KALAMAZOO, MI - The atmosphere was more subdued, but the on-the-mat action was as intense as ever, as the state’s top squads took center stage Tuesday during the Michigan high school team wrestling state finals at Wings Event Center.
A delayed start and new safety protocols designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 made this an unprecedented tournament, and it will be all the more unforgettable for Davison, Lowell, Dundee and Clinton, who captured state titles in their respective divisions.
Those state champions not only needed to defeat their opponents on the mat throughout the state tournament, but also avoid losing their players due to quarantine or positive COVID-19 tests.
“I think I might be able to actually sleep tonight,” said Dundee coach Tim Roberts, whose team captured its fourth consecutive Division 3 state title. “I haven’t slept for more than two hours in a row this whole season because I can’t stop thinking about (staying in the tournament), and how are we going to deal with this, and it’s almost an uncontrollable thing -- trying to avoid this COVID contact tracing -- and we managed to pull it off enough to have enough guys to get this done… So, yeah, it’ll be nice to relax.”
Lowell coach R.J. Boudro, whose team added to its state record with the Red Arrows’ eighth consecutive state title, echoed Roberts’ sentiments about the stressful nature of the 2021 season.
“I wake up almost every morning with a pit in my stomach,” Boudro said. “It’s stressful, there’s anxiety wondering what’s going to happen, what teams are going to get dropped, and every time a team would drop out of the tournament, I get sick to my stomach, and our kids would to, but I just think it speaks to our kids. They kept their heads down, and they believed. When it was November, December and January, and we weren’t wrestling, they still believed.
“I don’t know what it was but we still believed that we were going to be able to have this opportunity, and if we had the opportunity, we were going to take advantage of it.”
Follow along to see how Davison, Lowell, Dundee and Clinton made the most of the unique 2021 wrestling season with full results and highlights from Tuesday’s team state finals.
Davison’s wrestling team at the MHSAA wrestling state finals in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Tuesday, March 30, 2021.(Rodney Coleman-Robinson | MLive.com)
Division 1: Davison avenges last year’s loss for first title since 2006
A long-awaited rematch of last year’s Division 1 state title match lived up to the hype, as Davison edged four-time defending state champ Detroit Catholic Central, 29-24.
The Cardinals secured their first title since 2006 in the penultimate bout, where junior Cameron Freeman scored a 3-2 win over Anthony Walker at 130 pounds.
Freeman’s win was a rematch of his 5-4 win over Walker during the regular-season meeting between the Cardinals and Shamrocks, so another close call wasn’t terribly surprising, but there was some uncertainty as to whether or not the junior would be available at all after injuring his knee last week.
“The day we were leaving for state, woke me up at 7 a.m. calling me saying he’s 7 pounds over, and he wasn’t going to make 125, and he couldn’t really cut weight because we couldn’t get him on the bike, and he couldn’t run because his knee was hurt,” Davison coach Zac Hall said. “I said, ‘Listen, just try to fight through it. Tomorrow’s going to be another day.’
“We got him some treatment done, and it’s just a poetic ending. I told him the other day, ‘Son, you’re going to have a huge part of this championship on Tuesday, and sure enough he did.”
“Earlier in the week, I was suffering from a knee injury, came back, and I just did this for the seniors because this is the best team I’ve ever been on. It’s just -- it’s amazing,” Freeman said. It’s amazing to be part of this team and part of this family.”
“It hurt pretty bad but it was for the team, man,” Freeman added. “Everyone deserves it.”
Catholic Central got off to an ideal start, as T.J. Bunn pinned Owen Payne while trailing 4-0 in the second period in the opening bout at 140 pounds.
Camden Trupp then logged a 10-3 win over Kyle White at 145 to give the Shamrocks a 9-0 lead, but Davison answered with three consecutive victories, including bonus points from Josh Barr and Alex Facundo, to take a 14-9 edge.
Justin Gates (103) and Caden Horwath (119) provided more bonus points with a technical fall and a major decision victory to give the Cardinals a 26-18 lead, but Cory Thomas gave the Shamrocks a chance by defeating Davison’s Brendan Maybee, 6-0, at 125.
“It’s incredible, man,” Hall said. “To end in the way it did, it’s just wild. If you guys only knew the week we had with two cars breaking down, this and that, the kid who won the match to win the dual, we didn’t know if he was even going to wrestle this week. He got hurt, he was out, he missed weight, and he went the next weight class above, so it was a poetic ending to end the way it did, and I’m on cloud nine. I have goosebumps and chills still. I’m loving it.”
Last season, Catholic Central edged Davison, 34-23, in a controversial finish that saw Davison star and Penn State commit Alex Facundo take a loss to Manny Rojas on an illegal slam call, and Hall said his team hasn’t forgotten about that result more than a year later.
“That’s something for the last 13 months we’ve never forgot,” Hall said. “We have that second-place trophy from last year, it’s the first thing you see when you walk into our wrestling room. The kids touch it every day, and they know.
“That’s been our motivation for the whole season; that’s why we came here. We knew these guys are going to wrestle us tough. I mean, they are tough, they’re well-coached. We just were a little bit better today.”
In his first season taking over the program for legendary coach Roy Hall (no relation), Zac Hall delivered the Cardinals’ ninth state championship trophy, and the former four-time state champion at St. Johns High School and NCAA qualifier at the University of Michigan said the buy-in from the community has been incredible.
“These guys brought me into the community, and from the second I started running the practice up there, I knew it was home,” Hall said. “They’ve taken care of me. The dinners and this and that, the friendships I’ve built, it’s absolutely incredible, and that goes back to the culture that Roy Hall established for the last 25 years.
