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Braves’ grapplers retain district title

Courtesy photo The Gladstone wrestling team retained its Division 3 district championship at Gladstone Monday. The Braves visit Grayling for regionals Wednesday.

GLADSTONE — Isaac Tyson has come a long way this wrestling season.

The freshman grappler did his part Monday night, helping Gladstone retain its Division 3 district championship.

“Isaac has been winning a lot of matches lately,” said Braves’ coach Dan Seronko. “He picked it up in the individual district (Saturday at Grayling) and is finishing the season strong. He put in a lot of hard work this season and it’s starting to pay off.”

Gladstone needed just eight minutes to dispatch a very shorthanded Menominee team 42-6, then beat Kingsford 48-17 for the title.

Tyson needed just 61 seconds to pin Menominee junior Adam Conine, then pinned Kingsford sophomore Elliot Johnson in 2:22 at 189 pounds.

“It felt great to win a couple matches,” said Tyson, a first-year wrestler. “We were concerned about leaving a few weight classes open and I didn’t really think we were going to make it. But we’ve been working hard in practice and it paid off.”

The victories send the Braves to Wednesday’s regional tournament at Grayling where they’ll face the host Vikings at 6 p.m. Benzie Central meets Remus Chippewa Hills in the opposite bracket, with the title match at 7:15.

“This is something we wanted to work for,” said Seronko. “We were giving up four weight classes. We knew it’d be close. We told the kids they had to step up.”

Kingsford was within 12-5 after the 285-pound bout in which junior Ben Stanich beat freshman Brett Boudreau by technical fall (17-0).

Junior Lane Matzke (112) then gave the Braves an 18-5 cushion by pinning freshman Michael Hill at 3:29 and freshman Hunter Solis (119) pinned Flivvers’ freshman Dodge Porthouse in 35 seconds for a 24-5 advantage.

Just one match remained following a series of forfeits in which Kingsford senior Trevor Povolo (171) pinned Braves’ senior Paul Barrios in 1:54.

The Flivvers opened with a 42-36 triumph over Negaunee, with Povolo sealing the verdict by pinning sophomore Finn Helppi at 5:01.

“I thought we performed very well,” said Kingsford coach Darren Groleau.

“We won 7-of-8 matches head-to-head, including a couple toss-up matches against Negaunee. We knew we’d be a couple guys short against Gladstone. This is the first time we wrestled since the U.P. Championships (Jan. 19). We haven’t been able to get mat time due to the weather and missed two meets. Our guys wrestled with determination and I’m happy about that.”

The Flivvers won a pair of tight matches with Negaunee. Porthouse squeezed past junior Corey Sansom 9-8 and senior Ethan Wilcox held off Miners’ senior Jeremy Hill 8-6.

“We qualified six for the individual regional (Saturday at Gaylord),” said Groleau. “We just wanted to keep our guys healthy for this weekend.”

Menominee had just three available wrestlers for its season-finale. Senior Hunter Wroblewski (152) provided the Maroons with a victory, pinning Gladstone sophomore Henry Hanson in 28 seconds.

Gladstone 48, Kingsford 17

189 — Tyson, G, pinned Johnson, 2:22

215 — C. Dawson, G, forfeit

285 — Stanich, K, tech fall (17-0) over Boudreau

112 — L. Matzke, G, pinned Hill, 3:29

119 — Solis, G, pinned Porthouse, :35

125 — Early, K, forfeit

130 — N. Dawson, G, forfeit

152 — Hanson, G, forfeit

160 — Hansen, G, forfeit

171 — Povolo, K, pinned Barrios, 1:54

Gladstone 42, Menominee 6

171 — Barrios, G, forfeit

189 — Tyson, G, pinned Conine, 1:01

215 — C. Dawson, G, forfeit

103 — Brazeau, G, forfeit

112 — L. Matzke, G, forfeit

119 — Solis, G, forfeit

130 — N. Dawson, G, pinned Smith, :48

152 — Wroblewski, M, pinned Hanson, :28

160 — Hansen, G, forfeit

Kingsford 42, Negaunee 36

171 — Gribble, K, pinned Pollard, 1:48

189 — L. Helppi, N, pinned Johnson, 3:52

215 — Stanish, K, pinned Hall, 2:54

285 — Cardew, K, pinned Dunstan, 1;06

103 — Sicotte, N, forfeit

112 — Hall, K, forfeit

119 — Porthouse, K, dec. Sansom, 9-8

125 — Early, K, pinned Schouten, 1:30

130 — LaPlante, N, forfeit

135 — Wilcox, K, dec. Hill, 8-6

140 — Clark, N, forfeit

145 — Makinen, N, forfeit

152 — Rhome, N, forfeit

160 — Povolo, K, pinned F. Helppi, 5:01

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