Three county teams advance to quarterfinals
Richmond is making a return trip to Kalamazoo.
The Blue Devils, runnersup in Division 3 the last three years, will set their sights on their ninth state championship, advancing to the quarterfinals against Montrose after defeating visiting Lutheran Westland 73-6 in the team regional championship match Wednesday night.
“This is my 19th season and there’s a lot of brothers and cousins that have come from the past,” Richmond coach Brandon Day said. “It is another chapter, and it is special.”
The Blue Devils were among three Macomb County teams that advanced. Dakota in Division 1 and Warren Woods-Tower in Division 2 did likewise.
Richmond, which defeated Algonac 50-19 in the semifinals, had little trouble against the Warriors.
The match started at 135 pounds, and Blue Devil freshman Jackson Lacek got the ball rolling by pinning his opponent
in the first period. Austin Bergeon (140 pounds) and Wyatt Peters (145) followed with wins by void, before a pin by Lucas Peters (152) staked Richmond to a 24-0 lead.
Lucas Peters’ pin came in the final period, which began with his opponent lead 6-0 after two periods.
“Lucas Peters, another freshman, showed a ton of heart coming back and winning his match,” Day said.
Richmond’s Brady St. John (160) followed with a win by decision, before Reagan Renault (171), Wesley Peters (189), Eddie Olson (215), Matt Misch (285), Emmett Kettel (103) and Noah
Harris (112) each recorded firstperiod falls, pushing the Blue Devil edge to 63-0. Connor Bergeon (119) followed with a win by major decision, making the score 67-0.
“Jackson Lacek is a freshman and he’s improved so much,” Day said. “What we wanted to do was get all the young kids in. Matt Misch is a freshman and is going to be a great heavyweight for us and we wanted to get him in there. We wanted to get these young guys a match because they haven’t had a lot of matches.”
Lutheran Westland got on the board when Jeffrey McGuire recorded a pin at 125 pounds.
“I am loving Jeffrey,” Lutheran Westland coach Dan Unger said. “He’s been wrestling a long time and he’s coming out here his freshman year and he’s
killing it.”
The match ended with Richmond’s Hunter Keller earning a win by void. Day credits his experienced wrestlers for helping the younger wrestlers improve every day at practice.
“Emmett Kettel and Connor Bergeon are Brian Nichol’s guys,” Day said. “Eddie Olson is Dan McKiernan’s guy. Wyatt Peters is Austin Bergeon’s guy. They have been doing the right thing all year and keep sending the right messages. Knock on wood, anything can happen.”
The win improved Richmond’s record to 8-0 overall. The quarterfinal match will take place next Tuesday at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo. Day said making it back to Kalamazoo has been anything but normal for this team this season.
“This team has been through the craziest of training situations,” Day said. “They have been through so much adversity. When we got shut down the first time, we were doing teams’ meetings and sending them lifting and running workouts. We were sending them technique videos. Just to see them on TV and tell them that we love them and telling them that this season was going to happen. They have had unbelievable resiliency.”
Lutheran Westland advanced to the finals by defeating Notre Dame Prep 57-18 in the semifinals. The Warriors ended their season at 8-4 overall, which Unger said was a job well done.
“We’re pretty excited with how things turned out,” Unger said. “We moved up from Division 4 to Division 3 this year and we won the district the last two years. Winning district in Division 3 and making a regional final is great. We knew it would be a tough go after beating Notre Dame Prep, but our guys came out ready to wrestle.
“We have to look at the small things,” Unger added. “There were some matches that we were definitely in. When you wrestle a team like Richmond, you know what they’re coming at you with. Our guys wrestled strong and hard.”
In the other quarterfinal matches, Hart meets Freeland; Whitehall takes on Alma and Dundee faces Constantine.