Boys Athlete of the Year: Przytula adds wrestling to busy schedule
GIBRALTAR – Ben Przytula already was one of the best athletes at Gibraltar Carlson.
He was the biggest and toughest lineman on the football team, a rugged center in basketball, and a state-qualifying weight thrower in track and field.
But that wasn’t enough for the guy everyone at the school knows as Big Ben.
He decided to give wrestling a shot this year.
Przytula excelled at that sport in middle school but hadn’t pulled on a singlet since eighth grade.
Three years away from the mat did not dull his talents.
Pryztula amazed the entire state by going 43-1 as a senior and placing third in Division 2. His only loss of the season was a 2-1 setback in the state heavyweight semifinals.
He made the All-Monroe County Region teams in football and wrestling, broke the school record and placed in the state finals in the shot-put, and nearly averaged a double-double for points and rebounds in basketball.
Przytula has been selected as the Monroe County Region Boys Athlete of the Year by The Monroe News sports staff in a close vote over fellow four-sport standout Shea Ruddy of Whiteford.
Free Press Athlete of Year: Carlson's Przytula honored
Ruddy had an incredible year, but it was hard to ignore Przytula, who earned All-State recognition in football, wrestling, and track, and also was chosen as Male Athlete of the Year by the Detroit Free Press and won the Rich Tompkins Multi-Sport Athlete Award given by the Michigan High School Coaches Association.
How was Przytula able to maintain a 3.85 grade-point average while playing four sports?
“I’m a pretty competitive guy,” he said. “I love to set goals and try to test myself.”
Wrestling certainly qualified as a test.
“A lot people like to say wrestling is the toughest sport of all and I have to agree,” he said. “You see what you are made of.”
If there were any doubts about Przytula’s toughness, they were extinguished in a three-day stretch in December.
He played basketball games for Carlson on Thursday and Friday night, including scoring a team-high 18 points in the second contest. The next morning, he hit the mat for the first wrestling action of his high school career and wound up being crowned as the heavyweight champion at the prestigious Monroe County Sheriff’s Tournament.
“He had about six days of practice before the Sheriff’s,” said Carlson wrestling coach Lance Hassell. “He went out there rusty and a little nervous. I am sure he was a little afraid about his chances. It was his first time since the eighth grade.
Rich Tompkins Award: Carlson's Przytula win prestigious award
“I was shocked. I knew he would do alright and maybe even place there, but I didn’t expect him to win it.”
Przytula surprised himself by winning that tournament.
“I came to wrestling all cocky,” he said. “Then, going into the first Saturday, I was pretty nervous. No one cared about how many points I scored in the basketball game the night before.
“I faced a Dundee kid in my first match. I just tried to do everything I could.”
That was just the start of his amazing wrestling season.
“Unbelievable,” Hassell said. “It’s almost like a movie. He is going to college and he’ll tell his buddies he was 42-0 and made it to the state semifinals. They will not believe him.”
Hassell heard stories about Przytula’s amazing athletic abilities from the moment Big Ben arrived at Carlson as a freshman. He also knew Przytula had been an outstanding wrestler in middle school.
“We couldn’t get him out (for the team),” Hassell said.
Przytula said he missed wrestling but loved basketball.
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“Coming in as a freshman, I knew I was not going to play both,” he said. “I didn’t know anyone who had ever done it. I never saw it as an option.”
But friends, including wrestling state runner-up Timmy Simons, kept working on him, asking him to join the wrestling team.
“We had a couple of freshmen, but we really needed a heavyweight,” Hassell said. “One day I saw him walking through the locker room and I told Timmy to go grab him.”
Przytula and Hassell sat down for a heart-to-heart.
“I told him we could make it work,” Hassell recalled. “I told him, ‘If you don’t wrestle this year and you never wrestle in high school, I’m afraid you will have regrets about it.’”
The message resonated with Przytula.
“I am happy he did that,” he said. “I didn’t want to regret it someday. I loved it. I wish I could go back out there right now.”
There was another hurdle to clear once Przytula decided to give wrestling a shot. How was he going to tell basketball coach Paul Morrison that he was going to be splitting his time during the winter season?
That might have been the biggest shock of the whole experience.
“He was enthusiastic about it, more than happy,” Przytula said. “He supported me 100 percent. I would come to practice and he would ask me how I did in wrestling.”
Morrison was enthusiastic because he knew the way Przytula attacks everything he does.
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“He’s the hardest-working kid I know,” he said. “I said at our banquet, when one day I have a son, I want him to have Ben’s work ethic. … He never came to me and said, ‘Coach, I have to miss a practice or a game.’ He just trained his butt off and was always ready.
“I call it the Ben Syndrome. I couldn’t even give you an explanation about how you play four sports. It’s unheard of. Ben set a new standard for kids.”
Despite going straight from wrestling practice to basketball practice every day, Przytula managed to average 9.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
“If any other kid had come to me, I probably would have advised against it,” Morrison said. “Ben is a freak of nature.”
