Finals Qualifiers Show Strength of Muskegon Catholic Central's Gains on Mat

By Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com

March 2, 2023

Muskegon Catholic Central is the smallest wrestling school in Muskegon County, with just 124 students in the high school.

West MichiganIt also happens to be the only school in the county with two individual Regional champions in senior David Hill (157 pounds) and junior Easten Cook (165 pounds), who hope to add all-state honors to their resume when they compete at the MHSAA Individual Finals on Friday and Saturday at Ford Field in Detroit.

Now, don’t expect wrestling to usurp football as the sport of choice at MCC – which with 12 state titles during the playoff era is behind only now-closed Farmington Hills Harrison’s 13 championships – but throw in another Finals qualifier in senior Zach Michael (175) and the Crusaders grapplers boast three headed to Ford Field, not bad for a school which had only four wrestlers in the entire program in 2019.

“It’s been a great year for our program and our school, and we’re having a blast,” said fifth-year MCC coach Barry Kieft, who is assisted by PJ Mitchell.

“Those three state qualifiers are all stud football players. That sends a great message to the younger kids that wrestling will make you better on the football field.”

Hill was a star running back for the Crusaders’ Division 6 District finalist football team this fall, who had to get over a stigma to become a star on the mat.

“I used to be a germaphobe, so it’s hard to believe I even started wrestling,” said Hill, who is 32-7 this season and has 107 career wins. “But at some point, something changed. I love the independent part of it. You have to go out there and do it; you can’t blame anything on other people.”

Muskegon Catholic Central wrestling coach Barry Kieft. Hill, the son of former Muskegon Reeths-Puffer all-state running back DeMarkeo Hill, who led the Rockets to the Class A championship in 1992 and tragically died of brain cancer five years ago at the age of 44, calls his dad his athletic hero and his inspiration before every match.

David Hill made short work of the field at 157 pounds at the Feb. 11 Division 4 Regional at Ithaca, including a pin at the 1:00 mark in the championship match.

This will be his second appearance at the Individual Finals, after placing fourth at Regionals last year. He believes his experience, speed and unorthodox style give him a shot at the title.

“I have a unique style, that’s for sure,” said Hill, a three-sport athlete who also runs track in the spring. “My coaches don’t know what to say to me because a lot of what I do isn’t conventional wrestling moves. So they just say, ‘Go out there and wrestle like David Hill.’”

Cook, meanwhile, is a conventional tactician at 165, the next weight class up from Hill.

Cook, a starting guard and linebacker on the football field, embraces the mental and physical challenges of wrestling.

“I think my biggest strength is my mental preparation and thinking things through,” said Cook, who got started in the sport in fifth grade when he was hanging around his older brother and now-MCC assistant coach, Aiden Cook. “I like the hardships that come with wrestling and seeing if you are strong enough to overcome it.”

Easten Cook, who as his name suggests, loves to experiment with different foods (right now, he and Hill eat a small granola bar dipped in honey before each match), won his Regional championship match 9-4.

Cook sports his team’s best record at 37-7, with city, District and Regional titles. He has 82 career wins.

The third member of the Crusaders’ Finals trio is Michael, who has a 32-9 season record and 89 career wins.

In addition to the three qualifiers, MCC also had two wrestlers eclipse the 20-win plateau this season in juniors Andrew Rosema (138) and Sawyer Hanson (190).

That additional depth nearly pushed the Crusaders to a team District championship Feb. 8. MCC downed Holton, 52-18, in the District Semifinal, before a narrow loss to Ravenna, 42-36, in the championship match.

Kieft said his team’s three Finals qualifiers are all ultra-competitive and have pushed each other to greater heights.

“They just pound each other in practice, sometimes too much,” Kieft said with a laugh, thinking of some of the trio’s practice battles in the wrestling room above MCC’s James Morse Jr. auxiliary gymnasium. “We had to go to 30-second rounds when they practice because if they go 1 minute, it gets too intense.”

Kieft said another reason for his team’s postseason success is a regular season of competing against larger schools.

Kieft, 71, has also been an assistant football and baseball coach at MCC in recent years. He recently decided to retire from coaching those two sports, but plans to continue leading the wrestling program.

“People ask me all the time: “Don’t you want to be in Florida during the winter?’,” said Kieft, who was an assistant wrestling coach at Fruitport in the 1990s. “No, I love doing this. I’ve been down there in the sun and all that, but I miss this. I enjoy being with the wrestling kids.”

Tom KendraTom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Easten Cook’s arm is raised in victory after a match this season. (Middle) Muskegon Catholic Central wrestling coach Barry Kieft. (Below) David Hill works to establish control during a match against Whitehall. (Photos courtesy of Karen Kieft.)

