One For The Ages.

Dan Ward- Guy Yelling Things From the Corner

You can throw your hands up, you can beat the clock

You can move a mountain, you can break rocks

Some will call that practice, some will call that luck

But either way you’re going to the history books

📷: Glenn Armstrong

St. Johns Celebrates District Title

Here’s a little “Beyond The Mat” thing about wrestling. When the captains go out at the beginning of each duel, the Official flips a disk, red on one side and green on the other. It’s like a coin toss in football. The winner of the toss gets to pick odd or even. This determines who has to send their wrestler to report first, the designated green or the red team. This is the beginning of the chess match that happens between coaches. Wrestlers can “bump up” two weight classes from the weight class they weighed in at. So a 106 lb wrestler could wrestle at 120 lb. Coaches then try to work the most favorable matchups. This is why you often see wrestlers wrestling in unexpected places in duel meets.

So, let’s get to the action. I’m sure you are aware by now that St. Johns was able to reclaim the District title that we loaned to DeWitt last night. It was an epic, down-to-the-wire duel. First, however, we had to get through Haslett.

To be honest, there isn’t a lot to say about Haslett. They are a young team, they don’t have a full roster, and they were greatly overmatched when facing off against the Redwings.
The Redwings jumped out to a 42-0 lead to start off. 43 points is the magic number in wrestling, so it was over before it started. However, it can’t happen without some outstanding wrestling, so here we go: Logan Finn started things off at 144 by taking a void. Hayden Billings secured a 1:05 sec fall over Samual Hayes. Doug Thurston said, “What took you so long” and secured a 1:03 fall over Cameron Wakeford. Brady Heibeck took a void. In a “blink and you missed it” match, Will Wharton pinned Brihanna Berwald in :16. Brody Abendroth took a void, and shutting the door was Abram Matice with a :53 fall over Ryan Fouls. Haslett got on the board when Jeremiah Hobbs got a 10-2 Major decision over Jackson Armstrong. Jackson battled hard but ultimately couldn’t overcome the noticeable size difference. At the flip, Connor Skaryd took a void at 106. Donovan Quinn took a void at 113. Haslett scored their final points of the night when Zackary Lewis got a 10-5 decision over Jameson Halsey. Unfortunately, it was a hard-fought match where Jameson came out on the losing side. Reagan Ward got a fall over Gavin Sweet in 26, and Owen Parker got an injury default over Damien Totten. Tyler Riedel got a void that went unnoticed due to the injury in the previous match. That made the final score St. Johns 72, Haslett 7.

While this was happening, DeWitt was on the other mat handling business with Owosso. DeWitt took that duel, walking away 72-11.

This set up the final match: DeWitt vs. St. Johns, a last-man-standing, win-or-go-home, backyard bragging rights match. Last year, DeWitt got us 39-38, so a little revenge was on our minds.

The Officials for the night were newly accepted into the Michigan Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and one of the best to ever do it, Sam Davis; his partner for the night was Shawn Olsabeck. Now on to the coin flip. The Redwings won the toss and elected to show first on the odd matches. And in the words of Michael Buffer “LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE.”