Przytula also was a freak of nature on the football field.
He stood out in his first three seasons as a lineman for Carlson, but new coach Jason Gendron knew he had to find other ways to use the nimble 6-3, 270-pounder.
The new coaching staff moved him to tight end and even used him at fullback in certain situations.
The faith that Gendron and the other coaches had in Przytula showed in one of the biggest games of the season.
“It was fourth down against Woodhaven and we had the ball in our own territory,” Gendron recalled. “We decided to go for it. There was no doubt that Big Ben was our guy.”
The Marauders handed the ball to Przytula and he powered for a first down.
“That meant a lot to me that the coaches trusted me,” Przytula said.
Przytula finished with 15 carries for 61 yards and two touchdowns. He caught eight passes for 118 yards. On defense, he had 40 tackles and seven sacks.
Gendron built his old-fashioned, ground-and-pound offense around Przytula’s blocking ability.
“He stands out as a man among boys,” the coach said.
That also was true on defense.
“He was a force, dominant,” Gendron said. “Teams had to double and triple team him at times. He’s a big reason why (Monroe County Region Defensive Player of the Year) Timmy Simons had such a good year. Ben commanded so much attention. Timmy really fed off that. He would be the first to tell you that a lot of his success had to do with being free because of Ben.”
Gendron said the success never went to Przytula’s head.
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“Ben is a leader and one the most humble kids I’ve ever been around,” he said. “One of his best qualities is that he wants to be coached, He never settles. He wants to find an edge.”
In track and field, Przytula found an edge over every other athlete who had thrown the shot-put for Carlson.
His throw of 55-5.5 broke the school record set by Kyle Ready, who was the Monroe County Region Boys Athlete of the Year in 2012.
“Work ethic is No. 1 for him,” track and field coach Drew Sweany said. “He just doesn’t stop. He would come to after-school weights for football, go to basketball practice, and, after that, work on the shot and discus. It was a 12- to 14-hour day.
“His effort is relentless and he truly does everything it takes to reach the goals he sets for himself.”
Przytula is the two-time Most Valuable Field Events Athlete at the Metro Classic and was voted team MVP despite competing in just two events. His best of 145-9 in the discus is third-best in school history. He placed eighth in the state in the shot last year and finished seventh this spring.
“He’s earned everything he’s got,” Sweany said. “He’s a great kid from a great family.”
The son of Susan and Bob Przytula of South Rockwood was happy to be a two-time state placer.
“I was very, very pleased with that,” he said. “Me and my shot-put coach put in a lot of time. My mom was like my second coach. She watched all the video. Sometimes she would show me something and we would go out for more reps.”
Przytula will focus on just one sport next season. He has committed to play football for Ferris State.
“I took a lot of visits and went to a lot of places,” he said. “I felt at home at Ferris State. I like the community there and they have a really big construction management program. That’s what I want to do after college, start my own business.
“It just worked out that they are back-to-back national champions and are rated No. 1 in player development. I want to be the best I can be.”
BOYS ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
2023 VOTING
Ben Przytula, Carlson 29
Shea Ruddy, Whiteford 28
Riley DeSarbo, SMCC 23
Joey Godfrey, Flat Rock 22
Gavin Moczydlowsky, Huron 19
Tommy Huss, Bedford 17
Jack Mills, Airport 14
Kirby Carsten, Ida 6
Timmy Simons, Carlson 5
Graham Junge, Flat Rock 3
Cooper Buhl, Dundee 3
Trevor Schroeder, Dundee 2
Braiden Whitaker, Dundee 1
WINNERS
2023: Ben Przytula, Carlson
2022: Cole Geisige, Whiteford
2021: Chase Molnar, Huron
2020: Hunter Assenmacher, Ida
2019: Brendan Dafoe, Summerfield
2018: Thomas Eitniear, Whiteford
2017: Joey Wiemer, Bedford
2016: Zach Kohn, Carlson
2015: Bryce Windham, SMCC
2014: Colin Lake, Whiteford
2013: Scott McCormick, Airport
2012: Kyle Ready, Carlson
2011: Jared Kujawa, Bedford
2010: Zac Richardson, Huron
2009: David Box, Milan
2008: Josh DuPree, Whiteford
2007: Audie Cole, Monroe
2006: Josh Winter, Bedford
2005: Aaron Roelfs, Erie Mason
2004: Kyle Upchurch, Erie Mason
2003: Casey Steffen, Flat Rock
2002: Dan Fugate, Dundee
2001: Jim Duffy, Airport
2000: Jim Duffy, Airport
1999: Carl Ford, Monroe
1998: Adam Ruffner, Carlson
1997: Scott Ciacelli, Summerfield
1996: Myke Thom, SMCC
1995: Craig Maddux, Jefferson
1994: Corey Simpson, Whiteford
1993: Ryan Stahr, Flat Rock
1992: Jamie Mossburg, Airport
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Boys Athlete of the Year: Przytula adds wrestling to busy schedule
