2008 MHSAA Individual State Finals
Championship Semifinals Notebook
March 7, 2008 - Palace of Auburn Hills
by Sean Garner
Michigan Grappler
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9:45 - Just like Zach Johnson, Josh Swanson of Madison Heights Lamphere has come from a knee injury to the state finals. Only Swanson actually tore his ACL in January only to turn around finish at least in the top two of his weight class. Swanson beat Ruben Salinas of Hamilton in the semifinals and will now face Corey Woodruff of Pinconning at DIII 152. He will have surgery after the season.
For the second year in a row, Jake Dorulla of Rockford will have to wrestle a Hartland Eagle in the finals this time for the 145 lb. crown. The talented sophomore will look to better his second place finish of a year ago when he lost at 135 to Owen Wilkinson after beating Anchor Bay's Joey Yost in the semis 9-4. His next opponent, Jeremy Bommarito did not have it so easy, needing a last second escape to defeat Steve Coak of Belleville 4-3.
It will be a rematch of the Conference, District and Regional finals at 152 in Division I, as Jake Varilek of Lake Orion will take on Nick Kaczanowski of Rochester. Varilek had a tougher-than-expected 6-4 decision against C.J. Barton of Bay City Western. Varilek has beaten Kaczanowski every time this season, but it has gotten closer each time they have wrestled.
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9:30 - Jackson Morse of Lowell advanced to the finals by beating Garrett Rozeboom of Mason in a 10-6 match that certainly lived up to the hype. Morse will now take on Brennan Brumley of Warren Woods Tower who by a 22-7 technical fall over Chase Baxter of Parma Western, setting up a match of two of the finest pound-for-pound wrestlers in the entire state.
In DIII 145 lb. action, returning state champion Brian Hittle was upset by Calib Rought of Shelby.
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9:15 - Zach Johnson of Rockford is one match away from completing his improbable run from 17-8 fourth place winner at regionals with a bum knee to Division I state champion. The road has not been easy for Johnson, who pinned Grant Ankney with only one second remaining in the match, as he has had to deal with one of the toughest draws in the entire tournament at perhaps its deepest weight class.
Johnson will now face Christian Cullinan of Wyandotte Roosevelt, who scrambled hard to avoid a last second takedown by Josh houldswoth of Holly. Cullinan won the match 5-4.
9:00 - Sorry guys, I';m back.
Little Brennan Lyon advanced to the championship round in D4, beating his teamate James Carey 4-3. As has been documented, Lyon came in not only as fourth place winner at regionals, but also giving up over 20 pounds to most of his opponents.
More recently, the collision course at DI 125 is set as Jeremiah Austin of John Glenn and Zac Stevens of Monroe cruised through their respective halves of the bracket. The two have met several time already this season, with Austin winning all but the most recent showdown at individual regionals where Stevens pinned Austin in the first period.
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Sorry guys, I will have step away for a little bit. I will be back in a while, keeping you updated on all the semifinal action here at the Palace.
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8:10 - Mike Martin showed he is no longer just a football player who also wrestles with his dominating victory over Brett Correll of Eisenhower. Martin pushed Correll all over the mat as he cruised to a 17-6 victory.
Michael Schaibly of Caledonia pulled one big trick out of his bag, throwing and pinning Milan's David Box in the third period after Schaibly had been trailing 8-2. Schaibly will take on Kenyon Ellison of Niles who who picked up his 100th victory in the semifinals over Blake Beals of Charlotte.
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8:00 - Marcel Dubose got pushed for a while by Saline's Nick Barnett before letting loose and dominating the last period to win by a final score of 14-5. Dubose will face MItch Zajac of Holt, who beat Joe Kinville of Detroit Catholic Central 4-2.
Chris Reeves of Ferndale took advantage of a stalling call against Oxford's Zach Line with two seconds remaining that sent the match into overtime. Reeves scored a takedown in overtime to win 5-3.
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7:50 - 189 in Division I has been one of the most intriguing weight classes all weekend, and the semifinals did nothing to change that.
In one semifinal, Raylen Davis of Royal Oak scored a controversial takedown in the final thirty seconds to take a 6-5 lead and then followed that up with a cradle to add three more points for the final score of 9-5. Davis will take on Evan Gros of Lake Orion who won another nailbiter, this one, a 6-5 decision over George Andary of East Detroit.
L.J. Helbig of Mason nearly saw his undefeated season fall apart, barely rolling through a Stavon Owens lateral drop to win 4-1.
Kyler Elsworth and Celic Bell each dominated their semifinal matches, setting up a star-studded final bout in DIII.
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7:35 - Kameron Jackson and Ben Bennett will both be looking to repeat as State Champions.
Jackson pulled away late in his match Ryan Piper of Onsted to win 14-7. He will take on Kyle March of Goodrich who won in triple overtime, 7-7, over Camron Thomson of Frankenmuth.
Bennett thoroughly dominated Kyle Summerfield of Hartland, though I could not quite see the final score, nor anything that happened in the match between Josh Meinzer of Jenison and Adam Lauzun of Clarkston. Sorry.
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7:25 - Marquee finals matchups are set for Divisions I, II, and III at 160 pounds.
Division I will showcase national takedown king Jake Bohn of East Kentwood taking on defending state champ Alex Ortman of Temperance Bedford. Bohn beat Ziad Karbush 7-3 while Ortman took care of Joe Graffeo of Lake Orion 6-1.
The west side will dominate the Division II final where we will see Adam Miller of Sparta look to improve upon his second place finish of last year against Lowell's Ryan Olep. Olep won a tough contest over fellow sophomore John Rizgallah of Allegan 5-2.
In DIII, it will be Chris Eggert looking to defend his state title against national Greco-Roman 2nd placer Michael Curby of Hillsdale. David Johnson of Tri-County kept it scorless against Eggert until Eggert scored a reversal in the final minute for the sole points in a 2-0 decision.
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6:35pm - The 160 & 171lb semifinalists are starting to flood the warmup area here at The Palace as we are less than 30 minutes away from what many people consider the best round of high school wrestling of the year. Action will be getting underway at 7:00 starting with 160lbs in all divisions.
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