Brothers' Success Just Start for Beaverton

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

November 28, 2018

In a movie, this season and the future of the Beaverton wrestling program would be the epilogue, explained to us with words on the screen while triumphant music played.

When Eric and Kyle Cassiday won Division 4 individual MHSAA championships in back-to-back matches last season with their father Bryan – who had started the program four years earlier – coaching matside, the script could have been completed.

“It’s one of the top five moments of my entire life,” said Kyle Cassiday, now a senior at Beaverton. “(After my match) all I could focus on was Eric – he went through so much with injuries, so to see him win it was amazing.”

But while the Cassidays are certainly at the heart of the program, creating this program wasn’t just about them. And there are plenty more memories to be made.

“I wanted to provide an opportunity for the kids who had been through the youth program, and those that wanted to join, to at least experience what I experienced in high school wrestling,” Bryan Cassiday said. “We were all brothers, and I wanted them to get to be able to do that. We had a lot of help (from outside the program). We’ve had a lot of people helping to influence a lot of different kids. It’s been a wonderful experience.”

Bryan Cassiday is a Gladwin graduate who coached the youth program there. That included his sons Eric, Kyle and Jacob, who started when they were elementary and preschool age. Bryan continued to coach when the family moved to Beaverton, but there appeared to be a cap on how much time they could be involved with the sport and attend their new school, as Beaverton didn’t have a wrestling program.

When Eric was about to enter high school, the Cassidays started looking at options to transfer, going as far as having a family vote at the dinner table. Kyle voted for Beaverton. Little did he or his family know that was about to become an option.

“Some of the football coaches came to me and said, ‘What would it take to start a program?’” Bryan Cassiday said. “We put together some numbers on what it would cost, did some fundraising, and started one.”

For the kids, it was a relief.

“I was so happy,” Kyle said. “I didn’t want to leave my friends. They deserved to wrestle as much as we did. It was more than just for me.”

That first season, Beaverton had 12 or 13 wrestlers, Bryan Cassiday said, including a solid core of youth wrestlers who were finally able to stay at their home school, like Eric. 

By Year 3 of the program, the three boys all were part of it, with Jacob as a freshman, Kyle a sophomore and Eric a junior. 

Wrestling was and is a way of life for the Cassidays, who have a mat in the garage to train – or settle a dispute, even if that was rare and mostly in the past.

“It doesn’t matter what season it is, we’re always looking forward to wrestling,” said Jacob Cassiday, who was a Finals qualifier at 152 pounds a year ago. “We don’t wrestle much in the house. We broke a couple light fixtures, then that stopped.”

For Jacob, growing up as the youngest of four children (they have an older sister, Brooke, who is 21), allowed him to learn quite a bit.

“I’ve always been the smaller one, and I’ve always had to work hard,” he said. “I never had it easy, and they never did either. I was a little pudgy, and they helped me get into shape, then helped me with getting through wrestling. They taught me how to work hard. My oldest brother Eric had probably the best motivation I’ve ever seen. He was always in the weight room or on the mat or on the football field. There was no offseason. And, of course, they taught me how to be humble, because there’s always someone out there who’s better.”

The older brothers got to see each other plenty in practice, as Kyle was at 189 pounds and Eric at 215 a year ago. 

“We’re both really competitive – we love to win, it’s what we strive to do,” Kyle said. “Halfway through the year, we started to change our perspective and realized we had a chance at winning. We would point each other to different techniques. Sometimes it got pretty intense, and we’d get pretty heated.”

Brotherly tensions aren’t something Dad worries much about spilling over, though.

“Really very rarely did they ever have problems,” Bryan said. “There was a point in the season when I was trying to get everybody on edge a little bit, and there were a couple times I had to separate them, but nothing out of control; you could just tell they were wanting it. Generally speaking, to be very honest, I’ve seen siblings that argue and fight – my kids don’t do that. They hunt together, they wrestle together, they do pretty much everything together.”

They eventually won Division 4 titles together. At last winter’s Finals at Ford Field, Kyle defeated TJ Rizor of Leroy Pine River 8-1 in the 189-pound final, while Eric followed with a 4-0 win against Chase Gibson of Bronson at 215. 

“There will never be a way, honestly, to describe what happened,” Bryan said. “I couldn’t talk. I was having a hard time coping with it, to be honest with you. It’s hard to become a state champion. It was the culmination of the years and years of hard work and the passion they put into it. They continued to work, and they got paid in the end.”

Kyle said his championship wouldn’t have meant nearly as much had his brother not won. It’s something they’ll be able to talk about when they’re 40, he said. 

But there’s more work to do for all of the Cassidays and the program as a whole. Eric, who is now a freshman at Saginaw Valley State University, comes back home to help his dad coach. Kyle is looking to repeat as a Finals champ, and Jacob wants to take the next step at Ford Field and make his way onto the podium.

The program itself has more building to do, but it does have a solid core heading into this year as Cameron Austin and Jack Owens (fifth last season at 171) join the younger Cassidays as returning Finals qualifiers. For now, the top priority, Bryan Cassiday said, is improving every day.

