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By Keith Morris
JOURNAL SPORTS WRITER
03/04,01:31
Battle Creek - It was over before the three other quarterfinals were halfway finished. Davison's wrestling team took care of business in a hurry in its Division I state quarterfinal match against Bay City Western at Kellogg Arena Friday. The Cardinals beat the Warriors 49-28 to advance to today's 9:30 a.m. semifinals against Temperance-Bedford.
In reaching the semifinals for the first time in school history, the second-ranked Cardinals improved to a school-best 36-2 and set up a much-anticipated rematch with top-ranked Bedford, the unbeaten defending state champion.
The Kicking Mules, who beat Holt 48-12 Friday, beat Davison 35-29 on Feb. 3.
"The important thing is we got the first one out of the way," said Davison coach Roy Hall. "This puts us in position to make our dreams come true."
Rockford (26-2) beat Romeo 45-16 and Walled Lake Western (16-3) beat Novi 47-21 in the other quarterfinals. Rockord and WL Western wrestle in the other semifinal, with the championship match at 5 p.m.
Bedford (25-0) has reached the quarterfinals every year since the team format began in 1988, and is looking to reach the championship match for the third straight year. The Kicking Mules haven't lost since falling to Rochester Adams in the 1998 title match.
"If we want to win the state championship we have to beat the program," Hall said of Bedford, which has won three state titles under the team format.
Bay City Western also had tradition on its side, only to see the Cardinals dominate. The Warriors (30-8) were making their ninth quarterfinal appearance in 11 years. They've been eliminated in the quarterfinals the past four years.
The Cardinals, who beat Western 49-15 in the regular season, won nine of the 14 matches, including six by pin. Only one of their wins went the distance, as they received technical falls from Chase Metcalf (125) and Jon Phillips (171). Shaun Newton (112), Joe Whitman (130), Chad Roush (140), Casey Streeter (160), Adam Wilmoth (189) and Nic LaFear (275) won by fall.
The only six-minute match was the first one, and it got the Cardinals headed in the right direction. Keristen LaBelle recorded a takedown with five seconds remaining to edge Matt Dore 6-4. She became the fifth Cardinal to join the 50-win club by improving to 50-8 and gave Western coach Tom Olson Jr. an idea of what was ahead for his team.
"I knew we had to win at 103 to have a chance," said the fourth-year Warriors coach. "It was close."
"Keristen wrestled a savvy match," Hall said.
The outcome was decided when Wilmoth pinned Adam Wallaker at 189 to put Davison ahead 43-24 just 45 minutes after the match started. Fifteen minutes later, it was officially over.
Despite the rather comfortable victory, the Cardinals weren't all that pleased with the performance.
"We beat them by more the last time," said Roush, a sophomore who improved to 54-2. "We came out a little flat."
Olson, who's seen his share of strong teams wrestling the tough schedule he does on a yearly basis, agreed, although he was quite impressed with the Cardinals.
"They didn't wrestle as well as they're capable, but they're one of the best teams I've ever seen," he said.
Davison appeared to have another match well in hand with John Whitman leading Matt Houghtaling 16-6 at 119 before the Warrior suddenly pinned him.
Hall was able to rest two of his regulars who were nursing injuries - Tim Polidan and Derek Lehr.
Davison 49, Bay City Western 28
103 - Keristen LaBelle (D) d. Matt Dore 6-4; 112 - Shaun Newton (D) d. Teig McLellan 1:58; 119 - Matt Houghtaling (BCW) d. John Whitman 5:04; 125 - Chase Metcalf (D) d. Wes Gwisdala 18-3 (4:14); 130 - Joe Whitman (D) d. Dave Patterson 1:20; 135 - Kellen Klosowski (BCW) d. Dennis Auger :44; 140 - Chad Roush (D) d. Quin Gillette 1:33; 145 - Tim Markel (BCW) d. Jimmy McFall 3:29; 152 - Doug Nassif (BCW) d. Lany Burnett 3:39; 160 - Casey Streeter (D) d. Scott Schweitzer 1:52; 171 - Jon Phillips (D) d. Zac Oswald 18-3 (4:51); 189 - Adam Wilmoth (D) d. Adam Wallaker 1:09; 215 - Bryan Schlib (BCW) d. Chad Davis 11-3; 275 - Nic LaFear (D) d. Ben Feinhauer 1:08.
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MCC update
By LLOYD F. WALLACE Jr.
Daily News Sports Editor(3/4/00)
BATTLE CREEK — By virtue of a couple of tough losses in matches that were
arguably toss ups coming into Friday’s Division IV state team quarterfinals,
Mason County Central’s dual season is over.
The Spartans won six bouts and second-ranked and defending state champion
Whittemore-Prescott won eight and the latter school got the win, 31-27.
“I think we wrestled okay. I was a little worried about the long bus ride;
we left at six
this morning,” Central coach Jack Stibitz said. The meet was held at the
Kellogg Arena in
downtown Battle Creek.
“I can’t ask them to wrestle any better. They’re down here for the first
time. They
wrestled the defending state champions,” Stibitz said.
“(Whittemore-Prescott) has been
here before; they know what it’s all about.”
Now, so does Mason County Central, which ends its dual season with a 27-6
record.
Whittemore-Prescott advances to Saturday’s semifinal round where it will
face
top-ranked Dundee.
