-place match, as Martoccio was the fifth-place finisher.

Searer was on the mat for four matches on Saturday to secure a bid to the NCAA Championships during his freshman season.

He lost his semifinal match to No. 5-seed Chase Long (Ohio Valley) by a 3-1 decision, as Long scored on a reversal eight seconds into the third period after riding out Searer in the second. Searer had won a 5-3:tb decision over Long at the SR1 Duals during the regular season.

In the consolation semis, Searer won an 8-0 major decision over No. 6 Danny Doyle (West Liberty), dominating the first period with a takedown and two sets of near fall points for a 7-0 lead. His final point came with the riding time advantage.

No. 2-seed Joey Grisko (Newberry) won their third/fourth place match with a 9-3 decision, getting an opening takedown 30 seconds into the first period and two near fall points to take control.

Searer moved into the true fourth-place match against No. 4 Nikos Garofola (UPJ) and won a 7-3 decision to punch his ticket to Birmingham. He had a takedown 1:18 into the first period, and took the 2-0 lead into the third. Searer had an immediate escape before Garofola scored on a takedown 13 seconds into the period. Searer got out moments later for a 4-2 lead, then scored the decisive takedown with 34 seconds left to wrap up fourth place.

Marino, the No. 8 seed at 125, wrestled back through the consolations to place fifth in the region after joining the Warriors for the second semester. He opened his day with an 11-4 decision over No. 5-seed Jake Smith (UNC-Pembroke), was pinned by No. 3 Sean Turek (Gannon) in 2:36 in the consolation semis, and won a 13-7 decision over unseeded Samuel Oberlander (Millersville) to finish fifth.

DeLuise, seeded No. 8 at 184, also came up one match short of the consolation final. He won a 10-2 major decision over Dylan Bushby (Seton Hill) before losing a 10-2 major decision to No. 2-seed Zack Zelcs (Gannon) in the consolation semis. DeLuise lost a 5-4 decision to No. 5 Eric Lundgren (Mercyhurst) in the fifth/sixth match.

ESU finished ninth in the team standings with 55.5 points. Newberry defended its regional title by a 147.5-119.0 margin over Pitt-Johnstown, followed by Mercyhurst (85.0), Kutztown (80.5) and UNC-Pembroke (79.0) in the top five.




125 – No. 8 Anthony Marino (4-6) – 5th
Quarters - No. 1 Jeffrey Vesta (Newberry) pinned Marino, 3:42
Cons. - Marino dec. Nick Lamoreaux (Kutztown), 3-0
Cons. Quarters - Marino dec. No. 5 Jake Smith (UNC-Pembroke), 11-4
Cons. Semis - No. 3 Sean Turek (Gannon) pinned Marino, 2:36
Cons. (5th/6th)- Marino dec. Samuel Oberlander (Millersville), 13-7

133 – Devin Holmes (3-20)
1st Round - No. 1 Dylan D'Urso (Mercyhurst) tech. fall Holmes, 17-0
Consolations - No. 8 Dontae Brown (UNC-Pembroke) pinned Holmes, 1:56

149 – Joe Welk (5-10)
1st Round - No. 3 Nick Nichols (Seton Hill) advanced by forfeit
Consolations - No. 4 Michael Griffith (Mercyhurst) advanced by forfeit

157 – No. 1 Braden Turner (20-6) – 4th (National Qualifier)
1st Round - Turner pinned Eli Stewart (Ohio Valley), 0:51
Quarters - Turner dec. No. 8 Matt Martoccio (Kutztown), 1-0
Semis - No. 4 Art Hobley (West Liberty) dec. Turner, 8-6
Cons. Semis - Turner dec. No. 7 Tyler Berger (Mercyhurst), 1-0
Cons. Final (3rd/4th) - No. 2 Taylor Knapp (Newberry) over Turner, med. forfeit

165 – Nate Silverthorn (4-15)
1st Round - No. 7 Zach Pincus (Millersville) dec. Silverthorn, 3-0
Consolations - No. 2 Keith Ryan (UPJ) pinned Silverthorn, 1:38

174 – No. 2 Brendan McKeown (20-1) – 1st (Outstanding Wrestler)
1st Round - McKeown tech. fall Zachary VanEss (AIC), 15-0
Quarters - McKeown dec. No. 7 Angelo Bortoluzzi (Mercyhurst), 10-3
Semis - McKeown dec. No. 3 Gary Lantz (UPJ), 8-5
Final - McKeown dec. No.1 Mike Williams (UNC-Pembroke), 3-2

184 – No. 8 Luke DeLuise (16-12) – 6th
1st Round - DeLuise pinned Zackery Farmer (Anderson), 1:37
Quarters - No. 1 Travis McKillop (UPJ) maj. dec. DeLuise, 9-0
Cons. - DeLuise maj. dec. Daniel Cox (Millersville), 11-1
Cons. Quarters - DeLuise maj. dec. Dylan Bushby (Seton Hill), 10-2
Cons. Semis - No. 2 Zack Zelcs (Gannon) maj. dec. DeLuise, 10-2
Cons. (5th/6th) - No. 5 Eric Lundgren (Mercyhurst) dec. DeLuise, 5-4

197 – No. 1 Tyson Searer (18-9) – 4th (National Qualifier)
1st Round - Searer dec. Brian Beattie (Mercyhurst), 5-1
Quarters - Searer dec. Marshall Hobbs (Shippensburg), 4-0
Semis - No. 5 Chase Long (Ohio Valley) dec. Searer, 3-1
Cons. Semis - Searer maj. dec. No. 6 Danny Doyle (West Liberty), 8-0
Cons. Final (3rd/4th) - No. 2 Joey Grisko (Newberry) dec. Searer, 9-3
True 4th - Searer dec. No. 4 Nikos Garofola (UPJ), 7-3

285 – Joe Blaes (5-14)
1st Round - No. 2 Mike Carpenter (West Liberty) maj. dec. Blaes, 8-0
2nd Round - Blake Lucas (Ohio Valley) dec. Blaes, 6-0