Clinton Finishes Chase for 1st Title
February 29, 2020
By Jeff Chaney
Special for Second Half
KALAMAZOO – Last year when Clinton wrestling co-coach Jeff Rolland walked off the mat after the Division 4 Team Final, he said, “Until someone beats them, they are the one everyone in chasing.”
“They” are the Hudson Tigers, who had just beaten Rolland's up-and-coming Clinton team to win their third-straight Division 4 title.
So Rolland and his Redskins went back to work during the offseason, recalling how they felt wrestling for a championship only to come up short against a program that is comfortable on that stage.
Spin it forward one year, and Clinton found itself back on the big stage against the Tigers, and that hard work and self-confidence paid off. This time, Clinton beat Hudson 36-27 on Saturday at Wings Event Center, clinching the first team wrestling championship in Redskins history.
"This took us believing in each other as a family," Rolland said. "We believe this program is a family, (kindergarten through 12th grade), to the parents and the community, and this took us digging down and focusing on who we are – focusing on us."
That focus was tested even before this weekend began, as top-ranked Clinton entered Friday’s Quarterfinals as the third seed in Division 4.
The Redskins then had to go through a very tough New Lothrop team in the Semifinals to get to Hudson.
"We felt we had enough. We just had to come and compete and prove it," Rolland said. "We took on the mantra that it was us against everybody. Until we prove, we are going to get the three seed, we are going to get the hardest matches. And we said good."
But it wasn't all good for the Redskins, especially early.
Starting at the 119-pound weight class, Hudson jumped out to an 18-0 lead through the first four matches, thanks to a pair of pins from Caden Natale at 130 and CJ Berro at 135 and a pair of decisions from Tyler Bolenbaugh and Jackson Miller at 119 and 125, respectively.
But then came the strength of Clinton's lineup, and the Redskins went on to win eight of the next nine weight classes to earn their first team title.
During that stretch, the Redskins got technical fall victories from AJ Baxter, Kent McCombs and Brayden Randolph and a pair of pins from Logan Badge and Jack Voll.
Badge said his team was not too worked up by being down so much early.
"We were still confident in ourselves," said Badge, a returning Individual Finals champion. "We knew our capabilities, knowing we were able to score and get bonus points when we needed."
Hudson coach Scott Marry was proud of his team, even though it fell short of the goal it sets for itself every season.
"They are very tough," Marry said of Clinton. "I thought everything went well. We wrestled a very good dual. We had our opportunities, and that is all you can ask for. You have to give them credit. I'm not going to say anything bad that we did. I'm just going to say they did better."
PHOTOS: (Top) A Clinton wrestler works for control on top while his Hudson opponent goes for a foot during Saturday’s Division 4 Final. (Middle) Clinton and Hudson wrestlers work to gain control. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
DCC Wins Power-Packed Rematch in D1
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 23, 2019
KALAMAZOO – Tony Greathouse has built one of the state’s elite wrestling programs at Brighton over the past six years.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the state’s most elite program currently resides in their division.
Detroit Catholic Central defeated Brighton 34-19 on Saturday at Wings Event Center to claim its third straight Division 1 team wrestling title.
“Especially this year, we took a big step up where we’re not just barely beating teams, we beat really good teams this year by 40 or 50,” Greathouse said. “Even this dual, even though we lost, the fact that we’re within 15 points of them – they might be the best team that’s ever come out of the state of Michigan. They’re pretty darn good.”
Catholic Central (26-1) finished the decade with seven titles and one runner-up finish. It’s a feat no Division 1 team has ever accomplished.
“You have to take your hats off to our guys; they work so hard,” said Shamrocks coach Mitch Hancock, who has led the program to each of those seven titles. “It’s not about me, it really isn’t. It’s about them and how hard they work. We have a standard at Catholic Central, and that standard is high. When you come to Catholic Central, you better be ready to work, you better be ready to perform in the classroom, pray to God and perform on the athletic field, and those guys live up to that standard every single day.”
The Shamrocks rolled through the postseason, not giving up a team point through the District or Regional, and rolling to 63-6 (Clarkston) and 56-9 (Westland John Glenn) wins in the Quarterfinals and Semifinals.
“We kind of look at it as, we don’t really have anything to prove,” Catholic Central senior Cameron Amine said. “We just have to keep getting better every day in the practice room and pushing each other in the practice room. And that nothing is ever given to us at all. You have to go out there and work for it and get it.”
The dual started in the heart of Catholic Central’s lineup at 140 pounds, and the Shamrocks jumped out to a 29-3 lead despite it being a strong stretch of the Bulldogs’ lineup as well.
Logan Sanom and returning Individual Finals champion Derek Gilcher each won major decisions at 140 and 145, respectively. Three-time individual champion Kevon Davenport won by decision for the Shamrocks at 152, followed by two-time champion Amine winning by major decision at 160.
Brighton got on the board at 171, as River Shettler won by decision, but the Shamrocks rattled off four straight, starting with a decision from returning champion Easton Turner at 189. Brendin Yatooma (215) and Steven Kolcheff (285) also won by major decision, while Anthony Walker (103) won a decision.
Brighton rattled off four straight wins from 112 through 130, getting a major decision from Mason Shrader, a pin from Sam Freeman and decisions from Ben Manly and Eddie Homrock.
The Shamrocks closed the dual with another returning champion, Josh Edmond, winning by technical fall at 135.
“We start at 140, good luck with that, right?” Hancock said. “You got Gilcher, Amine, Davenport, then you go up top to our big guys – we just put a lot of faith in our big guys up top. They’re just a really, really good team, and we were just a couple points better at every weight. To me, that’s just a level of toughness, a level of focus and just some conditioning.
“Hats off to Tony, he’s built a power over there at Brighton.”
The matchups were ones Greathouse knew posed problems for his team coming in.
“We knew coming in that we were going to have to win some matches that we probably weren’t supposed to win,” he said. “We were facing some pretty formidable opposition there. Overall, I thought we competed pretty hard, but they’re better than we are. We had to be better than them today, and we weren’t. We lost by 58 points to them last year in the state finals, today we lost by 15, so we made a 43-point improvement over the last 12 months, so I think that’s something to hang your hat on. We beat the Division 2 state champ (Lowell), we beat the Division 3 state champ (Dundee), so we had a pretty great season. I’m proud of them.”
Hancock wasn’t just impressed with his stars, however, as his younger wrestlers came through for the team as well.
“Anthony Walker I think was the key of the match, his big win down low,” Hancock said. “Logan Sanom, I’m not sure if people expected him to wrestle in that dual but he came out firing. Those two guys really stood out to me, and then up top Brendin Yatooma who beat (Luke) Stanton. Stanton is pretty dangerous on top, so for Yatooma to take him out the way he did was pretty cool.”
Brighton defeated Davison 31-24 in the Semifinals, while Catholic Central defeated Westland John Glenn 56-9.
Gilcher, Davenport, Amine, Turner, Yatooma, Kolcheff, Walker and Edmond each won three matches on the weekend for the Shamrocks, while Freeman and Homrock each won three matches for Brighton.
PHOTOS: (Top) Kevon Davenport was one of nine bout winners for DCC in the Division 1 Final on Saturday. (Middle) Brighton's Greyson Stevens, left, and DCC's Easton Turner wrestle at 189 pounds. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)