Richmond: 'Nothing Compares to This'

February 28, 2015

By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half 

BATTLE CREEK – With the MHSAA Division 3 wrestling championship at stake, Richmond senior Connor Behem had his Dundee opponent on his back Saturday afternoon at Kellogg Arena.

It was the first minute of their match, and the Dundee wrestler frantically was trying to raise his hand, as if he were reaching for a championship but in reality simply trying to avoid a pin. Behem, meanwhile, was using his wrestling repertoire as he tried to pin his opponent’s shoulders to the mat.

“Time was going by really slowly,” Behem said. “It felt like an hour when he was on his back, but I knew it was only a few seconds.” 

Finally, 67 seconds into the match, Behem got the pin, not only ending an incredible comeback that netted Richmond the MHSAA championship but writing a script that Hollywood would have a tough time turning down.

Richmond edged Dundee 27-25 for its seventh Finals championship and fourth in the past six years.

Richmond faced Dundee in the Final for the third year in a row, and Dundee, the two-time defending champion, had a comfortable 25-12 lead with three matches left. 

“I thought it was slipping away,” Richmond coach Brandon Day said. “For them to come out and do what they did, I’m so proud of them.”

After a decision by Adam Boyd and a pin by Roy Costello, Richmond pulled within 25-21 going into the final match at 112 pounds. Richmond needed a pin by Behem to win the championship, and when he pinned Wallace, the Richmond bench and crowd erupted with joy. 

“I kind of broke down emotionally,” Behem said. “It felt so good, words can’t even describe it.”

Behem’s knee locked up in the morning practice, and Roberts did not use him in the 32-19 victory over Remus Chippewa Hills in the Semifinal match.

“His ACL and meniscus are completely torn,” Day said. “He has practiced one day in the last three weeks. We were lucky enough to be able to sit him in the semis. ... Sacrifice won this for us, no doubt.” 

Behem played off the injury, as his euphoria likely dampened any pain he might have been feeling.

“My knee is a little bummed, but it’s all right,” he said. 

Boyd began the big comeback with a 3-0 victory over Gabe Heiserman at 285. Although a pin would have been huge, Richmond needed at least a decision to stay alive in the match.

“Everyone was telling me I had to get six, and it kind of got in my head a little bit,” Boyd said. “I kind of got away and started talking to our coach and Devin Skatzka, and they calmed me back down and said just get the win, and I got the win.” 

Next up was Costello at 103, and he wasted little time in deciding his match with a pin in 31 seconds.

“It was like do or die. I knew I had to do it,” Costello said. “I was so happy as soon as I locked that up. Then I just told Connor good luck. 

“I knew Connor was going to get that pin, but once the referee hit that mat, I was up. I was so happy I cried for joy.”

Behem took the mat with the weight of the entire wrestling program on his back and his weakened right knee. He felt it. 

“I was nervous, I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I saw my teammates get it done before me, so that helped me. I saw Roy pick up the pin and Adam pick up a big win, so once I got on the mat, all my nerves went away. It felt good.

“I could not have went out my senior year any better than this. Individuals (Finals) are pretty crazy, but nothing compares to team state finals. Nothing.” 

Richmond, which finished 32-5, won just six of the 14 matches in the Final but picked up nine bonus points with three pins. Skatzka, a three-time individual MHSAA champion, had the other pin in 56 seconds over Kyle Reinhart at 160 pounds.

Skatzka said the entire team was computing what it would take for the Blue Devils to erase the late 13-point deficit. 

“We all were counting it up in our head,” Skatzka said. “We knew we had our matches at 103 and 112, and we were kind of counting on pins from them, and it happened just how we counted on them.

“I can’t even describe what it felt like. It was the most exciting thing I’ve ever been through. I’ve won three state titles in my life and the team state title my freshman year. Nothing has been more exciting than this. Nothing compares to this.” 

Richmond’s other victories came on decisions by Aaron Kilburn at 125 and Austin Pawlak at 152.

Dundee, which has been in the MHSAA Finals in eight of the past nine years, ended its season at 25-6. Of their eight wins in the Final, only one registered more than the three points. Sophomore Sean Sterling scored a 22-9 major decision at 145 pounds. 

The seven other victories picked up by Dundee were by Drew Scholl (119), Drew Mandell (130), Kenny Reinhart (135), Zach Blevins (140), Donny Mandell (171), Brandon Whitman (189) and Tye Thompson (215).

