Lowell 4-Peats With Win in Classic Clash
February 25, 2017
By Jeff Chaney
Special for Second Half
MOUNT PLEASANT – Lowell coach R.J. Boudro knew his wrestling team wasn't going to just show up Saturday for the Division 2 Final and walk away with its fourth straight team title.
He knew as far back as last year that there was a new team in the state trying to muscle its way to the top of the division that the Red Arrows have controlled since 2014.
Undefeated Warren Woods Tower pushed Lowell hard all the way to the end of their championship match at Central Michigan University's McGuirk Arena, before the Red Arrows proved that they were just a little bit better, winning 32-21.
"I knew from last year and how young they were that they were going to be a great team," Boudro said. "The studs they have, especially down low. They were no surprise to me that they were going to be a really good team."
The problem for the Titans may have been the starting weight.
Instead of starting in the lower weights, where Warren Woods Tower is strongest, the Finals started at 135 pounds. Lowell picked up the dual's first win when talented freshman Austin Boone won by major decision.
From there, the Red Arrows won six of the next eight weight classes to race out to a 25-7 lead with five classes to wrestle.
The Titans won the next three, all by bonus points, as David Stepanian won by pin at 103 and Chaise Mayer and Elijuh Weaver won by major decision victories at 112 and 119, respectively, to cut the Red Arrows’ lead to 25-21.
That's when the championship match took an unexpected turn, when Lowell's Jeff Leach was awarded four penalty points late in his bout at 125 when the Woods Tower wrestler, who had top control over Leach, did not bring Leach to the mat in a proper time while both were on their feet.
Leach ended up winning 7-0.
Still, Titans coach Greg Mayer – whose team finished 28-1 – knows that championships aren't won and lost in a single match.
"We wrestled hard, but there were some matches where we thought we would do a little better in," Mayer said. "We needed some more bonus points in the lower weights where we missed out on some. But that's not here nor there. I thought we wrestled hard; they are just a good team."
Boudro said his team did what it had to do to win.
"Today we fought all over the mat and fought for every point," said Boudro, whose team ended its season with a 21-2 record. "We saved some bonus points at 112 and 119, and that kind of ended up sealing the deal for us. “The way it ended … it was kind of a weird ending to the dual, but it was a great dual, and I think the fans got what they came for."
The Red Arrows earned their way to the Finals by beating another undefeated team, Marysville, in their Semifinal match. The Titans advanced to their first championship match by beating Niles in their Semifinal Saturday morning.
The MHSAA Wrestling Finals are presented by the Michigan Army National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Lowell and Warren Woods Tower wrestlers work for control during Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) A Warren Woods Tower competitor defends against an attack by his Red Arrows opponent. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Dundee 'Team X' Takes Back D3
February 24, 2018
By Jeff Chaney
Special for Second Half
KALAMAZOO – Brandon Whitman and the Dundee wrestling team quickly changed into Team X T-shirts as the clock wound down Saturday night on the MHSAA Division 3 Team Wrestling Final at Wings Event Center.
The shirts were in honor of the Vikings' 10th team title won in the program's incredible history.
Dundee clinched it by beating long-time nemesis Richmond in the championship match 40-15 in front of a loud crowd.
"This is very exciting; we have been working our butts off," said Whitman, who is a three-time individual champion as well. "This is the closest group of people I have been with since I started in high school, and I am glad it is paying off."
Dundee coach Tim Roberts echoed those sentiments on how close-knit this team is, and how important that was to winning the title this year.
"I told these guys at the beginning of the year that they would be the 10th team to win a championship, they would be Team X," said Roberts, whose Vikings ended the season with a 17-3 record. "I thought we had the talent and the drive, and this team had a lot of doing it for each other. This was not a selfish effort. I have been doing this 28 years now, and this may have been one of the most fun seasons I had. It was fun to watch kids work for something bigger than themselves."
The talent on both teams was on display in the opening match.
Starting at the 215-pound weight class, Whitman, the top-ranked 215-pounder by Michigan Grappler, took on second-ranked Colton McKiernan. And in a hard-fought match, Whitman defeated McKiernan 6-3 to set the tone for the rest of the Final.
After the Blue Devils tied the score at 3-3 with a decision by heavyweight Tyler Marino, Dundee went on to win five of the next six matches wrestled to take a 24-6 lead entering the 140-pound weight class.
The last in that run came from super freshman Stoney Buell, who pinned his ranked opponent in one minute.
In the end, Dundee won 10 of the 14 matches wrestled.
"In all, we gave up three falls, and the rest were close decisions," said Richmond co-coach Brandon Day, whose team ended with a 21-6 record. "We have a bunch of tough grinding kids, but they have some very talented guys. It is what it is; we will get back to work tomorrow for next year."
And next year could very well be like 10 of the past 13 years. That's how many times these two teams have met for the Division 3 championship.
The Blue Devils have eight titles, including last year's tie-breaker criteria decision win over Dundee.
"We talked about that regularly," Roberts said. "We wanted to fix a wrong."
Now Day and the Blue Devils have some added motivation for next year, and maybe even a little more.
"We are who we are, and they are who they are, and we knew this was going to be a fist fight," Day said. "We went at each other, they are just a better team, but we will remember all the fist pumping they did."
Click for full results of the weekend’s Division 3 matches.
PHOTOS: (Top) Dundee’s Jonathon White celebrates a win during the Division 3 Final while his team’s fans cheer in the background. (Middle) Hayden Bastian rallies his team after his pin at 140 pounds. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)