Oregon Toppled by Cal-State Fullerton, 28-10

Oregon freshman Brysen French also continued to impress, taking his match against No. 18 Ian Murphy down to the wire before falling 4-2.

Ryan Dunn at 125 lbs. picked up the first win of the night for the Ducks. Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE - Senior Chris Dearmon upset the No. 14 ranked Wade Sauer, but the Ducks could not pick up the team victory as they fell 28-10 to the Titans Friday night in a Pac-10 dual meet at McArthur Court.

Dearmon was able to get an early lead in the match and fought off Sauer's late charge to take the 6-3 victory in the match. Having taken the heavyweight title in the Portland State last weekend, Dearmon attacked the top-ranked wrestler in the Pac-10 and showed that he is a part of the very deep group of elite heavyweights in the Pac-10.

"I've been wrestling more calmly recently," Dearmon said. "The coaches told me that I used to get too amped up for my matches and that was hurting my technique. So I've just been concentrating on wrestling inside myself and paying attention to that technique and I've had great results recently."

Ryan Dunn and Kyle Bounds would be the only other Ducks to pick up victories.

Dunn started the night out well for the Ducks, picking up a major decision in a very high scoring battle for the redshirt sophomore at 125 lbs, 25-11.

Dunn opened the night with a victory for the Ducks at 125 lbs, but the Ducks could not build any momentum throughout the night, picking up their other win at 157 lbs. as redshirt freshman Kyle Bounds defeated Fullerton's Bobbie Musser in a 10-7 decision.

Bounds allowed the early takedown to Musser and the match was tied 3-3 after one period, but the Vancouver, Wash. native took the lead after an early escape from the down position to open the second period and would not trail again in the tight match.

"This Fullerton team is a very solid team from top to bottom and they wrestled well tonight," head coach Chuck Kearney said. "Our young group of guys was never able to grab any momentum."

The Ducks were close in many of the matches, however, the most impressive being Jeremy McLaughlin's 5-9 loss to the No. 11 ranked Morgan Atkinson in a match where McLaughlin had the momentum at the end of the match but time ran out on the freshman.

Freshman Brysen French also continued to impress, taking his match against No. 18 Ian Murphy down to the wire before falling 4-2.

"It was a situation where Brysen had to get under the riding time mark and then let the guy up in order to get a takedown to tie the match," Coach Kearney explained. "Unfortunately the 'hail mary' play isn't a part of wrestling and his opponent was just able to drop back into a preventive stance and he was able to keep French from getting those final points."

Senior Justin Pearch was hurt early in his 133 lbs. match and attempted to rally in order to keep his team from six more points of deficit, but was unable to continue and forced to take the injury default.

Pearch will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

The Ducks take to the road over the next few weeks, first taking part in the Oregon Classic in Redmond this weekend.

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