Kayleb Brozik is one tuff customer....Beck vs. Brozik is instant classic
Winner's Kayleb Brozik beat two quality opponents in duel action Thursday night in Burke.
By Rich Winter
While watching my beloved Oakland Raiders go down in flames Thursday night, I was keeping one eye on the wrestling duels over in Burke. Wagner vs. Burke Gregory, Wagner vs. Winner Area and Burke/Gregory vs. Winner Area.
Tuned in late in the Wagner vs. Winner duel and watched Kayleb Brozik eventually wear down Wagner freshman, KJ. St. Pierre. The Wagner freshman won an AAU title a year ago over Winner's Achilles Willuweit, only a 7th grader at 182 pounds (Yikes). St. Pierre is going to be good, but Brozik stretched him out late in the match and if I'm not mistaken, beat him convincingly, but I do believe the match went the distance, or close to the distance.
After the dust had settled from the Wagner vs. Winner duel, Winner vs. Burke/Gregory followed. Had an inkling this might happen, so I kept an eye on the live-stream and sure enough Burke/Gregory sophomore, J.J. Beck strode out to meet Kayleb Brozik in the 170 pound match. Brozik, ranked No. 1 in Class B at 170 and Beck, No. 3 at 160.
Tuff match....(sound down on the Raiders game, eyes glued) and watched as Brozik and Beck got after one another. If it's possible to have a terrific first period with no scoring, we saw it last night. Both guys got some good, deep shots, but all moves were covered and we hit the second period, tied, 0-0.
Brozik chooses down, gets an escape right away, and is awarded a penalty point late in the second period, and leads 2-0. Beck though, is no slouch, and just as the horn expired in the second period, Beck had taken down Brozik, almost, but the clock ran out.
So, Beck chooses down, escapes right away and trails 2-1.
And there we stood, heading into the final seconds of a terrific match. Brozik could have stayed on his feet and sprawled/countered anything a still coming-at-you, Beck was going to throw, instead, Brozik went on the offensive, scored a takedown in the final seconds of the match and claimed a 4-1 win.
Guess what caught my attention is that it's still early in the season and Brozik, an 11B all-stater in football, isn't yet in wresting shape. Having gone six minutes with St. Pierre, and then a tuff, 5:50 with Beck, somehow, Brozik dug deep to find something extra in the waning moments of the match.
Wow!
Props to J.J. Beck for moving up a weight class and seeking out that match. That kid is so strong, he'll be dangerous with anyone he sees on the mat at 160.
Thursday's match of the night can be seen on liveticket.tv. As of this morning, it's the featured video on the front-page of the site. If that changes, and it will with basketball galore coming tonight, click on the Winner Warriors page and you can find the match.
You can watch the whole duel, or you could forward ahead to the 26:40 mark for the Brozik vs. Beck match.....The end of that match is near the 33-minute mark.
[Winner Warriors Live]