“He kind of took me under his wing. I learned a ton from him the last two years, and, man, I’m just happy to be able to continue the whole legacy and hopefully keep bringing championships back to us.”
Davison vs. Detroit Catholic Central championship results
Division 2: No. 8 worth the wait for Lowell
It came a month later than usual, but the season once again ended with Lowell hoisting its eighth consecutive state title, which added to its existing state record and created more separation between itself and Hudson and Davison, who each have streaks of five in a row.
“It’s amazing,” said Boudro, whose team defeated Goodrich 59-7 in the finals. “You think about trying to win eight, just trying to win one is very difficult, and the things we’ve had to overcome -- we’ve come here with the flu, we’ve come here fighting COVID, and to be able to do that over and over and to do it in dominant fashion says a lot about everybody -- our community, our program, our administration -- it’s not just one thing, it’s a bunch of things.”
“It’s really something special,” senior Will Link added about being part of Lowell’s eighth consecutive state title. “I think our class of seniors has worked really hard for it, but it’s a lot more than just us. It’s continuing the streak of the seniors from four years ago who started it, and it’s for the guys coming up, so it’s really special.”
Fellow senior Cole Huisman got things started with a pin less than 30 seconds into the opening bout of the championship round, and Link followed it up with a pin in 35 seconds to give Lowell a quick 12-0 lead.
That strong start sparked a string of 47 consecutive points, allowing Lowell to put Goodrich away early.
“When I knew we were starting with Cole Huisman, a senior who is electric and one of the best athletes I’ve ever coached and a great kid, I knew no matter who is on the mat against him, he has a shot at pinning them,” Boudro said. “When we were able to do that, to see the joy in the kids’ faces, it was pretty special and a great way to get started, and it’s important, too.”
Lowell vs. Goodrich championship results
Division 3: Dundee dominates once again
The battle of the Vikings began with underdog Whitehall jumping out to a 6-0 lead after big wins from Max Brown, who defeated defending state champ Austin Fietz, and Marco Moore, but Dundee won the next four bouts to pull ahead 21-12, and the three-time defending state champs went on to capture their fourth in a row with a 55-17 victory.
“It’s special every time; it’s always a special thing,” Dundee coach Tim Roberts said. “It would be awesome to get to a place one time when it’s not a big deal to win state, but it’s always a big deal.
“With this group -- these seniors -- it’s their fourth that they got to do, and I’ve known these kids since they’re young because they’ve been training together since they were like 6 or 7 years old, so when you know them that long, and then they come through and get to do this and win these four together, It’s awesome.”
Whitehall reached the state championship match for the first time in program history, and the Vikings will send 10 wrestlers to Friday’s Division 3 individual state finals, including undefeated 215-pounder Ira Jenkins, who is among the top state title contenders for his weight class.
Dundee vs. Whitehall championship results
Division 4: Clinton claims consecutive crowns
Clinton repeated as Division 4 state champs, jumping out to a 26-0 lead over New Lothrop and pulling away for a 55-9 win.
“It’s very special to get this a second time,” Clinton head coach Jeff Rolland said. “Our kids are mostly just grateful for the opportunity to have a chance to defend -- that was a big concern while we were waiting, waiting, waiting --and to get here, it’s relief, it’s excitement, it’s a good deal. Our kids deserve this, and they’ve been working hard for it, so to get a chance to repeat -- we’re very thankful to get a chance to do it.”
Clinton got bonus points in each of the first six bouts, including Kent McCombs’ 10-0 win over Jackson Knieper at 145 pounds, which gave the junior his 100th career victory.
At 152 pounds, senior A.J. Baxter was cruising toward a big win over Harry Helmick, before suffering a leg injury that left him writhing on the mat for several minutes. Baxter eventually strapped his headgear back on and gutted out a 16-8 win to extend Clinton’s lead to 12-0 through three bouts.
“I love that kid,” Rolland said of Baxter. “Our seniors are great, and they’re gritty, and he’s as tough as they come. He doesn’t say a lot; he just goes out and works hard, and I think there was some nervousness there, that there was something really, really wrong with the knee, but the trainer said it’s solid, so we’re happy for that.
“It’s going to probably be sore tomorrow, but he did gut it out, and we kind of needed it at that point -- he had to do it -- and then he can come back to his teammates, and they can’t let them down after that, so that helped build some momentum for our guys.”
Clinton vs. New Lothrop championship results
Division 1 semifinal results
Davison vs. Rockford semifinal results
Detroit Catholic Central vs. Hartland semifinal results
Division 2 semifinal results
Lowell vs. Monroe Jefferson semifinal results
Goodrich vs. Allendale semifinal results
Division 3 semifinal results
Whitehall vs. Alma semifinal results
Dundee vs. Richmond semifinal results
Division 4 semifinal results
Clinton vs. Leslie semifinal results
Division 1 quarterfinal results
Rockford vs. Holt quarterfinal results
Detroit Catholic Central vs. Wyandotte Roosevelt quarterfinal results
Hartland vs. Clarkston quarterfinal results
Division 2 quarterfinal results
Allendale vs. Stevensville Lakeshore quarterfinal results
Lowell vs. Charlotte quarterfinal results
Goodrich vs. Warren Woods-Tower quarterfinal results
Monroe Jefferson vs. Fremont quarterfinal results
Division 3 quarterfinal results
Richmond vs. Montrose quarterfinal results
Whitehall vs. Hart quarterfinal results
Alma vs. Freeland quarterfinal results
Division 4 quarterfinal results
Whittemore-Prescott vs. Leslie quarterfinal results
New Lothrop vs. Bark River-Harris quarterfinal results
Clinton vs. Ravenna quarterfinal results
Hudson vs. Schoolcraft quarterfinal results
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