Dan Stickradt
Sports Scene
BATTLE CREEK — Comebacks come in all forms in the arena of sports. Richmond’s vaunted comeback at the wrestling team state finals was one for the ages.
Second-ranked Richmond toppled top-seeded Dundee at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena to earn the Division 3 state championship — and it did it in dramatic fashion.
Richmond (32-5) lost to Dundee in the last two Division 3 finals and trailed 25-15 with two weight classes to go this year. But the Blue Devils picked up back-to-back pins for 12 points and a come-from-behind, 27-25, victory over the eight-time state champion Vikings.
“What an unbelievable comeback,” admitted Richmond coach Brandon Day, whose team was competing in its sixth straight Division 3 state finals. “We knew we had to have pins the last two matches to beat them, and our guys came through.”
Roy Costello pinned Dan Jaworski in only 31 seconds at 103 pounds, while Connor Behem stuck Dundee’s Harry Wallace to the mat in 1:07 in the meet-closing 112-pound battle to cap the heroic comeback and give the Blue Devils their seventh state title and first since 2012.
“I can’t say enough about Connor Behem. He weighed around 130 pounds during the soccer season, and he dropped all that weight down to 112 for us this season. To come in here and get a pin in the very last match for us to win the state championship says a lot about the type of kid that he is,” said Day. “It says a lot about the character of the kids on this team. We were down 13 points with three matches to go. If we lose one of those matches, Dundee wins the state championship.”
Veteran Dundee coach Tim Roberts knew that no lead is safe against an opponent like Richmond. “We would love to blow them out and not have it go down to the last couple matches, but that’s never going to happen. Every time we wrestle each other, it’s going to be a close match,” offered Roberts. “We needed to get more bonus points today, and we did’t do it. We needed another pin. We won eight of the 14 weight classes and Richmond won six, but they got more bonus points and were able to beat us and become state champions.”
Dundee (25-6) was ranked No. 1 the whole season and was going for its third straight crown. The Vikings never trailed the Blue Devils until the end, coming one match short of a three-peat.
After being tied early at 3-3, Dundee built a 16-6 advantage through seven matches and led by a score of 25-12 with three matches to go.
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com