Highlight Reel: Saturday Semifinals Video
February 28, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals field was whittled to eight this morning over two sessions at Kellogg Arena.
Below are highlights from the morning matches for all four divisions.
Division 1
Duffy Scores A Late Win: Patrick Duffy keeps Anchor Bay in the meet against Hartland with a 5-4 win over Brandon Sturtevant at 152 pounds - getting back points in the final minute. Hartland advanced in Division 1 with a 29-28 win. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Hughes Second-Period Pin: After a scoreless first period, Reece Hughes of Hartland quickly pins Adam Wiscombe of Anchor Bay at 130 pounds to give his team the lead in this Division 1 Semifinal. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Brighton's Brish Bumps Bulldogs To Lead: A key decision down the stretch of the Brighton-Davison Division 1 Semifinal was Nicholas Brish's first period pin of Mike Kennedy. It gave Brighton a 25-22 lead at the time, and the Bulldogs advanced to the final with a 29-25 decision. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Fifield on the Hunt: Hunter Fifield of Davison scored all of his points on this sequence in the first period against Jose Ramos of Brighton. Fifield won the match at 140, 5-1, but Brighton advanced. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Division 2
Hall of Pins: Lucas Hall gets the Division 2 Semifinal for Lowell against Gaylord started with a quick pin over Trent Hibner. Lowell cruised to a 50-19 win over the Blue Devils. You can watch the whole game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Trevor Scores Third-Period Win: In the final minute of the 103-pound match, Trevor Giallombardo picks up two points to claim a 7-5 win over Lowell's Sam Russell. You can watch the whole game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Eaton Rapids Moving On: Austin O'Hearon of Eaton Rapids scored a 9-2 win over Cade Stephenson of Niles in the final bout, at 112 pounds, to give the Greyhounds a 30-27 win. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Noah Nails It For Niles: Niles jumped out to an 18-9 lead in its Division 2 Semifinal with Eaton Rapids. Noah Hall gets a first-period pin here at 140 over Hunter George. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Division 3
Reinhart Gets Dundee's First Points: After Saginaw Swan Valley won the first three bouts, Dundee got a triple of it own, started by Kenny Reinhart's second-period pin of Luke Hart. Dundee would eventually prevail, 38-32, and move into the Division 3 Final. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Bott Puts Vikings On Top: After Dundee tied the match at 14-14, Gerad Bott of Swan Valley came up with a first-period pin of Kyle Motylinski at 152 pounds to put the Vikings on top. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Todd Wins for Chippewa Hills: Here's the scoring sequence in the third period that gave Slade Todd of Chippewa Hills a 5-3 win over Alex Roberts of Richmond at 130 pounds in this Division 3 Semifnal. Richmond went on to win, 32-19. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Kilburn Gets a Restart Pin: Richmond's Aaron Kilburn recorded the only pin of his team's Division 3 Semifinal with Chippewa Hills ... a first-period fall after a restart. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Division 4
Manchester Gets On The Board: Brandan Abrigo scores a pin at 112 pounds over Aubrey Stone of New Lothrop in this Division 4 Semifinal. New Lothrop went on to a 38-22 win. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
New Lothrop Extends Lead: New Lothrop extended its lead against Manchester with Cole Hersch pinning Matt Smith in the first period of the 130-pound match. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
The Ax Man Wins For Decatur: Early in the third period of this Division 4 Semifinal, Decatur's Axton Gerhold turns things around against Hudson's Christopher Wollet and into a pin. Hudson went on to win the match, 39-33. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Pivotal Pin by Brockway: With the score tied at 30, Hudson's Clayton Brockway scores a huge pin of Decatur's Kyle Nye in the 171-pound match of this Division 4 Semifinal. You can watch the whole match and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Dundee Ends Richmond Streak in D3
February 23, 2013
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – A few minutes after winning the MHSAA Division 3 championship on Saturday, some members of the Dundee wrestling team picked up Sean Keilitz and put him on their shoulders.
Was Keilitz an unlikely hero? Certainly. A junior, he came into his match at 119 pounds with an 18-16 record, including a loss earlier in the day in the Semifinals and another Friday in the Quarterfinals.
Keilitz, however, was deserving of being hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates. He scored a key 12-8 decision in the 119-pound match – the second-to-last match of the meet – as Dundee defeated three-time defending MHSAA champion Richmond 35-26 at Kellogg Arena.
