Individual State Finals Recap
2008 MHSAA Individual State Finals
Palace of Auburn Hills - March 6-8
DIVISION 2
103 -- We said coming in that this weight was wide open and up for grabs between a few solid young wrestlers, however, Avondale's Victor Vettese proved that statement wrong as he wrestled like a frontrunner, dominating his way to the title. A 9-3 win in the finals over Mevldinale's Yahia capped off a marvelous freshman campaign for Vettese and finally got his family over the state title hump (older brother Angelo was 4x placer/2x finalist but never won it all before solid college career at Univ of Findlay). Charlotte freshman Josh Zaluga was one of the big 1st round upsets as he lost to Steve Krchatovich, however, he stormed back and almost accomplished the 5-match comeback for 3rd but fell short losing to Justin Cashen in the 3rd place match
112 -- Greenville sophomore Tyler Keselring made it 2 for 2 as he will now begin to get mentioned in the 4xer discussions. Keselring, who looked dominant en route to the title, got his biggest scare in the semifinals when Eaton Rapids' dangerous freshman Chris Dormer threw him to his back right out the gates in the first period. Keslering narrlowly escaped danger and came back to get the fall over Dormer, moving onto the finals and inevitably winning it all again. It was an all-Mason semifinal on the side opposite to Keselring as sophomore Tony Burge upset freshman phenom Conor Youtsey in overtime, giving Youtsey his first and only loss of the year.
119 -- This weight, which many consiedered a two-horse race coming in, proved much deeper than many thought. Andrew Stepanovich of Forest Hills Northern was one of the biggest suprises of the tournament as he advanced to the finals out of a half-bracket that contained two undefeated wrestlers in Bret Marsh (returning champ) and Greg Egbert (3rd last year). First Egbert was knocked off in the first round by Justin Garza of Eaton Rapids in a controversial decision where the officials came back and overturned the match outcome, giving Garza the win. Then Stepanovich squeeked by Garza 7-6 in the quarterfinals, while Marsh narrowly defeated Matt Watson of Hastings 1-0 to set up a Stepanovich-Marsh semifinal. In a huge upset and wild match that saw Marsh on his back, Stepanovich advanced to the finals. In the finals he wrestled another stud in Allegan's all-state junior Steve Poffenberger. Once again Stepanovich was unfavored going in and once again he came away with a win - a 6-4 decision to make him one of the most improbable state champs of the Division 2 tournament.
125 -- Steve Light of St Clair Shores Lakeview silenced the debate about who the best 125lber in D2 was. In one of most anticiapted quarterfinal matchups he survived an Josh Dormer attack to come back and knock off the former state champ. After that it was smooth sailing as Light picked up two first period falls in the semis and finals to lock up his state title.
130 -- Mike Leholm of Jackson Northwest entered this weekend as a darkhorse, at best, after finishing 4th at the Charlotte regional two weeks ago. However, the Charlotte regional proved its worth as the state semifinals featured all the qualifiers out of that region. LeHolm knocked off his regional's champ Nick Humes of Lakeshore in the semis and then finished it off with a finals win over Max Smith of Sturgis in a rematch of their regional 3rd place match. The top 4 placers in the state ended up being all the qualifiers from Charlotte's region.
135 -- Craig Eifert's performance left little doubt that he is one of the top wrestlers coming back next year in Division 2. The Mason junior's closest match came in round 1 when he won 2-0 over Sean Bagby of Tecumseh (who came all the way back to finish 3rd). Eifert then picked up a fall, 11-2 major decision, and 9-3 finals win over Andy Krchatovich of Allegan to win his 2nd state title.
140 -- This was one of the must-see weights of the D2 tournament as Brennan Brumley and Jackson Morse both upset now 4xer Mark Weber earlier this year. You take Brumley and Morse, both returning runners-up, and add in returning champ Garrett Rozeboom of Mason and this was a star-studded weight. Morse looked solid in the semis as he controlled Rozeboom to advance to the finals while Brumley cruised to hold up his end of the deal. The finals match ended up being a rout by the time it was over as Lowell's Morse won with authority securing an 11-4 major decision in one the best matches of the tournament. Morse, just a sophomore, now solidifies himself as one of the best young prospects in Michigan.
145 - Deven Brown of Carleton Airport entered as the favorite, however, their were alot of solid threats to knock him off the podium in Jordan Miller, Nathan Beyer, Martin Bell, Tim Gingerich, Zack Carr, etc. Brown took care of business as get got past Carr and Miller to make the finals where he earned a hard fought win over Lowell's Tim Gingerich in overtime. The win makes it two years in a row for Airport crowning a champ after Ronnie Szuch won it at 152 last year.
152 - Lowell's Justin Boss did not enter this weekend as a favorite to win the state title, but I dont think anyone told him that. Boss, who came in with a 25-6 record, not only won the 152lb title, but did it in a somewhat dominant fashion. Only one of his bouts (quarterfinals) went the entire six minutes as Boss racked up a first round tech fall and two pins in the semis and finals. Eaton Rapids' Devin Milheim entered as the favorite here but was upset in the quartefinals by Brian Plummer of Byron Center, who Boss pinned in the semis.
160 - Junior Adam Miller of Sparta made a return trip to the finals this year, but came away with the title this time around after finishing runner up a year ago. This weight featured many highlight matchups throughout as Lowell sophomore Ryan Olep went from his 3rd place regional finish to the state finals. Olep downed another super sophomore in John Rizgallah of Allegan in the semis 5-3. Rizgallah upset previously undefeated Phil Joseph of Lapeer East in the quarterfinals. Miller, meanwhile, cruised to the semis where he downed Matt Bell of Eaton Rapids 4-2. Bell beat Will Machuta of Mt Pleasant in the quarters and Machuta picked up a hige upset of Highland Park's Stephen Patterson in the opening round. Wow, exciting weight class that was fun to watch.
171 - Jacob Burge was in a class of his own. The Mason senior dominated his way through this bracket with 4 falls and 0 offensive points allowed. Burge, a senior, is now a 2x champ and will take his talents south to wrestle for North Carolina State next year.
189 - Another Mason senior who entered the tournament heavily favored, LJ Helbig won ended his career with his first state title. Helbig's road to the title was not quite as smooth as Burge's as he survived a semifinal scare when Highland Park's Stavon Owens nearly rolled through a Helbig throw on the edge of the mat, but Helbig came out on top, won the match and dominated his finals opponent en route to the title.
215 - The movie Prefontaine says: "By an inch or a mile, winning is winning" and Ferndale's Chris Reeves must be a believer in that quote. Reeves, who had a rough road to the finals, survived overtime in the quarters and semis over Wayne Blair and Zach Line before winning 3-1 in the finals over Mason sophomore Nick Mcdiarmid. In the finals Reeves scored a takedown litterally at the final buzzer to avoid his 3rd straight overtime session and win the title.
285 - Niles' Kenyon Ellison cruised to the finals to set up the heavyweight finals match that many wanted to see between him and Michael Schaibly of Caledonia. Ellison looked solid as he downed Schaibly 4-1 to end his career on the top of the medal stand. An interesting note, half of the state qualifiers in this weight were juniors and will return next year, including 3 of the medallists (not typical for heavyweight).
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