New Heroes Emerge as Hornets Reign
February 28, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Gabe Bennett made himself take a few deep breaths at the end of Saturday morning, then had a long talk with his dad, which helped.
The New Lothrop senior has won a lot during his high school career, and placed at the MHSAA Individual Finals the last two seasons. But Saturday morning, although the Hornets moved on from their Division 4 Semifinal, Bennett lost his match – falling to 0-4 for his career for the final two rounds of team competition.
The afternoon’s championship match against Hudson would provide one last opportunity to help the Hornets with a title on the line.
“If you win all the time, you don’t learn a whole lot. If you lose, that’s where you’re able to go back and learn from what you did and why you lost,” Bennett said. “I’ve taken all those times that I’ve lost, and I’ve learned something new – a new move to counter that, or to make my shots better, or whatever I needed to do to make myself better.
“Coming into this (Final) match, being a senior, this was my last one. (I thought) let’s go out with a bang. I did it.”
Bennett’s one-point decision win at 130 pounds got the Hornets even after an early deficit and contributed to what turned into a 38-24 victory and title repeat for reigning champion New Lothrop (29-1), the top-seeded team in Division 4 entering the weekend.
That favorite status was part of how this weekend’s narrative differed from in 2014, when the Hornets came back over the final three weights to upset the then top-seeded Tigers, who had won a record five straight MHSAA team titles.
Saturday’s win was less dramatic – New Lothrop clinched with two weights to wrestle. But this season as a whole was impressive in other respects – notably in how the Hornets dominated after graduating two individual champions who carried the load a year ago.
Bennett was one of four Hornets who won in Saturday’s championship match after falling in the Final a year ago. Junior Cole Hersch won by pin at 125 pounds to put the Hornets on the scoreboard, and Bennett’s 7-6 decision in the next bout evened the match score at 9-9. Sophomore Erik Birchmeier won by decision at 160 to give the Hornets a nine-point lead with six bouts left, and senior heavyweight David Robertson clinched the championship with a pin.
“Last year it felt like we had to get it. We had that good group of seniors that had a chance the three years before that. … That was like their time,” New Lothrop coach Jeff Campbell said. “Last year felt like more pressure. This year, I don’t want to say I surprised, but I was just really excited and proud of our leadership and the way the guys stepped in and filled in after the amazing leaders we had last year graduated.”
“(Bennett had) lost heart-breakers. … So to have him be the one who really got momentum going for us is pretty special.”
Junior Steven Garza II earned a key major decision at 140 pounds to follow Bennett and give New Lothrop a lead it would’ve give back. Senior Trevor Copes followed Garza with a pin to extend the lead to 19-9 halfway through the match.
Junior Caleb Symons was awarded a void at 215 pounds, and freshman Tommy Malloy followed Robertson’s clincher with a major decision at 103.
Although Hudson (23-6) did fall in the Final for the second straight season, it made its seventh straight championship match despite entering the weekend seeded third. The Tigers edged second-seeded Decatur 39-33 in the morning’s Semifinal and climbed within a point of New Lothrop with four bouts remaining.
Senior Tyler Roberts and junior Kyle Johnson won by pins in the championship match for Hudson. Seniors Roddy Hamdan and Mitch Ely and sophomores Tylor Grames and Zak Lopinski won by decisions.
“We were in a position a couple of spots where maybe we could make a legitimate run at it. But they’re pretty deep up top,” Hudson coach Scott Marry said. “I’m never going to fault my kids for their efforts. They gave everybody on the team, everybody in the community, their coaches, everything they’ve got, and that’s all I can ask.
“They goal is to win it, but sometimes certain things are out of your control. That was a very good team that beat us.”
PHOTO: (Top) New Lothrop’s Cole Hersch (right) works toward a pin in his 130-pound match Saturday afternoon. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Latest Clash of Traditional D1 Powers Ends with Davison Repeat
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 26, 2022
KALAMAZOO – All Josh Barr needed to do Saturday to clinch Davison’s second-straight Division 1 Team Wrestling Finals title was not get pinned against the top-ranked wrestler in the state.
The Penn State commit figured the best way to avoid that was just win.
Barr defeated Detroit Catholic Central’s Manny Rojas 4-3 at 171 pounds, winning a battle of nationally-ranked wrestlers and securing a 29-21 championship win for his team.
