2008 MHSAA Individual State Finals
Session #1 Notebook
March 6, 2008 - Palace of Auburn Hills
by Sean Garner
Michigan Grappler
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Final Update - Detroit Catholic Central’s Shea Hasenauer controlled one of the most enticing first round matchups, beating Jake Johnson of Rockford 6-1. Hasenauer beat Johnson with aggressive low singles and terrific riding on top.
In Division I 145, West Ottawa’s Bobby Blank survived a ferocious upset bid from Rochester’s Tim Pettit, winning 8-7 in double overtime. Blank scored a reversal in the first thirty second period of double overtime, and allowed Pettit to escape in the next period before shooting a low single in order to prevent an attack by Pettit. The match was active throughout and definitely one of the most entertaining of the first session.
Hesperia’s Dan Yates remains unbeaten after a methodical 9-1 victory over Payden Armstrong of Jonesville. Yates won the Division IV championship at 145 in 2007 and will attempt to capture the title at 152 in 2008.
Jake Varilek of Lake Orion showed why many consider him the class of the 152 lb. weight class in Division I as he systematically pounded Reyes Saldana of Davison, building a huge lead before pinning Saldana in the third period.
It was his brother Josh’s turn last week, now Zach Shaw of Holt is taking the opportunity to beat up on Temperance Bedford’s Patrick Nusbaum. After Josh Shaw beat Nusbaum in last week Team State Finals 15-4, Zach turns around and drubs Nusbaum 12-1. Shaw will now have the task trying to thwart Jake Varilek’s run to the state title.
It has been an amazing day of wrestling, and at times, it has been bizarre. We have seen at least two separate undefeated wrestlers lose their first matches. We will not have to wait long for the action to pick up as there are several quarterfinal matchups that are state championship quality. It should a very long, very good day of competition.
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7:30 - Billy Osborne of Temperance Bedford scored the only takedown of his opening round match with Ryan McKenna of Davison to secure a 3-1 victory at 130 lbs. in Division I. D1 130 is one of the deepest weight classes in the whole tournament with several exciting early round matchups. Osborne’s will face Zach Johnson of Rockford in the quarterfinals tomorrow. Johnson knocked off regional champion Nick Bara of Romeo in the first round. At 17-8 and a fourth place finish at regionals, Johnson may not have the most imposing resume this season, but he is very experienced, making his third trip to the Palace. He is also just coming back to full form from a knee injury. He has all the talent to make a run at the gold.
Chad Reiber of Chesaning improved to 49-1 with a dominating second period pin of Dundee’s Brad Wade at 135. Reiber placed fourth at 125 last season and is a legitimate threat to stop Mark Weber’s streak of three straight state championships. Weber also advanced today, beating Brandon Case of Portland.
Riley Ewalt just finished a dominating technical fall performance over Chris Stevenson of Jonesville. Ewalt won last year at 130 in Division IV, and is looking for the 140 lb. crown in 2008.
Previously unbeaten Greg Egbert of Ypisilanti lost his first match today after walking away thinking he had won his fiftieth contest. After Egbert’s hard fought decision with Justin Garza of Eaton Rapids, Egbert had his hand raised. Yet after the match, coaches from Eaton Rapids appealed the decision and won, giving Garza the 5-4 victory. The match can not be appealed any further.
Davison’s Justin McDermitt proved last week’s domination of Koort Leyrer was no fluke, dominating the Holt junior even worse than he did during the semifinals at Team States, when McDermitt won 13-3.
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6:25pm - The 119 lb. bracket in Division IV features two state champions. Jon Hayward of Marlette, the champion at 119 in 2007, remains alive for a title, beating Josh Duncan of Munising, 7-0. I missed Allen Krupp of New Lothrop, but he is the returning champion at 112 lbs.
The 112s from Mason are enjoying a quite successful first session. Tony Burge came through with one of the upsets of the session, beating returning runner-up Herm Gillum by a narrow 5-4 margin. Freshman 112 pounder Connor Youtsey continued his unbeaten season with a first period pin of Austin Rymarz from Linden.
It only took returning state champ Pete Rendina of Dundee to grab a 6-1 lead over Darrin Crowder of Chippewa Hills. Rendina would tack on some more and win 12-3 to advance to the quarterfinals.
We have a Davison-Rockford battle going on at 125lbs. Returning all-stater Zach Davis and Rockford's Ian Martin are 1-0 with 1:30 left in the bout. Martin scored a takedown with under a minute to go to take a 3-2 lead. With the score 4-2 and under :30 to go Martin got hit for not 1, but 2 stall calls to tie the match and send it to overtime. In overtime Davis defended another Martin shot attempt and spun around for the win that garnered a lot of boos from the D1 section. Davis survived and will now wrestle the winner of Watkins and Bunting.
Matt Hoodhood of GR Forest Hills Northern just held off a third period rally from former all-stater Justin Sklapsky of Eaton Rapids. Hoodhood won 8-5.
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5:50 - Ithaca’s Brennan Lyon is a four-time freestyle and greco-roman all-american who is just now, in his junior year wrestling at in the state meet. Why? Lyon, a national placer at 84 pounds has always been too small for the highest level of high school wrestling. Not anymore. Lyon won his first round match over regional champion Dakota Kelley of Hudson, 7-3 to advance to the quarterfinals in Division IV, leaving him only one match short of being able to place an all-state medal on his mantle next to his all-american hardware.
