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 [email protected] 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.)
Perry's Persistence Pays Off Once More with 3rd Finals Championship
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 2, 2024
DETROIT – As his sophomore season was being derailed by injuries, Coy Perry vowed to keep going.
Two years later, he left Ford Field as a three-time Division 4 Individual Finals champion.
“It’s unreal, I don’t know,” Perry said. “It’s crazy.”
The Hudson senior defeated Blake Sloan of Manchester 1-0 in the 144-pound Final on Saturday to wrap up his high school career as a four-time placer. The one non-title year was 2022 when he finished seventh at 135 pounds in Division 3 while wrestling for Clinton, where he spent the first two years.
He won Division 4 titles at 112 in 2021 and 144 a year ago. He was also part of three team titles, winning with Clinton in 2021 and Hudson each of the past two years.
“Hopefully I’ll have kids one day, and it’ll be awesome to show them some of the stuff I’ve done,” Perry said. “Hopefully it sets an example for a lot of people, especially my brother (Colt, who placed second Saturday).”
Perry, who was one of four champs from Hudson, claimed title No. 3 by beating a good friend in Sloan, which is something he would rather not have had to do.
“I can’t explain how bad it is knowing he’s your friend, too,” said Perry, who had to defeat a teammate in the Final as a freshman. “You kind of have to change your entire offense, everything. It’s nuts. That’s not the first 1-0, either.”
106
Champion: Logan Gilbert, Martin, Jr. (52-3)
Decision, 5-2, over Jordan Zambron, Riverview Gabriel Richard, Fr. (45-7)
Gilbert put himself back on top of the podium after coming up one match short a year ago. He was the 103-pound champion in 2022.
“Especially after last year, it just drove me to get better and get back on top,” he said. “When I lost, I thought ‘Nobody thinks I’m a legitimate state champ,’ so I had to put my head down and go to work and prove to them that I’m still one of the top wrestlers in the state at lightweight. That’s a phenomenal wrestler I just wrestled, he’s going to be a state champ in the future, no doubt about it.”
113
Champion: Alex Rodriguez, St. Louis, Soph. (48-2)
Fall, 3:16, over Austin Garcia, Lawton, Jr. (47-4)
After finishing as runner-up a year ago, Rodriguez was emotional following his first Finals victory. After leaving the mat, he quickly met with his teammates to receive congratulations, and then sprinted to the Ford Field stands to find his dad.
“Last year I lost in the state finals, and it was a hard month after that,” he said. “I could barely sleep and stuff. Came back here tonight and did what I had to do.”
Rodriguez is at the center of St. Louis’ climb to the top of Division 4, as he and his teammates were team runners-up to Hudson a week ago. He’s been training in the Sharks’ room since he was in third grade.
“Just knowing that we’re a part of that, and what we can do, it’s huge,” he said.
120
Champion: Nicholas Sorrow, Hudson, Soph. (52-1)
Technical fall, 16-1 (4:18), over Colt Perry, Hudson, Soph. (22-8)
Sorrow didn’t mince words after claiming his second Finals title in as many tries. He’s coming for four.
“I’m trying to get four,” he said. “I’m looking ahead, I’m not going to look back.”
He had to get through his teammate to claim title No. 2, but said he and Perry are able to separate their friendship from the mat.
“It’s always tough wrestling a teammate,” he said. “Colt’s a good guy, we’re friends off the mat, we’re buds. But, for me, whenever we step on the mat, put the ankle bands on and shake hands, you kind of forget about all that.”
126
Champion: Julien Kimling, Hudson, Jr. (42-10)
Decision, 7-4, over Sammy Stewart, Manchester, Soph. (55-3)
It was an emotional title for Kimling, who lost his grandfather to cancer a year ago, something he learned while at the Finals his sophomore year.
So, despite facing a 2023 champion in Stewart, he wasn’t going to let anything get in his way.
“It means everything,” he said. “I was at this tournament last year when I found out my grandfather passed of cancer, right up in Section 124. And I told him I’d get it for him this year. I didn’t get there last year, I was fourth, and I told him I’d get it for him. This was all for him. All glory to God, God has kept me connected to my grandpa through it all. And I couldn’t have done it without them.”
132
Champion: Haylen Buell, Climax-Scotts/Martin, Soph. (45-4)
Fall, 2:24, over Logan Mears, Union City, Jr. (35-3)
Buell became the first wrestler to claim a title on the night, winning by fall early in the second period.
It was the first Finals title for the sophomore, who was runner-up at this weight a year ago.
“I was so excited,” he said. “I’m glad I didn’t freeze. It feels great, it was against the same team.”
138
Champion: Cole Marry, Hudson, Sr. (48-8)
Decision, 5-0, over Jacob Gillison, Benzie Central, Sr. (46-9)
Marry claimed his first Finals title and 150th career win with the victory. He broke the match open in the second period with a pair of nearfalls.
