Article - High School Sports Scene

David Cook
Sports Scene
While they may not have 12 state titles consecutively like Division 2 Lowell, the Hudson Tigers did rack up their 12th team state wrestling title since 2009 as the Tigers defeated the combined team from Martin/Climax-Scotts 45-25 to win the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) Division 4 team wrestling title at Kalamazoo.
For Hudson, the title was the fourth D4 state title in a row. Hudson also won three consecutive Division 4 titles from 20-17 through 2019 and reeled off five consecutive D4 state titles from 2009 through 2013.
This year’s title was a hard-earned win as the Martin/Climax-Scotts squad put up a tough fight.
The Martin squad took the initial lead in the match when Urijah Joostberns opened the match with a pin at 113 pounds giving Martin/Climax-Scotts an early 6-0 lead.
Th Martin lead grew to 12-0 when Logan Gilbert followed with a win by injury default at 120 pounds.
Trailing by a dozen points early, the Tigers came roaring back with four consecutive wins. Colt Perry put the first Hudson points on the scoreboard when he needed just 37 seconds to record at fall at 126 pounds.
Hudson then trimmed the deficit to one point as Nicholas Sorrow won by technical fall at 132 pounds.
The Tigers then took the lead at 138 pounds when Beckett Campbell on by fall at 138 pounds. The Hudson lead then grew to 21-12 when Julien Kimling won by major decision at 144 pounds.
Martin, however, refused to fold and battled back in a big way. At 150 pounds, Haylen Buell of Martin came up with a win by major decision to trim the margin to 21-16. The Martin/Climax-Scotts squad then tied the match at 157 pounds where Jack Bagwell won by technical fall to tie the contest at 21-21.
As the dual went into the upper weights, the Tigers began to take control of the match. At 165 pounds, Jacob Pickford turned in a first-period fall to put Hudson up 27-21. That pin was followed by a technical fall from Devon Brigman at 175 pounds that put the Tigers up 32-21. At 190 pounds, Hudson’s Barron Mansfield and Martin’s Malcolm Smith hooked up in the best bout of the dual. Mansfield came up the winner as the Tiger claimed a 2-0 win to give Hudson a 35-21 lead heading into the final three matches of the dual.
The Martin/Climax-Scotts team remained alive in the dual when at 215 pounds Sam Bleeker won by a major decision cutting the Hudson lead to 35-25.
Hudson, however, clinched the match in the next bout. That was where Malachi Marshall won by pin at heavyweight putting the Tigers up 41-25. Jaxton Kimling added a major decision for Hudson at 106 pounds making the final score 45-25 for Hudson.

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Butch Harmon
Sports Scene
When a wrestling team in Division 3 in the state of Michigan is ranked among the top 30 team in the entire nation, the question is not if that team is going to win a state title, but by how much. That was the situation at the Division 3 Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) team state wrestling finals this year.
Not only did Dundee come into the finals ranked No. 1 in Division 3 in Michigan, but the Vikings were ranked in the mid-20s nationally in various high school national team rankings.
Dundee was also looking to add an eighth consecutive Division 3 team state championship and the only thing that was in doubt was the points that the Vikings would accumulate during the finals.
In the end, Dundee outscored its three opponents in the finals by a total score of 221-6. Dundee claimed the trophy in the finals with a 74-0 win against second-seed Yale. The Vikings reached the finals with a 72-0 win against fourth-seed Allegan in the semifinals and opened the tournament with a 75-6 win against West Branch Ogema Heights.
Dundee wrestlers were absolutely dominant in the title match. The Vikings opened the match against Yale with consecutive wins by technical fall by Mason Katschor (113 pounds), Haydn Nutt (120) and Bryan Sterling (126).
At 132 pounds, Braden Broderick delivered six points for the Vikings with a pin. That fall was followed by a pair of technical falls by Wyatt Burns (138) and Stone Redmon (144).
The middle of the Dundee lineup then delivered four consecutive pins. Blake Cosby started the run of pins at 150 pounds followed by falls from Jeremy Amrhein (157), Donny Beaufait (165) and Kole Katschor (175).
Dundee then wrapped up its eighth straight state title in impressive fashion. At 190 pounds Owen Motylinski won by major decision. Rocco Redmon won by pin at 215 pounds, Austin Miller won by a major decision at heavyweight and in the final bout of the match Scott Kohlman won by technical fall at 106 pounds.
While state title number eight was impressive and the bar was set high, next year’s edition of the Dundee wrestling team has even more potential. Dundee’s starting lineup had just one senior and with 13 starters returning along with a deep pool of backups at every weight class, the Vikings will be looking to rack up even more impressive numbers as they set their sights on a ninth straight Division 3 state title.