“It was a good dual,” Dundee coach Tim Roberts said. “We end up having great duals every year. They have a great team and do a great job over there, and they have a great coach, obviously. 

“They did a super job, I have to give them credit.”

Six Dundee wrestlers finished 3-0 over the weekend: Donny Mandell, Reinhart, Blevins, Sterling, Whitman and Thompson. Skatzka and Costello were the only Richmond wrestlers to go 3-0 for the weekend. 

“I am so proud of the effort from everybody from top to bottom,” Day said. “We gave up bonus points one match, and we had three falls.

“That’s how you win state titles.”

Click for full results.

PHOTO: Richmond poses with its MHSAA Division 3 championship trophy Saturday at Kellogg Arena. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)

DCC 'Vikings' Dominate in D1 Repeat

February 24, 2018

By Butch Harmon
Special for Second Half

KALAMAZOO – They are called the Shamrocks, but for this wrestling season a more appropriate nickname would be Vikings.

The Detroit Catholic Central wrestling team not only won the Division 1 team championship this season, it dominated everything that got in its way in the state of Michigan.

Catholic Central’s final hurdle came in the Division 1 team championship match, a 57 to -1 win over Brighton, which had one point deducted early in the match for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The victory against Brighton capped a three-match blitz through Finals weekend by a combined score of 173-5 over the two-day event.

If that sounds like something out of Viking lore, that is exactly what the Shamrocks planned.

“Well, our team motto in the tourney is `burn it down, burn the boats,’” said Catholic Central junior Joe Urso. “Like they say on the TV show ‘The Vikings,’ ‘burn their boats.’ We came into this tournament looking to burn it down.”

That was exactly what a group of Shamrocks were chanting after the final match of the dual clinched a second consecutive title, the sixth Division 1 team title in the past nine years for Catholic Central.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Catholic Central junior Kevon Davenport. “We came out and from one through 14 everyone did a great job. We have great team unity, and that is one of our strong points. We have fun, and we like each other like brothers.”

Davenport was one of three Catholic Central wrestlers who recorded pins in the Final. Joshua Edmond (135 pounds) and Aidan Wagh (171) joined Davenport (145) with falls.

A pair of Shamrocks added five team points apiece with technical falls: senior Benyamin Kamali and junior Cameron Amine, a pair of two-time individual champions, won at 119 and 160 pounds, respectively.

“This is unbelievable,” said Kamali, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Kamali points to the team’s work ethic as a key to producing those impressive results.

“We are the hardest-working team in the state,” Kamali said. “Nobody in the state works as hard as we do. We also have the best coaches in the country.”

Catholic Central coach Mitch Hancock has led the Shamrocks (29-1) to their six titles since 2010. Along with hard work, Hancock believes in testing his team against the best competition he can find.

“I believe iron sharpens iron,” Hancock said. “The common equation of all this year’s champions (Lowell, Dundee and Hudson as well) is the teams all put together such difficult schedules. We wrestled Lowell a few weeks ago, and we also wrestled Dundee and Hudson.”

Catholic Central’s lone loss this season came against Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward, ranked No. 8 nationally by one publication.

“We have been undefeated in Michigan the last two years,” Hancock said. “We have a great group of coaches who know how to lead young men. We also have great parents and great support from our school’s administration. We also have a great group of young men who focus on the team.”

Catholic Central received major decisions from Easton Turner (215) and Steven Kolcheff (285), who started the dual with four-point victories to put the Shamrocks up 8-0.  

Brighton (33-4) put up several strong efforts, but came up just short in six matches that ended in decisions. At 189 pounds, Catholic Central’s Rory Cox edged Brighton’s Greyson Stevens 3-1 in overtime. At 130 pounds, Catholic senior Stone Moscovic edged Brighton’s Zach Johnson 3-2. The Shamrocks’ Devon Johnsen (112) and Dominick Lomazzo (125) both won 3-1 decisions over Ben Manly and Eddie Homrock, respectively. Also picking up wins by decision for Catholic Central were Daniel Rehfeldt (103), Derek Gilcher (140) and Urso (152).

“This was pretty special,” Moscovic said. “Last year was a big moment because we lost in the Quarterfinals my sophomore year. We just came in with a mission this year. This team is like one big family. Each of our teammates is like a brother. Our team is more of a brotherhood.”

Click for full results of the weekend’s Division 1 matches.

PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Catholic Central’s Dominick Lomazzo celebrates his win at 125 pounds. (Middle) Brighton’s Luke Stanton and DCC’s Easton Turner lock up at 215 pounds. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)