“Just believing in myself and my coaches,” Barr, a junior, said. “We train so hard every single day just for moments like these. I prepare for every single situation I could be in. I walked out there with full confidence in my coaches, God and my training and just let it take care of itself.”
It was the 10th Finals title for the Cardinals, who had defeated Catholic Central by a very similar 29-24 score a year ago. It was the third-straight year these two teams had met in the championship match, as Catholic Central won the 2020 title 34-23.
“It comes down to the last match every year it seems like,” Davison coach Zac Hall said. “But it makes for one hell of a ride. This one’s better than last year. I can’t believe it man. We had so many highs and lows this year. Every one of our starters was injured. Our heavyweight in that match, we couldn’t put his shoulder back in place. His shoulder was out of place for two thirds of that match, and he gritted a tough one out. Barr comes back and wins a tough match. That’s a testament to this team.”
Barr versus Rojas was a marquee match and fitting end to a dual between two of the state’s greatest all-time powers.
The match was tied at 2 heading into the third period, and Rojas, who is committed to Iowa State, scored an escape early to take a 3-2 lead. Barr was able to get a takedown in the final minute, and held off a reversal attempt from Rojas as time ran out.
“There’s two sides to that, there’s the team score, and on the other side there’s a ton of history there,” Hall said. “Two of the best kids in the nation going at it. We’ve gone round and round with that kid. We’ll see him next weekend, and I told Josh, you’re going to see that kid in college. You guys are both going to go on and do great things. We wanted to win, though. I’ll be quite honest with you, I wasn’t thinking about the pin. I trust Josh through and through, and we went out there to win that match.”
A pin from Rojas was a big ask in that situation, and Catholic Central coach Mitch Hancock knew that as he sent his senior star onto the mat.
“Compete, have fun and wrestle hard,” Hancock said recalling his words to Rojas before the match. “If he gets in a position to put him on his back, so be it. Very few people in this building thought he was going to tech him or pin him. By the math we did on our side, if we had a chance, we had to upset Barr, otherwise he was getting five or six against someone else. So we went at him. Starting weight didn’t help us. But you know what, these guys fought hard.”
Catholic Central (14-4) even having a chance was set up by back-to-back tight wins by Darius Marines at 152 (2-1) and TJ Bunn at 160 (5-3 in overtime).
While those matches provided late drama, some early drama that went Davison’s way played just as big, if not a bigger role in the final outcome.
At heavyweight, Zane Richardson won 3-1 in overtime despite the aforementioned dislocated shoulder. That gave the Cardinals (19-4) an early 12-0 lead in the dual.
There was more drama at 112, as Davison’s Dominic Perez gave up a 4-0 lead in the third period, but was able to score a late reversal to claim a huge 6-5 victory for his team.
“That young man struggled to make (112) all year,” Hall said. “We got him down there a couple times, but we didn’t know if we could get him there again. He got down, he put us through a rollercoaster. You see how that dual goes, we get one at the last second at (112), they get one at the last second at (119), this one comes to the end. That’s what happens when you have two powerhouse teams like this going at it. Both teams have a will to win, they’re both really well-coached, and they just have tremendous athletes who give their heart and soul to this sport.”
The tight win at 119 went Catholic Central’s way, as Drew Heethuis scored a last-second reversal to defeat Justin Gates 2-1 in a matchup of returning individual champions.
Jimmy Colley (215) had a technical fall for the Cardinals, while Remey Cotton (189), Caden Horwath (125) and Owen Payne (145) each won by major decisions. Cameron Freeman (135) won a decision.
Nathan Walkowiak (103) won by pin for the Shamrocks, while Clayton Jones (130) and Dylan Gilcher (140) each won by decision.
Davison advanced to the Final with a 67-12 Semifinal win against Macomb Dakota. Richardson, Horwath, Freeman, Payne, Barr, Cotton and Colley all had three wins on the weekend.
Catholic Central defeated Hartland 43-16 in its Semifinal. Heethuis, Jones and Gilcher all had three wins for the Shamrocks.
PHOTOS (Top) Davison’s Josh Barr works to maintain control during his match at 171 pounds to conclude Saturday’s Division 1 Final at Wings Event Center. (Middle) The Cardinals celebrate their second-straight team championship. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)