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David Cook
Sports Scene
The Division 2 Michigan High School Athletic Association team wrestling title dual between Lowell and Fowlerville was a combination of surprise and business as usual.
For Lowell, which defeated Fowlerville 52-14, it was business as usual as the Red Arrows claimed their 12th consecutive Division 2 team wrestling state title. For Fowlerville, reaching the final match was the surprise of the tournament as the Gladiators entered the D2 finals as the seventh seed.
Fowlerville proved those seeds were just numbers. The Gladiators opened the tournament by defeating the No. 2 seed, Freeland, 40-29 in the quarterfinals. Fowlerville then continued breaking the bracket when it turned back No. 3 seed New Boston Huron 43-30 in the semifinals. Taking down the top-seeded Red Arrows proved to be an elusive hurdle as the top-ranked and nationally-ranked Lowell team controlled the title match.
Lowell started the title match by piling up points in a big way. The Red Arrows won the first nine bouts of the finals including three matches by fall and four by technical fall.
Carson Blum started the match with a first-period fall at 113 pounds. The Red Arrows then picked up back-to-back major decisions by Jarrett Smith (120 pounds) and Cole Cichocki (126).
The Lowell lead then expanded to 26-0 with pins from Carter Cichocki at 132 pounds and Jackson Blum at 138 pounds.
The Red Arrows kept the wins flowing as Logan Dawson (144), Trevor Boone (150), Seth Harvey (157) and Owen Segorski (165) all won by technical fall in the next four matches as the Lowell lead grew to 46-0.
Fowlerville snapped the Lowell win streak at 175 pounds. That was where Brock Foster won by a major decision to give the Gladiators their first points of the match.
Lowell added its final points of the dual at 190 pounds where Casey Engle won by a decision and in the final match of the dual John Carter McKay won a decision at 106 pounds.
Fowlerville, which rode the power of its upper weights to the state finals, picked up wins at 215 and 285 pounds. At 215 pounds Layne O’Neal won a major decision while at 285 pounds Liam O’Neil won by fall.
Lowell, which has wrestled in the Division 2 state championship match every year since 2012, won all three of its matches at the team finals in impressive fashion. The Red Arrows began the team final by turning back Warren Woods-Tower 50-20 in the quarterfinals. Lowell then stopped fourth-seeded Three Rivers 55-19 in the semifinal round.

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Butch Harmon
Sports Scene
A pair of familiar rivals met in the finals of the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) Division 1 team wrestling championship in Kalamazoo. Detroit Catholic Central and Davison have dominated Division 1 wrestling for the last several years and that domination continued at this year’s finals. In the end, Detroit Catholic Central was the last team standing as the Shamrocks defeated Davison 50-18 in the title match.
The D1 title was the third consecutive state title for the Catholic Central and the seventh D1 state title in the past nine years. Since 2017, either Detroit Catholic Central or Davison have won the D1 state title while one of the two teams has finished second five times since 2017. For Detroit Catholic Central, the title was the seventh since 2017 while Davison has won two Division 1 titles.
This year’s state final saw a close match in the early going before Detroit Catholic Central began to pull away.
Steve Vaughn staked Davison to an early lead with a pin at 113 pounds. Catholic Central then tied the dual when Ryan Totten delivered at pin for the Shamrocks at 120 pounds.
Catholic Central then surged ahead with a pair of wins in the next two matches. Wyatt Lees recorded a pin for the Shamrocks at 126 while Mack Moscovic of Catholic Central won by major decision at 132 pounds to put the Shamrocks up 16-6.
Davison trimmed the deficit to 16-12 at 138 pounds where Calvin Martz picked up a pin in less than a minute.
That was as close at the Cardinals would get, however, as Catholic Central wrestlers won the next three matches.
Grayson Fuchs started the run with a decision at 144 pounds. Alexander Buskirk followed with a major decision at 150 pounds for the Shamrocks and then Braxten Roche won by a decision at 157 pounds giving Catholic Central a 26-12 lead.
Davison stopped the run at 165 pounds. That was when Kyle Jelinek recorded a pin to cut the Catholic Central lead to 26-18.
The win by Jelinek was the final victory of the dual for Davison as Catholic Central closed out the dual by winning the next six matches.
Caden Krueger started the final run as he won a major decision at 175 pounds. Lee Krueger followed that with a decision at 190 pounds. At 215 pounds, Connor Bercume won by a technical fall.
Catholic Central then closed out the dual with a pair of pins. At heavyweight, Benny Eziuka won by a pin while Richard Mogle capped the dual by winning by pin at 106 pounds.
Catholic Central, which came into the finals as the number-one seed, opened the defense of their state title by defeating Romeo 64-5 in the quarterfinals. The Shamrocks then stopped Clarkston 39-25 in the semifinals.
Davison, the No. 3 seed at the finals, opened the finals with a 42-27 win against Rockford in the quarterfinals. The Cardinals then qualified for the finals by knocking off second-seeded Brighton 32-31 in a semifinal-round thriller.
The match ended in a 31-31 tie but Davison won the tiebreaker as the Cardinals on the most bouts, 8-6.
Davison was led in the semifinals by Kyle Jelinek (165 pounds), Dominic Perez (132) and Brandon Glisson (285) who all won by technical fall. Steve Vaughn (113) won by major decision while Calvin Martz (138), Tanner McDunnah (150), Julius Pacheco (157) and Cameron Savage (190) each won by decision.