Bay City John Glenn Continues Climb, Seeking Next Step As Finals Contender

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

December 21, 2022

In each year of Matt Bishop’s time as head coach of the Bay City John Glenn wrestling program, the team has taken a step forward.

Bay & ThumbIt won the Bay County Championship in Year 1. Won a District championship in Year 2. Advanced to the Regional Final in Year 3, where it lost a tight dual against Gaylord. 

So, while the goal now of winning a Regional and earning the program’s first trip to the Division 2 Team Wrestling Finals may look more like a leap from the outside, it’s just another step to the Bobcats.

“We’ve had stepping stones the last four years,” junior captain Garett Forgash said. “It used to be the county tournament, then Districts, now it’s Regionals. Every time, we’re going to find that new stepping stone.”

John Glenn looks like a team poised to take that next step. The Bobcats are ranked No. 4 in Division 2, and already have another Bay County Championship and a dual victory against Gaylord under their belt this season.

They’re led by returning all-state finishers Forgash, who placed seventh a year ago, and sophomore Connor Greer, who was runner-up at 112 pounds and didn’t lose a match until the Final.

Seven other returnees were Regional qualifiers, including senior captains Lane Huizar – another Individual Finals qualifier – and Aidan Lupisella. 

But beyond that is a roster that has ballooned to 44 wrestlers and bought into what Bishop is preaching – work hard, focus on doing the right things on and off the mat rather than winning or losing, and success will eventually come.

“I think a lot of it has to do with our youth program, and them seeing our success, especially with winning Counties,” Lupisella said. “Every year, we’ve seen this steady little incline, and this year, we grew probably close to 20 kids. I think a big part is our success and the way we carry ourselves. I think people want to be around that. Everyone is attracted to success, and everyone is attracted to being classy. When people see that, they want to be part of it.”

John Glenn’s Garett Forgash (gray singlet) works toward a pin. That’s something Bishop and his coaching staff had to build. The former all-state wrestler came back to his alma mater as an assistant coach for the 2018-19 season, and took over as head coach the next year. 

Before John Glenn was taking any steps on the mat, steps were being taken behind the scenes to improve. That started with the school’s administration, which gave the Bobcats their own space to practice – including a locker room and daily transportation – at the district’s administration building. 

Bishop also has built a coaching staff he feels can help move his program forward. It includes Collin Webber, who he called one of the best young coaches in the state, and former Corunna coach Chad Briggs, who is coaching the middle school program. 

“Last year and this year, we’ve been able to grow that staff to about 10 guys; it’s been good,” Bishop said. “When you have some success, people tend to want to be a part of that program, and we’re starting to see that a little more in the last year or two. We had to build our middle school program. Our middle school numbers when I started were around 10 to 12 kids. Now, we’re close to 50.”

Then there’s the constant build of the program’s culture, which Bishop stresses above all else.

Lane Huizar establishes control during his match. “It’s really important for us to realize this is a high school sport, and keep that in perspective as much as we can,” he said. “We want to win. I’m probably as competitive as anyone out there. In order for us to do that at the highest levels, we have to not worry about winning and losing. … It’s hard, especially for kids that had a lot of success at a young age. But for us, it’s about competing a certain way, training a certain way, and letting the chips fall where they may.”

As those chips continue to fall in the Bobcats’ favor, Bishop and his staff have been able to focus more on some of the little things needed to help the program take its next step.

That includes hammering home the importance of getting – and not giving up – bonus points in a tight dual, and just generally dealing with the pressure that comes with that. Multiple discussions have had that focus over the past two years, as has John Glenn’s schedule, which has become much tougher as the team strives for bigger goals.

“When we got through Districts (in 2021), it was a nice celebration, and we felt good about ourselves,” Lupisella said. “At Regionals, I felt that maybe we didn’t put our best foot forward. We gave up a bunch of bonus points. I think what kind of moved us forward to be able to compete better was coaches talking to us every day and building our confidence. Telling us that we’re up there with the top teams. And the fact that we had gotten through the District and it was in our rearview mirror, we could now focus on the next step.”

The Bobcats aren’t taking anything for granted, but they also aren’t shying away from talking about taking that step and securing a trip Feb. 24 to Kalamazoo for Team Finals weekend. 

And recent history has shown that when a stepping stone is ahead, John Glenn finds a way to get there.

“It’s what we’ve been working for since I’ve been here, is going to the state team tournament,” Huizar said. “It’d be pretty awesome.”

Paul CostanzoPaul 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) Bay City John Glenn’s Aidan Lupisella attempts to escape from the grasp of a Saginaw Swan Valley opponent. (Middle) John Glenn’s Garett Forgash (gray singlet) works toward a pin. (Below) Lane Huizar establishes control during his match. (Photos by Maddy Huizar.)