Undefeated, still champion, now legend
March 4, 2012
AUBURN HILLS – Taylor Massa looked up to Davison’s Brett Metcalf as a kid and grew up only 30 minutes from Williamston’s Simmons brothers. And the St. Johns senior surely knows all about Hesperia’s Justin Zeerip as well.
Massa has been mentioned with those names for three seasons, since going undefeated and winning his first MHSAA individual title as a freshman in 2009. Now, he will be discussed as arguably the best of the group.
As expected, Massa finished his high school career with one more win Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills, pinning Ferndale’s Chevez Farris in 2:35 to earn the Division 2 championship at 171 pounds. In doing so, Massa also became the 15th in MHSAA history to win four individual titles. And he joined Metcalf, Zeerip and Nick and Andy Simmons among wrestlers who never lost in MHSAA competition.
“Brett Metcalf, he’s one of my biggest idols ever. I looked up at him growing up and I was like, I want to do what he’s doing,” Massa said. “That’s what I strived for, and I hope I can motivate some kid enough to go out and work hard enough to earn this. Because it’s not given. You earn this.”
He earned 221 wins over four seasons, tying for 20th-most in the MHSAA record book – and that’s with going only 42-0 this season. He won 59 matches as both a freshman and junior and 61 as a sophomore.
Massa also stacked his wins in what are traditionally some of the most comeptitive weight classes. His championships came at 145, 152, 160 and 171 pounds. And, as his coach Zane Ballard pointed out, Massa beat reigning MHSAA champions and anyone he could find as soon as he first walked onto the high school mat.
“In my personal opinion, yeah, he is the best of the bunch. For high school, I’ve never seen anybody that dominant,” Ballard said. “I’ve watched the other ones. They’re all great wrestlers. All great people, and I have all the respect for them in the world. But in my eyes, Taylor is number one and will be, in high school, until somebody does it in a more impressive fashion.”
Massa said during the Team Finals that he already had more than 200 pins for his career – and that was before getting four more this weekend. Zeerip holds the MHSAA record with 203 pins for a career, but Massa could be at the top of the list when his final statistics are compiled.
He won by pin in 11 of 16 career Individual Finals matches. But Farris didn’t make this one easy. Massa led just 2-0 after the first period before gaining control early in the second.
Massa's 221 wins without a loss will place him seventh in the national record book for consecutive victories. He’s wrestled internationally and wants to make a run at the Olympics. He’s signed to continue his career at the University of Michigan next season.
But Saturday’s finish – along with team championships St. Johns won the last three seasons – ranks right up there with the best of what he’s accomplished so far.
“This is one of the top things,” Massa said. “It’s a great honor.”
PHOTO (top): Massa wrestles Ferndale's Chevez Farris in the Division 2 171-pound Final. See more photos from the Finals and all season at High School Sports Scene.
Davison Breaks DCC's Hold on Division 1 Supremacy
By
Dan Stickradt
Special for Second Half
March 30, 2021
KALAMAZOO — Cameron Freeman tweaked his knee last weekend and admittedly was in a lot of pain the past couple of days.
The Davison junior still stepped in and gutted out perhaps the biggest win of the season for the Cardinals.
With his team up 26-21 with two matches remaining against four-time reigning Division 1 champion Detroit Catholic Central, the junior 130-pounder went out on the mat and held off his opponent for a 3-2 victory, clinching the Division 1 title for Davison by an eventual 29-24 score.
It marked Davison’s first Finals win since 2006, as the Cardinals lost in the championship matches five times since then, including last year’s 34-23 defeat to Catholic Central.
“For him to go out there with his knee hurting is amazing. He stepped up for us,” said Davison coach Roy Hall. “He has a meniscus issue and I know he’s in a lot of pain. But he wanted to go out there and win for us.”
Freeman staved off DCC’s Anthony Walker in the third period. Walker recorded a takedown and was trying for a second takedown in the waning seconds before time expired.
“This is for the seniors,” said Freeman. “Earlier in the week, I was suffering from a knee injury. I came back and just did this for the seniors. This is the best team I’ve ever been on.”
The Cardinals now own nine Finals team titles and six runner-up trophies. Of those five championship match losses over the last eight years, four were to DCC.
“How sweet it is — it’s awesome for these kids,” added Hall. “We came close last year and maybe we could have won that match but came up short. I’m pretty accomplished as a coach, but these kids have never accomplished this before.”
Both teams won seven matches on the day. Davison recorded three decisions, two technical fall victories, one major decision and one pin to record the narrow five-point victory over the Shamrocks.
Catholic Central (21-2) had won 15 Finals team titles dating back to 1969 — eight during the previous decade — and finished in the runner-up slot only twice before this year. The Shamrocks were trying to become just the second Division 1 school to win five team titles in a row.
Previously, Davison captured five straight from 2002-2006.
Earlier this month, Davison won a match between the contenders 36-9.
“We lost 12 matches out of 14,” said Catholic Central coach Mitch Hancock, referring to that first defeat. “So for our guys to come out today and respond and wrestle the way we did to put ourselves into position to win that dual – that’s a great team, and we took them right to the wire. This time we battled them and were right there with them. We split matches with them 7-7; they just scored more bonus points.
“This stings — look at the faces on our team. Anthony Walker feels a little dejected right now, but he’s got nothing to be ashamed of,” continued Hancock. “He was right there against a great opponent. Hats off to Davison and Roy Hall. They are a great team this year.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Davison celebrates its Division 1 championship Tuesday at Wings Event Center. (Middle) Davison and Detroit Catholic Central faced off for the second-straight season in the Final. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)