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Breckenridge: Won 53-26

Next Game: 1/7 @Vestaburg

Varsity Box score

1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. F

Breckenridge 7 14 20 12 53

@Calvary 4 10 3 9 26

Breckenridge Leaders:

Maddie Breece 18 pts 4 rebs 9 stl

Kayla Goward 13 pts 10 rebs 3 stl

EmaLee Noack 10 pts 5 rebs 7 stl

Avery Westall 7 pts 3 rebs 2 stl 2 blk

Brinley Humm 2 pts 1 reb 1 stl

Ronee Tester 1 pts 1 rebs

Elarae Carey 1 pts 1 rebs

Blair Davenport 1 rebs 2 stl

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The Hemlock girls’ varsity basketball team defeated Ithaca tonight by a score of 59-25. Victoria Hauffe led all scorers with 21 points to go along with 5 steals. Kinsley Conger added 10 points while Izzy Krueger scored 9 points to go with her 3 steals. Klaira Salo finished with 6 points and 3 steals. Izzy Curry and Carly Siler finished with 6 steals and 5 steals respectively.

Ithaca was led by Libby Maurer with 8 points. Delaney Smith and Riley Skinner each had 4 points.

Score by Quarter:
Hemlock: 13, 17, 25, 4 (59)
Ithaca: 6, 5, 5, 9 (25)

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Roscommon 55 Meridian 52.

Meridian 12 18 16 6
Roscommon 17 10 12 16

Meridian
Nate Steinka 3 pts
Josiah prince 5 pts
Will Hooton 2 pts
Tyler Heal 6 pts
Drew LaFave 4 pts
Zaid Broderick 26 pts
Alijah Frazier 6 pts

Roscommon
Sawyer Griffis 10 pts
Ethan Pratt 22 pts
Logan Mann 9 pts
Barnes 14 pts

Meridian record 4-3

Jv score: Meridian 45 Roscommon 16

Coach Mitch Bohn’s comment: We played well in many different ways. Our post entry game was good and Zaid answered. We just need to be able to handle the 4th quarter as well as the first three.

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Bridgeport 47 (1-7)(1-1) @ Alma 45 (4-4) (0-3)

Alma dropped their third TVC Red game of the season and Bridgeport won their first game of the year on Friday by overcoming a 13-point halftime deficit and outscoring Alma 24-11 in the second half. La’Marion Moore led the way for the Bearcats and got a tipped ball and a layup at the buzzer to take the final lead over the Panthers. Alma was led by Koby Shunk who scored all 11 of his points in the first half.

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Frankenmuth lost a tough one in OT to Freeland, 67-61 on Jan. 3. Ethan Edwards, who led the Eagles with 18 points, hit a contested 3 off of a Caden Sommerfield offensive rebound and kickout to tie the game with 3 seconds left. Freeland won the game from the FT line in OT. Sommerfield added 9 points along with 8 assists, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals. Landon Jacobs added 9 and Lleyton Hoard chipped in 8 points and 5 boards.
Wilson Huckeby scored a game-high 28 for the Falcons.

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Hudson wrestling team turns back Martin/Climax-Scotts for fourth straight state title

Dundee wrestling team practically perfect in winning an eighth straight state title

Dundee wrestling team practically perfect in winning an eighth straight state title

Lowell records 12th consecutive state title by stopping upset-minded Fowlerville

Detroit Catholic Central takes down familiar rival Davison in Division 1 title match

Breckenridge girls beat Midland Calvary

Hemlock girls basketball team defeats ithaca

Sanford Meridian falls to Roscommon

Bridgeport edges Alma in boys basketball action

Freeland basketball team defeats Frankenmuth