DAKOTA AND ROMEO SHINE IN D1 DISTRICT
Dakota, Romeo and Rochester Adams were quite the triumvirate at the Division 1 individual wrestling tournament hosted by the Cougars on Saturday.
Between them, they combined for 28 of the 56 wrestlers who will advance to next Saturday’s individual regional at Chippewa Valley.
However, before that they’ll all compete in the team regional at Chippewa Valley on Wednesday.
Adams’ four champions were the Morgan brothers, Deacon (106) and Jace (126), Dom Baccari (144) and Rico Hart (175).
Jace Morgan improved to 38-0 with three victories, including a technical fall in the final. Deacon Morgan, a freshman, has won 22 of his 23 matches this year. He won on a fall in the championship match.
The Morgans’ father is David Morgan, who was an NCAA runner-up at 118 pounds while he was wrestling for Michigan State in 1998.
An impressive performance for the Highlanders came from senior Antonio Randazzo at 126 pounds.
“He was seeded 10th,” Holtz said. “We told him last night
that we had a good path regardless of seed. This is the time of year when guys are looking for a reason to be done if things don’t go their way. Antonio was that reason for a lot of guys today.”
Holtz is looking forward to Wednesday’s team regional.
“Rochester Adams is coming. We’re not there yet but we’re excited and the future is bright,” Holtz said. “I’m very grateful to my staff and the parents for the time they put in. I don’t take for granted the responsibility we have as leaders and to pay forward what our coaches did for us.”
“We get Adams first round and they impressed all of us today,” said Romeo coach Jim Cali, who had nine wrestlers advance to the regional round. “The winner of that gets the winner of Chippewa Valley-Dakota. Whoever comes out of that is going to be tough, too.”
Dakota led the way with 11 individual qualifiers, including five district champions. Adams qualified eight for next Saturday’s regional and four of them won championships.
“A lot of the guys wrestled well,” said Dakota coach Ed Skowneski Jr. “I’m happy with how they did. You’d like to get all 14 through but that’s not always realistic. I thought everybody gave a great effort. That’s
all you can ask.”
Highlanders coach Mike Holtz said that it has been a good week for Adams, which won impressively at the team district.
“We had a great day at team districts and we tried to carry that momentum into the weekend,” he said. “We had four guys take firsts and seven of the eight finished the day with a ‘W.’”
One of Dakota’s most impressive wins came from junior 138-pounder Ozia Wilson, who ended the 34-match winning streak by Eisenhower’s Sam Agnello with a 1-0 victory.
Wilson, who improved to 45-1, got the only point of the match on an escape in the second period and held on throughout the third period.
“The game plan was to prevent everything that he’s good at,” Wilson said. “I knew what he was good at so I just broke him down and tried to hold on the whole time — and try to score some points with what I’m good at. It was definitely one of my toughest matches and one of my biggest wins.”
Wilson’s performance impressed Skowneski.
“That was a tough match,” he said. “He toughed it out, did what he needed to do and wrestled a smart match. People watching from the stands might
not realize how hard that is. He was wrestling a very good wrestler. Agnello is a very good technician and he’s got a gas tank on him. I’ve always been impressed when I’ve watched him. It was a big win for Ozia.”
Dakota’s other district champions were Brady Hamby (215), Brad Haver (285), Carl Nihranz (113) and Jake Gawlowski (132).
Romeo’s only first-place finish came from Owen Youngblood at 120. Youngblood edged teammate Bryce Holt 3-1 with a takedown in sudden death overtime.
Cali said that it’s tough to watch teammates battle against each other.
“The good thing is we know we’ve got a champ,” he said. “They’re two great kids. When it gets to that point we just sit back and watch.”
The future looks bright for the Bulldogs, who had four freshmen advance to next week’s regional.
“Our whole team is super young,” Cali said. “We had only two seniors here today. We have a lot of first-year guys we’re excited about — and a few sophomores, too.”
The other district champions were Adam Bazzi, Stoney Creek, 190; Griffen Arnold, Anchor Bay, 150; Mattheos Mitropetros, Chippewa Valley, 157; and Zephyr Fegley, Troy, 165.