Dundee (23-2) had finished runner-up four of the last five years since winning the title in 2007. Two of those runner-up finishes came against Richmond.
“Winning state is always great, I can tell you,” Dundee coach Tim Roberts said. “I’ve done it a few times, and it doesn’t get old and it doesn’t get any less great. But to beat a team the quality of that team and as well as they wrestled against us, that was a great win.
“Winning at 119 was huge. Their kid is a state qualifier, and our kid – I wasn’t able to enter him in the District because he wasn’t healthy. That was two kids just battling right there, and Sean stepped up and won that match.”
Richmond, which held a 19-4 lead after five matches (the meet started at 130 pounds), had a 26-25 lead after freshman Aaron Kilburn won a 10-2 major decision at 103. But Richmond would not win again.
Dundee freshman Zach Blevins stepped in and won with a major decision, giving the Vikings a 29-26 lead and setting the stage for the match between Keilitz and Richmond freshman Graham Barton.
“I knew I had to win,” said Blevins, who had a 5-0 lead after the first period and nearly picked up a pin late in that period en route to a 15-2 victory. “I was really nervous, but I knew we would be able to finish it out.”
Keilitz and Barton had a closer battle. Keilitz had a 7-4 lead going into the third period, but Barton, who came into the match with a 21-21 record, cut it to 9-8 before Keilitz scored the last three points.
“It’s just unreal,” Keilitz said. “I was looking up at the scoreboard, and I honestly wasn’t even nervous for once in my life. I was just so pumped up. It was so exciting.
“It was scary, but I was so pumped up that I wasn’t even worried about it. I just went out there and did my job.”
The victory left Dundee with a 32-26 lead going into the final match. All Dundee junior Brendan O’Connor had to do was avoid a pin to secure the MHSAA title. However, a pin would have tied the match and caused it to be decided by the sixth tie-breaking criteria.
But O’Connor was never in danger of being pinned and went on to post a 14-8 decision.
Richmond (26-5) won four of the first five matches to build the 19-4 lead. Alex Muzljakovich (130) and Nate Henke (145) each won by fall, while defending individual MHSAA champion Devin Skatzka won by major decision at 152 to improve to 48-2. Senior Austin Cattera (135) also won by decision for the Blue Devils.
The lone victory in the first five matches for Dundee was by junior Doug Rojem, whose major decision at 140 improved his season record to 46-1.
Dundee junior Todd Olson grabbed some momentum for the Vikings with a first-period fall at 160 to improve to 46-3.
“I had to get it going,” Olson said. “I really wanted to wrestle Richmond in the Finals because they’ve beat us so many times. Really, there is no better feeling – no better feeling – this is the best I’ve ever felt in my entire life.”
Tye Thompson’s decision at 171 cut Richmond’s lead to 19-13, and junior Teddy Warren followed with a first-period fall at 189 to make it a 19-19 match and improve his record to 46-2. After Jack McKiernan won by decision over Dundee senior Jay Sroufe to improve to 48-5, Richmond had a 22-19 lead with five matches remaining.
Dundee senior John Marogen took the mat on a mission at 285 and registered a first-period pin to give the Vikings a 25-22 lead. Marogen had won seven consecutive matches in the Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals, dating back to the 2010 Finals when he won a majority decision against Richmond.
“This is just amazing,” Marogen said. “It’s the best feeling in the world. I knew I had to go out and get a pin.”
Marogen used the word “scared” twice; one while talking about his feelings when Dundee was down by 15 and again when he described his feelings as the meet went into its final matches.
“I was really scared,” he said of when the team was down, “and I was scared (late in the meet), but those kids are tough. I’m really proud of them.”
Marogen wasn’t the only one who was scared when Richmond threatened to win its fourth consecutive MHSAA title.
“It was kind of scary at first, I’m not going to lie,” Keilitz said, “but once we got those pins, we got rolling.”
Nine of the 14 Dundee wrestlers who had a match in the Final wrestled in last year’s as well against Richmond. Keilitz is the only one who lost last year and won this year. Meanwhile, Blevins, Rojem, Olson and Marogen each went 3-0 this year in the Quarterfinal, Semifinal and Final.
“This is amazing,” Sroufe said. “We’ve been working for it for four years, and it feels awesome. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me right now.
“I knew our team was going to push it to the end, and I knew we could beat them.”