In Division III at 103, Bullock Creek freshman Derek Camelliri used a three-point tilt to upend 50-1 regional champion Mark Loveland of Delton Kellogg.
What is certain to be one of the most exciting matches of the day occurred on Mat 7 at 103 in Division III as Reed City’s Steven Ruppert barely avoided a reversal at the end of his match with Goodrich’s C.C. Weber, sister of prospective four-time state titlist Mark Weber. Weber is aiming to become just the second female to place at the Individual State Finals.
One of the more intriguing quarterfinal matches will take place in Division I at 112 lbs. Two-time 103 lb. champion Kyle Waldo of Rockford pinned Grosse Pointe North’s Jon Chow in a stack in the second period. His next opponent will be Justin Fleeson of Belleville, who took second at 112 last season and beat his first opponent, Milford’s Devon Boria, by technical fall, 23-8
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4:45 - Montrose’s Brandon Boone was carried off Mat 8 in a stretcher wearing a brace around his neck. After showing few signs of motion for nearly a half hour, Boone raised his arm to the crowd as he left the floor. Michigan Grappler wishes the very best to Boone, and we will try to report updates on his condition as soon as we know.
Ben Bennett cruised through his first round match, beating Thornton Carter of Grosse Pointe South by technical fall, 24-8. Bennett’s next match will come against returning 5th place winner Matt Skzypczak of Bay City Central who beat Devin Duncan of Monroe, 4-2.
Bay City John Glenn sophomore Brandon Wrzesinski just saw his hopes for an undefeated state championship come to and end as he lost 12-9 to Tim Newman of Stevensville Lakeshore. Newman will now face Benjamin Hand of Ypisilanti who beat Nate Vaught in a hotly contested 5-3 match.
Lake Orion’s Evan Gros used stong riding skills to knock off his Oakland Athletic Association I rival Bryant Craft of Clarkston, 6-2 at 189 lbs. Craft had beaten Gros in both the dual between the Dragons and the Wolves and the conference tournament.
Mike Connors of Buchanon advanced to the quarterfinals of the Div. 3 215 bracket by injury default. At the time of the default however, Connors was only leading 4-3 in the second overtime period over Otisville-Lakeville’s Donald Whitehead.
Allendale’s Jeff Beebe remains undefeated at 215 lbs. with a first period pin of Ida freshman Justin Heiserman.
Oak Park’s Marcel Dubose has had a smooth adjustment from D3 to D1 as he pinned Nick Scalici of Utica Ford II in the second period after already building a 15-2 lead. Dubose, a transfer from Highland Park, is 34-0 and going for his third state championship.
Dubose will be joined in the quarterfinals by his teammate, DiMarco Scarber, who defeated Jason Finney of Rochester Adams in a 2-1 double overtime decision.
Defending state champion Mike Martin of Detroit Catholic Central is showing no hangover from his upset loss at regionals, as he earned first period pin of Mason Cole of Temperance Bedford
Hesperia’s Rudy Spaulding pinned John Johnson of Fulton-Middleton in the first period to remain undefeated in pursuit of his first state title after placing fourth in a very tough bracket in 2007.
The little guys are getting ready to hit the mat...
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4:15pm - In one of the more anticipated first round match-ups of the Division II 160 bracket, Ryan Olep of Lowell downed Dan Anderson of Mason with strong riding on top and a third period takedown to win 4-0. Olep will next take on Larry Cervantes of Allen Park who narrowly avoided an upset at the hands of Sault Ste. Marie’s Lucas Flygare by securing a takedown with ten seconds remaining to win 8-7.
The first defending state champion in action remains in the hunt for another title, as Temperance Bedford’s Alex Ortman, last year’s Division I 152 lb. champion, dominated Harris Matti of Troy Athens by the score of 13-1.
Regional champ Matt Bell of Eaton Rapids hung on to beat Tyler Fuller of Greenville. Bell will now face Will Machuta of Mt. Pleasant who just upset once-beaten Stephen Patterson of Highland Park in dominating fashion, 15-5.
Returning Champ Kameron Jackson of South Haven remains unbeaten after hitting Brandon Boone of Montrose in a modified cement mixer to pin him in 12 seconds. On a serious note, Boone’s future in the tournament remains in serious doubt as he remains motionless in the middle of Mat 8. He has been there for over ten minutes and is being attended to by his coaches and multiple medical staff.
Cody Orzula of Lakewood survived a late flurry from Logan Renas to hold on 5-4 and advance to the Division III 171 lb. quarterfinals.
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2:30pm - It is twenty after 2:00 and we are here at the
Palace getting ready for the beginning of the 2008 Individual
State Finals. All the wrestlers are lining up for the Grand
March, the ceremony to open the largest high school
wrestling tournament in the country.
Jacob Burge of Mason and Ben Bennett of Rockford will
lead the march bearing the Michigan and American flags
respectively. Burge and Bennett, both 171 pounders will
then quickly have to turn around and prepare for their first
round matches, as the action for the first round and the
whole tournament will start at 160 pounds.
Among the first wrestlers called to their mat will be: national
takedown record holder Jake Bohn of East Kentwood,
undefeated Division II wrestlers Phillip Joseph and Adam Miller of Sparta, and two-time State runner-up Chris Eggert of Dundee. It should be a heck of a start to the biggest weekend of the year in Michigan high school wrestling.
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