The trip to the quarters was a first for the Spartans.
“I never actually knew that we were going to make it down here. Hesperia
is always
tough. It’s a dream just to be here,” said Stibitz.
Central’s six match victories were by Jeremy Larsen at 112 pounds, Tim
Fisk at 119,
Evan Lundberg at 145, Jason Fairfield at 160, Nate Oliver at 215 and Jacob
Huggard at
275. Larsen and Oliver pinned their opponents, Huggard won by forfeit and
Fisk,
Lundberg and Fairfield posted decision wins.
Key matches that Central lost were at 135, 171 and 189. In all three
bouts, the
Spartans were ahead before losing at 135 and 171 via pins and by a decision
at 189.
At 135, Dan Morley pinned Andy Sanford at 2:26. Morley ran his season
record to
45-3. Sanford fell to 35-13.
In the 171-pound match, Central’s Jose Torres scored a first-period
takedown over
Whittemore-Prescott’s Jeff Pastoric and led 2-0 after one period.
In the second period, Pastoric scored a pin at the 34-second mark.
Pastoric improved
his record to 29-2 and Torres dropped to 18-15.
At 189, Central’s Ed Cheladyn lost to Whittemore-Prescott’s Josh McGeathy.
Cheladyn got the initial takedown in the match but McGeathy tied the score
by the end of
the first period with a reversal.
In the second period, McGeathy had another reversal and he added three
more points
in the third period to win 7-2.
Two of the bright spots for Central were the performances of Lundberg and
Fairfield.
“ I thought Evan Lundberg just wrestled great at (145) because he normally
wrestles at
140,” said Stibitz.
Lundberg, who entered the day with a 38-14 record, was paired with Carl
Erickson,
who came in at 34-6.
Lundberg was down 2-0 after one period and 2-1 after two. He dominated the
third
period and won the match 10-4.
“Jason Fairfield, with his broken foot and all, was outstanding,” said
Stibitz.
Fairfield, now 40-8, wrestled Brian Arndt, who was 1-1.
Despite having to take a couple of injury timeouts, Fairfield dominated
the bout. He led
4-2 after one period and 7-2 after two. The final score was 7-4.
“Jason broke it the day before individual districts started. The man is
just outstanding.
You can’t ask him to do any more,” said Stibitz.
Midway through the dual, Whittemore-Prescott held a 19-9 lead and Stibitz
was
hoping his team wouldn’t get leveled by the Cardinals, who qualified for the
quarterfinal
by crushing New Lothrop 62-15 and St. Charles 78-3.
“I was kind of afraid of that at one point in time. You never how you’re
going to
wrestle when you get down here at the big place,” Stibitz said. “We did
okay. We
weren’t too bad.
“I’m proud of the boys and the girls. We’re the only team down that starts
two girls.
That’s not too shabby.”
Sandra Padron and Jamie Alvesteffer both lost but wrestled well. Padron
lost to a 2-1
decision to Ollie Birkenbach at 103 pounds and Alvesteffer dropped a 6-1
decision to
Kevin Turner at 125 pounds.
“Both girls wrestled well. They both lost by decision. That’s not bad.
They only gave
up three (team) points each,” said Stibitz.
Next year, Central will have some rebuilding to do, but it won’t be a
major overhaul,
according to Stibitz.
“I graduate five starters but I think I’ll have everybody else back,” said
Stibitz. “We’ll
have to fill in a couple weight classes.”
Toughest to fill will be 215 where Nate Oliver, now 43-4, will graduate.
“Nate leaves a big hole. Jacob Huggard will fit right in at 215 and then
Tim
Sommerfeldt, who was 22-3, comes in at 275.
“Granted, it’s hard to lose the guy who holds every record in school, but
Jacob is going
to step in and fill that up real well.
“I hate to see some of the seniors end their season but that’s okay. We
still have
individual state finals.”
Next weekend, Central will send eight wrestlers to the Division IV
individual team
finals at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
The meet summary:
Whittemore-Prescott 31,
Mason County Central 27
103 — Ollie Birkenbach (WP) dec. Sandra Padron (MCC), 8-4.
112 — Jeremy Larsen (MCC) pinned Matt Bieri (WP), 3:23.
119 — Tim Fisk (MCC) dec. Max Wilkins (WP), 2-0.
125 — Kevin Turner (WP) dec. Jamie Alvesteffer (MCC), 6-1.
130 — Adam Cunningham (WP) maj. dec. Mike George (MCC), 10-1.
135 — Dan Morley (WP) pinned Andrew Sanford (MCC), 2:26.
140 — Ryan Erickson (WP) dec. Brett Goda (MCC), 6-2.
145 — Evan Lundberg (MCC) dec. Carl Erickson (WP), 10-4.
152 — Travis Sears (WP) dec. Chris Luttrell (MCC), 6-0.
160 — Jason Fairfield (MCC) dec. Brian Arndt (WP), 7-4.
171 — Jeff Pastoric (WP) pinned Jose Torres (MCC), 3:26.
189 — Josh McGeathy (WP) dec. Edward Cheladyn (MCC), 7-2.
215 — Nate Oliver (MCC) pinned Derek Love (WP), 2:54.
275 — Jacob Huggard (MCC) won by forfeit.
