Butch Harmon
Sports Scene
The Greenville Yellowjackets have won a team district title every year since 2006. If the Yellowjackets win district titles for the next 100 years, they may never win one in as strange a fashion as they did Wednesday.
Entering the Division 2 team district ranked fifth in the state, Greenville expected to see ninth-ranked Sparta in the championship match. After Sparta defeated Cedar Springs 42-25 in the opening semifinal match, the Greenville wrestlers took to the mats for warmups while Sparta fans headed to the concessions and Cedar Springs fans began packing up for the trip west on M-57.
That was until Cedar Springs coach Scott Troost, Sparta coach Ben Bennett and the official met new the scorer’s table. That meeting proved to be disastrous for the Spartans as it was discovered that Sparta had used an ineligible wrestler in the next to last match of the dual with the outcome having already been decided. At 125 pounds, the Spartans accidentally sent out a wrestler who weighed in at 128 pounds and was weighed in as being eligible at 130 pounds but not 125. As a result, it was ruled that Sparta had used an ineligible wrestler and Cedar Springs was awarded a 1-0 forfeit victory.
“I can’t explain it,” Troost said. “I didn’t even catch it. It was brought to our attention and then we talked to the referee. No one from my staff caught it or told the referee about it. I was shocked. Absolutely shocked. We had 10 minutes to get ready for Greenville and some of our wrestlers had already changed and were heading out with their parents.”
Sparta wrestlers quickly gathered up their gear and left, stunned that their 17-point win and district title matchup with Greenville had vanished in a matter of seconds. A stunned Bennett had no comment following the match.
While Cedar Springs wrestlers tried to regain their focus, Greenville came out in full furry and won 13 of the 14 matches against the Red Hawks to claim a 67-3 victory and the district title.
Greenville recorded six pins against Cedar led by Jordan Thomas at 189 pounds, Carter Magirl at 215, Tate Jeffrey at 119, Kyle Reamer at 135, Devin Lehman at 140 and Kaleb Bell at 171. The Yellowjackets also received a technical fall from Mike Schmidt at 103 and a major decision from Nate Baker at 112.
“I’m proud of my guys for winning a district championship,” Greenville coach Paul Johnson said. “I feel we have a good group of kids. We have several elite kids that we count on for wins and several blue-collar kids who we also count on.”