Whitehall Pair Making Memorable Marks
March 2, 2016
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
Reiley Brown has three brothers of his own.
But the returning MHSAA champion wrestler at Whitehall High School said it might be more accurate for this article to include his fellow senior teammate Jwan Britton as a fourth sibling.
“We are the closest thing to brothers,” said Brown of his good friend and daily training partner – referring both to their time together on the Whitehall High mats and also the makeshift mat which Brown has set up in the pole barn behind his house.
“We really go at it and push each other to get better every day. I owe a lot of my success to him.”
Brown, 47-1, is seeking a second straight Division 3 individual championship, this time at 135 pounds, at this weekend’s MHSAA Individual Finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The only thing that would make such a repeat sweeter is if Britton, who is 47-2 and a Regional champion at 140 pounds, could follow right behind him with a Finals championship of his own.
“At this point, it’s really hard to mention Reiley and his accomplishments without talking about Jwan,” said Whitehall coach Cliff Sandee, who is in his 10th year and has guided the Vikings to the Team Semifinals three of the past six.
Rare back-to-back championships for teammates would be a fitting end for Brown and Britton, who have been the backbone of a tremendous four-year run for the Whitehall wrestling program.
As a team, the Vikings achieved all of their goals this winter, including their 10th consecutive Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Wrestling title. Whitehall, which finished 26-2 in duals, won its fourth straight West Michigan Conference and District titles, and then added a Regional championship.
The culmination of this season’s work led last weekend to Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, which hosted the MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals and also happens to be the school where Brown will wrestle next year when he becomes the first Whitehall wrestler to go on to a Division I college program.
It was almost “one and done” at CMU, as things looked mighty bleak against Richmond in Friday’s Quarterfinal match.
Richmond built a seemingly insurmountable 29-9 lead before the Vikings came roaring back to score the final 28 points, winning the final six bouts for an emotional 37-29 win. Whitehall’s victory was significant as Richmond and Dundee have dominated Division 3 team wrestling over the past decade, combining to win eight of the past 10 Team Finals titles.
“That was a huge win for us on a state level, because Richmond is such a great program,” said Sandee. “We want to be at team state every year; that’s the kind of program we want. I have six seniors this year, but we also have our most talented middle school group coming in, so we’re excited.”
Fittingly, unheralded junior Dominick Haynes started the comeback, pinning state-ranked Graham Barton at 130 pounds. That stunning six points led right into the strength of the Vikings’ lineup, with a pin from Brown and a major decision for Britton.
The Vikings dug another big hole in Saturday morning’s Semifinal. But a second miracle comeback was not in the cards against powerful Dundee, which raced out front 27-3 and held on for a 39-18 victory. Dundee then dispatched Remus Chippewa Hills 40-16 in the Final for its ninth team wrestling title and third in the past four years.
However, buddies Brown and Britton certainly got the attention of the Dundee faithful and many other wrestling gurus with big wins near the end of that dual. Brown rallied for a last-minute, 3-2 win over Tylor Orrison at 135, and then Britton used a takedown in the waning seconds to beat Zach Blevins, 4-3, in what could end up a preview of this weekend’s individual title match at 140 pounds.
Whitehall has two other Regional champions in JoJo Dowdell (145) and Hunter Bower (103).
Brown is the best known of the Vikings on the state level, taking second at 103 in his freshman year and third at 119 as a sophomore before breaking through for the 125-pound Division 3 championship as a junior. He comes into this weekend with the pressure of great expectations to go with a 181-12 career record.
“I try to use that pressure as a positive and feed off of it, to prove myself,” said Brown, who plans to study human resources at CMU. “I actually felt way more pressure going into team state, because my match there affects a lot more than just me.”
Besides, he has always felt right at home on a wrestling mat.
While many kids have basketball hoops in their driveways, how many can say they have their very own wrestling mat – along with an exercise bike and a heater – in a pole barn out back?
“My dad set it up out there when I was going into high school,” said Brown. “I’ve had some great battles out there with Jwan and my brothers over the years. Hopefully that extra work I’ve put in at home will pay off this weekend.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Whitehall's Reiley Brown works to gain control in his match Saturday against Dundee's Tylor Orrison. (Middle) Jwan Britton (right) lines up to start his match against Zach Blevins during the Division 3 Team Semifinal. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
DCC Wins D1 Clash of Annual Contenders
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 29, 2020
KALAMAZOO – Brendin Yatooma was blocking out all of the noise Saturday at Wings Events Center.
