DeKalb’s Ayden Shuey, Sycamore’s Charlie Olson notch big wins as Barbs beat Spartans on tiebreaker

DeKALB – Anytime something strange happens in a match involving Ayden Shuey, the DeKalb wrestling coaches have a name to describe it.

And “Shuey stuff” was on full display in his second-period pin of Sycamore’s Thomas Lind in the 132-pound battle on Friday.

Shuey’s win helped DeKalb build up a team lead, but Sycamore’s Charlie Olson got a pin with 23 seconds left at 113 in the final match to force a 34-34 tie in the rivalry match. The Barbs won the dual on criteria.

“Honestly, when I go out to wrestle I don’t have anything going on in my mind,” Shuey said. “I kind of let everything go. My coaches call it ‘Shuey stuff.’ Well, they say the s-word but I don’t want to say it. So they call it ‘Shuey stuff,’ and that’s just me rolling around and getting into position.”

Lind led 3-2 after the first period, with a late reversal by Shuey putting him on the board. But that was just a prelude to the second. With Lind starting in the neutral position, he took Shuey down to the mat.

But Shuey didn’t stay down, using the force to bounce and roll on top of Lind. Seconds later he had the pin in 2:48 to cut Sycamore’s early lead to 10-6.

“When I’m uncomfortable is when I’m most comfortable,” Shuey said. “That happens a lot. That’s ‘Shuey stuff.’ It happens all the time. Just crazy stuff going on, and you don’t know who’s on top then I end up on top with the pin.”

After Jayden Bradley picked up a 4-1 thriller against Carson West at 106, the Barbs led 34-28.

DeKalb coach Sam Hiatt said he was glad to see Bradley come up with the win.

“That was a huge win for him,” Hiatt said. “He came through there at the end. He’s been wrestling really well lately, practicing really well, and it was a big win. Get him some confidence and some momentum and for the team sealed the deal for us.”

After Bradley’s win, Olson needed a pin to get the Spartans at least the tie before going to criteria.

He led most of the match against Julian Hartwig but struggled to get the pin he needed. Hartwig cut the lead to 8-7 in the third, but Olson made his move and got the pin, forcing the tie.

“I knew I had to work some more moves, work for the pin constantly,” Olson said. “Even though I got the pin, it was unfortunate we still lost.”

The match came down to the third tiebreaker, superior wins. DeKalb had a total of five pins, techs and forfeits, while Sycamore had four, giving the Barbs the rivalry win.

“I came in nervous knowing I had to win that, and by pin,” Olson said. “It was down to the third period, but I pulled it off, got the pin.

“It felt great,” the sophomore said of the win. “I wish we could have won it, but hey, whatever.”

DeKalb built up a 28-15 team lead, but Cooper Bode started a comeback for the Spartans at 175 against DeKalb’s Sean Kolkebeck.

Each is one of the best wrestlers on his respective team, and Bode was in control the whole match for the 11-1 win.

“His mind was set correctly,” Sycamore coach Randy Culton said. “He was calm, kept himself in a good position, but the main thing was he was mentally focused on his match.”

Clyde Nott got a sudden victory for the Spartans at 215 to cut the DeKalb lead to 31-22, then Collin Hughes made things interesting with a pin of Jeremiah Pineira at 285 with just six seconds left in the first period.

Michael Olson (pin at 120), Tyler Lockhart (pin at 126) and Jayden Dohogne (tech fall at 138) picked up wins for the Spartans.

“Having DeKalb-Sycamore come down to 34-34 and having to go to criteria, the fans got a great show,” Culton said. “Everybody’s happy with it. The rivalry continues.”

Michael Hodge (tech fall at 150), Cam Matthews (tech fall at 165) and Elvis Mora (decision at 190) won for the Barbs. Midaris Chappelle (144) and Hudson Ikens (157) picked up forfeit wins, which counted towards the tiebreaker.

“Oh man, was it an exciting meet,” Hiatt said. “We won some tough ones, we lost some tough ones, not everything went perfect, obviously, but we wrestled tough. Good team effort.”