Wrestling ends the regular season on a high note
Dan Ward- Guy Yelling Things From the Corner

This is ten percent luck
Twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure
Fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name

The Redwings enter the postseason on a high note, taking wins from Harper Creek and Charlotte on Wednesday.
We now enter what I like to call the “Win or Go Home” season. Wrestling is a particularly heartbreaking sport when it comes to the postseason. Team Districts, Regionals, and States are single elimination or “Win or Go Home.” Districts are usually made up of four teams. They wrestle, and then the winners wrestle. The winner goes to Regionals against the winners of the other four districts in the region and so on. Individual Districts and Regionals differ slightly as the top four wrestlers in each weight class advance. What is heartbreaking is this little thing called the Blood Round. It’s the 2nd round of the consolation rounds. If you win your match, you are guaranteed a spot on the podium and advance. If you lose, you go home.
But before we can do that, we have some Regular Season business to wrap up. That started on Wednesday in Eaton Rapids.
First up, we had some Girls Varsity matches and some JV matches.

📷: Glenn Armstrong

The JV results were:
Noah Demo with a 16-1 Tech fall over Hunter Delp of Eaton Rapids in 3:20.
Ayden Scheffler fell to Brayden Fox of Eaton Rapids by pinfall in 3:43
Roman Berkhousen wasted no time with Kenneth Cady of Eaton Rapids getting a :16 pin.
Greyson Osborne was equally quick, turning in a pin of Cooper Strpko of Eaton Rapids in :49.
Logan Banner fell to Jose Rosario of Charlotte by pinfall at 3:50
Roman Berkhousen, putting in some extra work, got a Major Decision over Jacob Politte of Harper Creek 11-0.

The Lady Redwings were also in action last night, taking on Eaton Rapids. Olivia Pettigrew got things rolling with a 3:43 of Breana Barnes to put St. Johns up 6-0. Lori Morris followed that up with a buzzer-beating pin of Elyana Chapates in 5:42 and gave the Redwings 12 points. In the last match of the night, Addyson Ney fell victim to a quick headlock and was pinned. The Final Score was St. Johns 12 ER 6.

The Boys started with a rematch of Saturday’s win over Harper Creek. This one was over before Harper Creek put points on the board. St. Johns started out with five pins, two tech falls, and two voids to go up 51-0, and if you have been following along at home, 43 is the magic number. Donovan Quinn extended his undefeated streak with a tech fall over Ben Saylor. Dray Findlay pinned Riley Carlisle in a 3:25 sec. Reagan Ward took a void. Owen Parker pinned Geurin Wheeler in 2:58. Tristan Densmore scored a 21-6 tech fall over Steven Maske. Tyler Riedel pinned Josh IlgenfritI in 3:51. Ethan Schottoefer got a pin as the first period expired over Caden Molak. Doug Thurston took a void. Brady Heibeck made short work of Brody Wallace with a pin in 1:29. Jesse Mason was tech-falled by Josh Boddy to give Harper Creek 5. Brody Abendroth took a void. Alex Shive pinned Abram Matice in 5:01, and Jackson Armstrong and Conner Skaryd took voids. The final result was St. Johns 69 Harper Creek 11.

I promise to keep bird puns to a minimum, but we had the Charlotte Orioles in the next round. This one was a back-and-forth battle. The Redwings started with Jameson Hasley getting a pin over London Coveart in 1:01. Reagan Ward’s comeback bid fell short and dropped a close one to Lane Moore 11-6. Making the score 6-3 in favor of the Redwings. Tristan Densmore got the Redwings back on track with a Major Decision over Will Carpenter 21-7. That’s right, Tristan scored 42 points in 2 matches. Making the score 10-3. Tyler Riedel was pinned by Carter Moore in 2:28, and Timothy VanLake was pinned by Daniel Rodriguez in 1:04. Charlotte pulled ahead 15-10. Bennett Ward lost by Tech Fall 19-4 to Tyler Densmore. Giving the Orioles a 20-10 lead. Jaxson Densmore turned things around for the Redwings with an 11-3 Major Decision over Robert Williams, and the Redwings tied it up when Brady Heibeck pinned Brandon Tyler in 3:20. Charlotte got back out in front when Matthew Olcott pinned Ayden Marchek in 2:37, and Greyson Osborne was pinned by Aiden Pruden in :57. That put the Orioles out in front 32-20. That was the end of Charlotte’s scoring as Jackson Armstrong and Conner Skaryd took voids. Donovan Quinn finished the regular season undefeated with a 1:11 pinfall over Xavier Pettigrew. When the feathers (I said minimum) settled, the Redwings were at the top 43-32.

Never back down from a challenge was Coach Pettigrew’s mantra all season. This year St. Johns took on 5 teams that were ranked in the Top 10 in the State. The Redwings finish up 10-10 in duals. Coach Pettigrew had this to say about this year’s team, “This team went through a lot of growth this season. We have a lot of young and eager kids who want to learn and get better. Wrestling is a passion, and you either have it or you don’t. Our room is full of kids who are passionate about the sport. We will continue to work hard and keep getting better.”

JV takes the mat Friday in Fowlerville for the CAAC JV Championships, and the Boys and Girls Varsity will be back in action on Saturday at Holt for the CAAC Varsity Championships. St. Johns Boys Varsity hosts Team Districts on THURSDAY (not Wednesday). Please come out and help us reclaim our District tile. St. Johns starts out with Haslett, and DeWitt starts out with Owosso.