District Champions
What an incredible evening at Woodhaven high school. Given last year's district meet with Woodhaven, we all knew it was going to be a close match again this year - and it was!
The first meet of the night was against Monroe. Monroe is having a down year with a lot of voids, so it gave Coach Vogel a chance to wrestle some of the Gray team to give them some valuable experience in a pressure setting. The mixture of Red and Gray members took care of business with a 75-3 win to advance to the finals to face Woodhaven.
Bedford and Woodhaven have been building quite the rivalry over the last few year's. Last year's dual saw Bedford down 9 points with just two matches left. Then sophomore Colin Jagielski got a major decision to set up the dramatic pin to win by senior Andrew Baker - Mules win by 1 point! Both teams lost some key wrestlers from those teams, but both had some capable replacements and everyone knew that this was going to be a battle. Bedford won the all important coin toss to start the dual in the right direction. The dual began at 152lbs. Woodhaven sent out a honorable mention state ranked wrestler with the Mules sending out Logan Frantz. Frantz was not intimidated at all and went right after him. He stayed aggressive the entire time and pulled out the 9-5 win! The Bedford crowd went crazy as they knew this was a win that Woodhaven really needed.
Next up was Jeff Johnson against the 8th ranked wrestler in the state. This was another match where Woodhaven needed to get bonus points. Johnson pushed the pace after being down early and eventually gassed the Warrior to the point that he was hanging on to a victory by decision. Jeff may not have gotten the win, but it was a huge win by not giving up any bonus points and forcing a 3-3 dual score.
4th ranked Colin Jagielski was up next for the Mules at 171. Like the previous Woodhaven wrestler, it was expected of him to get bonus points in this match. However, unlike the Woodhaven wrestler, Jagielski did his job and scored a second period pin to put the Mules up 9-3, a lead they would never give up.
Cage Dye was up next at 189. He had a tough opponent that was able to get a couple of take downs and get a 7-1 decision over Dye. Mules up 9-6.
2nd ranked Blake Wingate was sent at 215 with the hopes of getting some bonus points for the team. One thing that Woodhaven is good at is stalling without getting called, making it very hard to get bonus points. Blake's opponent was very good at it and even though Blake dominated the entire match, he was only able to get a 5-2 decision to put the Mules up 12-6.
Cole Bettencourt was sent out at heavyweight to take on a very intimidating opponent. First period had both wrestlers feeling each other out and ended with no score. Cole chose bottom and fought off his opponent for 2 minutes to keep the score at 0-0. Cole's opponent chose down with hopes of getting an escape for a 1-0 win. Cole, however, had different plans. He rode his opponent and kept heavy pressure on him, eventually wearing him down enough that Cole was able to turn his opponent with 4 seconds left to get a 2 count back exposure - Cole wins 2-0!!! The crowd went crazy as his arm was raised in victory. Mules 15-6.
Erik Simmons went out at 103 against the 9th ranked wrestler. The warrior was a little too much for Erik as he dropped a 10-4 decision. Mules 15-9.
Now for the match of the night. Marcus Rollins went out at 112 with a goal of not giving up any bonus points. Marcus did much better than that and not only didn't give up any bonus points, but rode his opponent for the entire third period to hold on for a 2-1 victory! Everyone was on their feet and sensed that there was no way we were going to lose tonight. Mules 18-9.
Chase Grzegorczyk absolutely dominated his opponent from start to finish, but was only able to get 3 points with an 11-5 decision. Mules 21-9.
Cade Sutterfield came out on fire and was controlling his opponent when the coaches gave him the signal to cut his opponent loose so he can try for a major decision. He did that once and took down his opponent immediately. Coached yell for him to do it again but Cade got a bar in and flipped his opponent for a third period pin - Mules 27-9.!
Rollie Denker came out at 130 with the opportunity to wrap up the dual with a victory. Rollie was his solid self throughout the match and got the 6-0 decision to put it away. Mules up 30-9. Not to be outdone by freshman teammate, Randy Boisselle came out on fire and got a 5-1 decision to put the Mules up 33-9.
Mason Rimmer was against the 7th ranked wrestler that proved to be too much to handle. He suffered a TF in the third period. Conner Frantz ended the night taking a pin in the third period. Final team score:
Mules 33, Woodhaven 20.
Next up at Regionals will be Wyandotte Roosevelt and then the winner of John Glenn and Livonia Franklin. Meet will be at Livonia Franklin on February 13th at 5:30 pm. Come support the Mules.