“I just went out there wanting to have fun and wanting to go get it,” said Marry, who has been part of the past three Team Finals titles at Hudson. “It feels awesome. I came out here with my buddies, our coach told us to come out here with the same mentality that we had last weekend, which I think we all did.”
150
Champion: Montana Connell, Union City, Jr. (41-8)
Decision, 6-2, over Gabriel Erwin, Bronson, Soph. (42-7)
Connell was an afterthought heading into the postseason, sitting outside the rankings. He didn’t advance to the Individual Finals a year ago, after going 0-2 here as a freshman.
So, following his unanticipated victory, he was understandably emotional.
“It just meant a lot the whole time,” said Connell, who allowed himself to believe he could win it all after winning his second-round match against Grason Weber of Leslie. “That was a really big win for me and helped me mentally get here.”
157
Champion: Gavin Schoff, Niles-Brandywine, Sr. (49-0)
Decision, 1-0, over Layne Knisely, Bronson, Soph. (51-7)
It wasn’t until a year ago when he placed third at the Individual Finals that Schoff allowed the thought of being a Finals champion enter his head.
Now it’s a reality.
“I never thought I’d be a state champ,” Schoff said. “It was never even in my thought when I was younger, like a freshman, I never thought I’d be able to make it to this high of a level. I saw him at Regionals, but I was able to pin him in the first. He knew that I wanted to go upper body with him, so he wasn’t staying in the tie-up at all.”
165
Champion: Sebastian Martinez, Riverview Gabriel Richard, Jr. (54-0)
Major decision, 9-1, over Fulton Stroud, Iron Mountain, Sr. (36-3)
Martinez stayed on pace to become the state’s 38th four-time champion, claiming his third Finals title in as many years.
He won at 145 as a freshman and 157 a year ago. Stroud, meanwhile, was a runner-up at 165 in 2023.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Martinez said. “There’s a lot of pressure to be a four-timer, but it’s a good step toward that goal and I’m just grateful I got to be here and compete.”
Winning four is something Martinez said started to enter his head after his freshman year, but the pressure is something he welcomes.
“You can only make diamonds in pressure, so it’s good,” he said.
175
Champion: Brady Jess, Charlevoix, Jr. (54-1)
Major decision, 13-2, over Caleb Lane, White Pigeon, Sr. (49-2)
Jess wasn’t going to hide it after winning his first Finals title: This is tough work, even when you win in a dominant fashion.
“I’m really tired, but it felt good,” Jess said. “I don’t even know, it felt unreal.”
He actually trailed in the match, 2-0, as Lane got a takedown 36 seconds in. But Jess countered with eight points to close the period and was on his way to a major decision.
190
Champion: Colton Symons, New Lothrop, Sr. (47-5)
Fall, 2:46, over CJ Copeland, Lakeview, Jr. (46-6)
Winning matches at the Individual Finals is a tradition for the Symons family. Now Colton gets to join his older brother Caleb as a Finals champion, even using a cradle to get the pin, something else that ran in the family.
“It’s something my brothers were really good at, so I knew if I got on top, that’s the move I had to go for,” Symons said before rattling off what his brothers had accomplished before him. “Four team state championships, two runner-ups, one state championship and I think nine all-state appearances. I think I felt (pressure) my entire life. When people are successful before you, you want to do the same, and I always want to do better.”
215
Champion: Landon Swanson, Charlevoix, Sr. (49-2)
Decision, 9-3, over Cameron Doody, Perry, Sr. (47-5)
Not long after watching his good friend Jess win a title, Swanson got the chance to do it himself, and he made the most of the opportunity.
“My adrenaline was through the roof,” Swanson said. “It’s crazy. He’s been my best friend since I can remember, so it’s great having us both win one.”
The Central Michigan football signee broke the match open by scoring seven points in the third period.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “Senior year, finally getting there after being here for the third time, it’s just amazing to come out on top, finally.”
285
Champion: Zachary Hayes, Bangor, Sr. (51-1)
Decision, 4-0, over Chaz Underwood, White Pigeon, Jr. (43-8)
Hayes and Underwood had met multiple times during the season, so the Bangor senior knew what to expect and how dangerous his opponent from White Pigeon could be.
“Really all upper body,” Hayes said. “Getting under the arms, trying to do lat drops, headlocks, stuff like that.”
The match was scoreless going into the third period, but Hayes got an early escape and a stalling point before a late takedown closed the victory.
“Once I got my point, I think I really thought I could secure the match,” he said. “I’m pretty good in the up position, and I feel like I can stay up. I was pretty confident by that point.”
PHOTOS (Top) Hudson’s Coy Perry, right, wrestles Manchester’s Blake Sloan during Saturday’s 144-pound title match. (Middle) Charlevoix’s Landon Swanson, right, works to keep leverage against Perry’s Cameron Doody. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)