In just four years, Beaverton wrestling has started to make a name for itself. Growing that name, Kyle Cassiday said, would be an even greater accomplishment that the incredible end to last season.

“I’d be more proud of building a successful program than a championship because it’s an end result,” he said. “It will be creating something for more than just me. It would be for a lot of different people.”

Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at paulcostanzo3@gmail.com with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Kyle Cassiday celebrates as he’s signaled the winner of last season’s Division 4 championship match at 189 pounds. (Middle) Eric and Kyle Cassiday share an embrace after Eric followed up with the win at 215 at Ford Field. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)

Bensinger Adds to Gaylord's Title Count with First of Stradling Coaching Era

By Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com

March 7, 2025

New coach. Same great results.

Northern Lower PeninsulaGaylord – officially under new leadership for the first time since 1995 – sent four wrestlers this year to the Division 2 Individual Finals at Ford Field in Detroit and came away with yet another champion.

The newest champion is junior Jaron Bensinger, who came out on top in the 144-pound weight class. His brother, Ty, was one of Gaylord’s three individual champs last year.  

“It’s pretty cool that both (of us) could experience something like that and both be forever state champions here in Gaylord,” Jaron said. “I couldn’t do this without God. I know He has a plan for me next year, and I have to keep following Him.”

For now, Bensinger will move on to some summer wrestling before getting back on the football field for the Blue Devils. 

“I’ll be back at it and hopefully just go out there and have fun,” said Bensinger, who posted a 47-0 record this season after finishing as a Finals runner-up as a sophomore. “I will just take one match at a time next year and whatever happens, happens.”

Casey Stradling officially became the head coach of the Blue Devils this year after serving three as the team’s assistant coach under Jerry LaJoie, who headed up Blue Devils program for 30 years and unofficially turned over the program to Stradling last year. This winter’s team season ended in the Regional Final with a loss to Freeland.

While Stradling, the captain of Petoskey’s 1996 Division 2 champion wrestling team, hopes to see Bensinger involved in summer wrestling, he is looking forward to football for Gaylord’s newest champion as well.

“Jaron does have a passion for football, and there’s where I want him to be,” Stradling said. “I want his weight to be up and for him to be healthy for football because if they worry about their weight, that’s where injuries happen and that’s not where we want him.”

Bensinger listens in to Blue Devils head coach Casey Stradling, center, and assistant Dan Cornish during a break in his championship match.Bensinger has 140 career wins and just 13 losses. He credits his team, faith, coaches and family for his success. He singles out one teammate in particular — training partner Kieran Beach, who also qualified for this year’s Finals.

“I was with that team every day of the week and we all make each other better people on and off the mat, and our coaches go a great job of making sure we’re having fun and still getting after what we need to get after.” Bensinger said. “I wrestled with Kieran every day. He came up short this year, but I think next year has a pretty good chance of doing something special.”

Current assistant coaches Dan Cornish, Dave Beyers and Cole Guilck also played big roles in Bensinger achieving an undefeated championship season. 

“Coach Guilck has helped me with all his wrestling knowledge throughout to make sure I enjoy the opportunity to compete,” Bensinger pointed out. “Coach Beyers’ strength program has helped me so much, and Coach Cornish hops in and actually wrestles with us.”

Bensinger comes from an athletic family. There’s a slew of relatives who wrestled competitively on his mother’s said. His dad, reputed to previously favor basketball and baseball, is now one of the biggest fans of wrestling.

Ty and Jaron were first introduced to the sport at a young age by LaJoie.

“I couldn’t have done anything without my family and my teammates,” Jaron Bensinger said. “This sport has meant a lot to my family. My dad loves wrestling now, that’s for sure.”

Junior Zane Willobee followed up his individual championship with a runner-up finish at 165 points last weekend, and senior Caden Sides finished runner-up at 285.

Losing three starters and facing a host of illnesses and injuries were among obstacles Stradling is proud the Blue Devils were able to overcome this season. They also overcame an early-season loss to Cadillac to win their 16th-straight Big North Conference championship.

“The kids were resilient, and we have a great coaching staff,” Stradling said. “We got these guys focused and back in shape and peaking at the right time.  I am really happy with the way this team bounded back – coaches and wrestlers.”

Not a whole lot has changed since LaJoie turned things over to Stradling, except a greater focus on pins.

“We’re more of a quick-striking, countering offense – not so much a sprawling defense,” Stradling said, while noting LaJoie coached similarly. “I really think pinning and getting turns is a big part of wrestling, and pins are the ultimate goal.”

Bensinger said LaJoie, who now heads of the Blue Devils middle school program that boasted 20 eighth-graders this season, made him the wrestler he is today.

“New coaches bring in new pieces to the puzzle, and for sure I fit both of them,” Bensinger said. “They both bring great things to the Gaylord program. Coach Stradling has already started off a pretty successful coaching career with a really bright future.”

Tom SpencerTom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at tomspencer@chartermi.net with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Gaylord’s Jaron Bensinger, left, has his arm raised in victory during Saturday’s Individual Wrestling Finals at Ford Field. (Middle) Bensinger listens in to Blue Devils head coach Casey Stradling, center, and assistant Dan Cornish during a break in his championship match. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)