St. Clair wins MAC Blue/Gold/Silver tournament title
Oh baby.
St. Clair wrestlers had a little extra motivation at the Macomb Area Conference Blue/Gold/Silver tournament.
Inspired to win for head coach Jake Scillian, who was absent because of the birth of his son, the Saints produced three individual champions and rolled up 173.5 points to win the title at Lake Shore on Saturday.
“We wrestled very hard,” assistant coach Al Bazzi said. “We came in here as underdogs, of course. I’m extremely proud. This is all dedicated to (Scillian).
“We’re excited. Everybody showed up to wrestle, brought their A game today.”
Grosse Pointe South was second with 141 points, and Lakeview, Grosse Pointe North and Center Line rounded out the top five.
Grosse Pointe South, the highest-finishing Gold team, won that division’s title, and New Haven, eighth overall, won the Silver championship for a second consecutive year.
Cristian Haslem at 106 pounds, Zachary Drugach at 113 and Jack Wiegand at 132 won championships for St. Clair, which put five wrestlers in the finals.
Haslem, who has been wrestling since he was a fourthgrader, pinned Port Huron’s Brendan Vertigen in 2:28 in the championship bout. That gave the freshman a 34-1 record.
Drugach pinned Port Huron’s Gavin Shattuck in 4:45 for his championship.
Wiegand posted a third-period finals pin over Connor Babel of Marysville. It was the third meeting this season between the wrestlers, who split the first two.
“We’ve really shown up today,” Wiegand said. “Really happy to have great coaches and great teammates.”
St. Clair also won the Blue Division dual-meet championship.
“We’ve been pretty consistent so far, but towards the end we’ve really been putting it together,” Wiegand said. “This is the perfect time to do it, right before the postseason. We’re getting some momentum.”
New Haven was led by Carter Pittman, who won the 190-pound title bout by pin over Caleb Syers of Cousino and was named Silver tournament MVP.
“We’ve come a long way,” Rockets coach Travis Wrickerson said. “We’re working on basic fundamentals. Things are working out in our favor, and
Carter Pittman is one heck of a wrestler.”
Wyatt Hepner at 126, Josh Lemanski at 157 and Paul Wilson at 175 won championships for Grosse Pointe South.
Center Line had a pair of champions. Seth Fulton won at 285 with a 5-3 decision over Roseville’s Dezzmon Merriweather and Tylan King won at 120 with a 6-1 decision over Grosse Pointe South’s Griffin Klautky.
Fulton signed earlier in the week to play football at Lawrence Tech.
“He’s one of the smartest, strongest, most athletic wrestlers I’ve had in years,” Panthers coach Dave Anderson said. “He never misses practice, is always there, works his butt off.”
Anderson has coached King since the junior was in middle school.
“That kid is scrappy,” Anderson said. “I had to work with him. At first, he had one move. As a freshman, he was a regional qualifier at 103. Tough, scrappy, never gave up.”
Other champions were Andrew Dupree, Grosse Pointe North, 215; Preston Auld, Grosse Pointe North, 138; Jay’Den Williams, Roseville, 144; Michael Salvador, Grosse Pointe North, 150; Joseph Trupiano, Lakeview, 165;
Williams was named MVP of the Blue tournament. The freshman pinned Grosse Pointe North’s Jacob Nowicki in 3:34 to win the title. He has only one defeat for the season.
Trupiano was named MVP of the Gold. The senior pinned St. Clair’s Caden Azzinaro in 4:38 in the finals.
Dual-meet champions were St. Clair in the Blue, Lakeview in the Gold and L’Anse Creuse North in the Silver.
MAC Red/White
Dakota scored 323 points, Utica had 184 and Anchor Bay 144 as those teams finished 1-2-3 at Warren-Mott. Utica was the highest-finishing White Division team.
Dakota had eight individual champions: Carl Nihranz (106), Orion Wilson (113), Caleb Weiand (126), Dominic DeMasa (138), Jake Ferguson (144), Aiden Criteser (175), Logan Criteser (190) and Anthony Coleman (215).
Other champions were Dominic Gumtow of Warren Woods-Tower, 120; Alex Angelo of Romeo, 132; Aydin Wagner of L’Anse Creuse, 150; Thaddeus Kustarz of Utica, 157; Jack Nilson of Ford, 165, and Trent Jackson, Lamphere, 285.