St. Johns jumped out to the early 6-0 lead when Hayden Billings avenged his loss from the previous meeting, pinning Rowan Reed in 1:28. DeWitt got it back when Tegun Thompson pinned Jaxon Densmore in 1:41 in another rematch. Making the score 6-6. DeWitt’s Tyler Bashore put the Panthers out in front 11-6 with a Tech Fall over Brady Heibeck. However, the difference between a 6-point pin and a 5-point tech fall is big. Isaac Sova extended the lead to 17-8 with a fall over Will Wharton in :52 in another rematch. Here’s where the coin flip starts to matter. DeWitt had to show first at 190. They sent out Brody Johnson, hoping to get a win at 215, knowing that Gavin Moreno was injured. This allowed us to send out Greyson Osborn, fresh from his JV CAAC Championship. Greyson got the 16-9 decision. This made the score 17-9, and St. Johns was back in business. Brody Abendroth bettered his 17-1 Tech Fall with a 15-0 Tech Fall. The score stood at 17-14. Enter Abram Matice, bumping up from 215 to 285.
Abram put Evan Thorne on his back and his shoulders on the mat in 1:15. The gym erupts, and the score is now 20-17. Conner Skaryd got a major over Morgan Barkman 14-0 at the turn, extending the Redwings lead to 24-17. DeWitt sent out Ryleigh Ruiz to face off against Donovan Quinn. Donovan got to work immediately and got the fall at 1:44, extending the score to 30-17. Will Chelotti brought the Panthers closer with a buzzer-beater pin over Jameson Halsey in 2:58. It’s getting a little nerve-racking with the score sitting at 30-23. At 126, DeWitt sent Jamie Cook out to face Reagan Ward. Reagan got the pin at 4:41 and pushed St. Johns lead to 36-23.
Three weight classes to go and 13 points. This is gonna be tight. St. Johns sends Triston Densmore to face DeWitt’s Trenden Bashore, Freshman versus Senior. Sometimes, there are victories in losses. Trenden couldn’t pin Triston and had to settle for the Tech Fall. Making the score 36-28. Jackson Ryan followed that up with a fall over Owen Parker in 1:36. Once again, it’s down to the last match. The score is 36-34, a loss of any kind end St. Johns season. The Redwings send Tyler Riedel out to face off against Ronald Ruiz Jr. This one was epic. At the end of the first, Ronald was up 3-0. To start the 2nd, Tyler chose the bottom position. Ruiz was able to secure a 3pt near fall and a 4pt near fall. Tyler turned on the gas after that. Tyler was able to escape, get a takedown, and a 3-point near fall. Into the 3rd with Ruiz up 10-8. Ruiz chose bottom, and St. Johns erupted 27 seconds into the period. Tyler secured the 4:27 pin, giving St. Johns the District Title 42-34.

“It was an exciting night that ended with a very special moment for our team and senior, Tyler Riedel. It was the kind of moment this group will remember when they look back on their careers down the line. Pretty cool stuff,” Said Coach Tyler Dickenson

Coach Dan Riedel “”We wrestled a very talented team from Dewitt. We knew that for us to win, every match had to be lined up perfectly. Our wrestlers came out focused and disciplined. It was one of those rare moments where everything went as planned, and the chips fell in our favor. The wrestlers on the mat had a great bench encouraging them and cheering loudly. As a coach, I couldn’t be more proud of the team effort that our kids displayed during this match. It gives us great optimism and hope for the next season and years to come. Hats off to Dewitt; their wrestlers and coaches are an example of sportsmanship and class.”

Coaches (L to R) Andrew Quinn, Dan Riedel, Kevin Pettigrew, Tyler Dickenson, Matt Pettigrew and Dan Ward

Coach Kevin Pettigrew said, “Last night demonstrated exactly what this team is about. They have a great work ethic and energy and will not back down. The energy from the bench was electric. Watching the kids let loose at the end while living in the moment are memories that will last forever.”

Coach Matt Pettigrew added, “I am extremely proud of how all the kids performed last night. To win a District title is amazing, but to do it at home like that just makes it so much better. Watching the videos of all the kids and fans in the final moments last night has been fantastic. I am really excited about this team and the future.”

Coach Andrew Quinn wrapped it up, saying, “We didn’t just win a title; we proved what happens when grit meets heart. Every drop of sweat, every sacrifice, every challenge we were faced with brought us to that moment. The team didn’t just wrestle for themselves; they wrestled for each other. The journey doesn’t end here. This is just the first chapter. I’m very excited to see what will happen through the remainder of this season. And what our younger athletes will bring to the mat in the years to come.”

And as far as me, you’ve been “listening” to what I have to say all year. I’d just like to add that “I am extremely proud to play a small role in the success of this team. We are very young, and at the start of the year, getting that District Title back seemed far away. The way these young men and women work day in and day out and support each other is nothing short of amazing.”

So that’s it. Goal achieved. It gets harder from here. Saturday, the Varsity Boys are in action in Fowlerville for Individual Districts, and the Varsity Girls are in action on Sunday in Montrose for Individual Districts. Then we need everybody reading this to bring a friend on Wednesday. We have a massive challenge in front of us when we square off against Eaton Rapids. Fowlerville and Adrain will also wrestle with the winners facing off for the Regional Title and the opportunity to wrestle in the State Finals.

Advertise on SJSportsPage.com and reach local customers!

Visit the SJSportsPage.com store: help support SJSportsPage.com and show your Redwing pride!