The Detroit Catholic Central senior 215-pounder proudly hoisted the Division 1 MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals championship trophy over his head, a smile plastered on his face as the Shamrocks crowd roared in approval.
Yatooma and his teammates had just claimed the school’s fourth straight title, defeating Davison 34-23 in a match that pitted rival powerhouses and drew heightened emotions across an entire corner of the arena.
“It means a ton to us. It means a ton to the community,” Yatooma said. “Being able to come out here and make history, especially with how rich in wrestling we are as a school. Just being able to be remembered for that makes a huge impact on us. It’s something that we’ll never forget for the rest of our lives. It’s great.”
The title was the 14th in Catholic Central history, but this was the first time the school had won four in a row.
Emotions ran highest during a pivotal match at 189 pounds, which featured two of the state’s best wrestlers in Davison’s Alex Facundo and Catholic Central’s Manny Rojas. Facundo, a two-time Finals champion who has committed to Penn State, was leading 5-2 in the second period when he was called for an illegal move.
Rojas was evaluated on the mat for a concussion, and it was determined he could not continue. Because the injury occurred on the illegal move, Catholic Central was awarded six points for the match, which gave the Shamrocks a 23-18 lead.
“Not the way we wanted it, but without that, we still win that dual by two points,” said DCC coach Mitch Hancock, who added that Rojas had been taken to a local hospital for further evaluation. “The big guys up top stepped up. It’s unfortunate; our thoughts and prayers are with Manny. We just hope he gets better quick.”
Davison’s acting coach Zac Hall – who was filling in for longtime coach Roy Hall, who had been in a car accident and couldn’t attend but is said to be doing well – echoed his team’s disappointment with how the match concluded.
“You even saw it in the atmosphere – it was very back and forth, electric. Then once that happened, it was kind of eerie silent,” Zac Hall said.
“I hope Manny is OK. I know Manny, I’ve trained Manny. He’s a really good kid. Like I said, I just wish things would have worked out differently and I wish that it could have been handled on the mat.”
Catholic Central (20-3) clinched the dual in the next two weight classes, as Yatooma and Steven Kolcheff picked up pins at 215 and 285, respectively. Davison (20-3) got decisions from Aden Williams (103) and Caden Horwath (112) to close out the dual.
“I didn’t tell (Yatooma) anything. He’s a veteran,” Hancock said. “He pinned his way through the individual state tournament last year. You don’t tell him anything, just wrestle.”
The two nationally-heralded teams battled it out throughout the dual, which featured a total of 16 wrestlers who were ranked either No. 1 or 2 in their weight class.
Catholic Central’s Dylan Gilcher bumped up a weight and opened the dual with a 6-5 win at 119 pounds. Davison countered with a pin by Andrew Chambal at 125 and an overtime win from Kyle White at 130 to take a 9-3 lead.
The Shamrocks went ahead 13-9 after Josh Edmond won by technical fall at 135, and Camden Trupp won by pin at 140.
Davison won three of the next four, however, and led 18-17 heading into the Facundo/Rojas match. James Johnston (145) and Josh Barr (152) each won close decisions, while Max Callahan won 11-5 at 171. Catholic Central’s one win in between was a 5-1 decision by Derek Gilcher at 160.
“Being a part of this is just spectacular,” Yatooma said. “I’m just speechless. I don’t have any words to describe the entire situation. It’s just something that can only be experienced.”
Davison, meanwhile, will have to focus its energy on coming back next season and stopping the Shamrocks from getting a fifth straight.
“This is already an incredibly motivated group,” Zac Hall said. “Nobody really aside from our community really gave us a shot to do this at the beginning of the year. (Catholic Central) came in ranked third in the country, and our guys came in and competed. As the year progressed, we got better. I think we came out here and put one hell of a show on. You can see in these guys’ faces how much passion, time and effort we’ve really put into this year. We’ll come back with a vengeance.”
Catholic Central defeated Temperance Bedford 68-6 in the Semifinal, while Davison defeated Brighton 35-29.
Trupp, Derek Gilcher, Rojas, Yatooma and Kolcheff all won three matches on the weekend for the Shamrocks. Chambal, White, Johnston, Barr and Horwath won three for Davison.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Catholic Central’s Brendin Yatooma points to his team’s fans after his win at 215 pounds Saturday afternoon. (Middle) Yatooma battles Davison’s Jimmy Colley. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)