Sunday, Jan 28, 2007

Plymouth gets Read on CMA

RICARDO RAMIREZ
Tribune Staff Writer

PLYMOUTH -- A concussion, a battered nose, a mere two days of preparation and the drain of taking the mat three times. David Read dealt with it all and worked the mat to help the Plymouth wrestling team hold off surging Culver Military Academy Saturday for a sectional title.

Those teams both advance to Wednesday's team regional at South Bend Clay.

Read, who suffered injuries on the mat a week earlier, was called on to make a stand against 18th-ranked Andy Keener of Warsaw in the 152-pound class.

After both were denied in early scoring attempts, the fifth-ranked Read worked an opening to shoot in on Keener for a 2-point takedown and an overtime win.

"He is a strong wrestler," said Read. "I wrestled him four times two years ago. We probably meet next week."The Pilgrims placed eight wrestlers in the championship round with a 33-point advantage over the Eagles, who landed five championship spots.

The benefit of the three extra wrestlers provided Plymouth with more opportunities to hold off the CMA bid.

"CMA is tough, we knew they have some horses,'' Plymouth coach Bob Read said. "They were going to win some matches. We are not a great team. We have a great group of kids. Our kids wrestle as a group."

Helping the Plymouth cause was 171-pounder John Popi. He provided the only other Pilgrim victory in the championship round with a 7-2 win over Bremen's Jake Urednick.

The Eagle crew did win matches, working its way to 191 points heading into the finals.Culver Military talent showed when it picked up four titles in five championship chances. Winning were Garrett James (145), who improved to 40-0, Branden James (160), Devin Vass (103) and Daniel Young (125).

Garrett James exemplified true moxie as he was dropped to the canvas early in his final match by an inadvertent blow to the head. The dazed grappler regained his composure and became relentless in the pursuit of a pin over Plymouth's Bryce Sheehan.

"Things are going well right now," said James. "You have to wrestle every match like it's the state finals."

"We have 10 qualifying for the (individual) regional (Feb. 3)," said a pleased CMA Coach Russ Schenk. "Garrett is wrestling great and working hard. He is peaking right now."

Also demonstrating fine individual performances was the cast from Wawasee. The Warriors have been hampered by the lack of numbers throughout the season. Coach Scott Dehart has been without a full roster all year.Dropping to as few as three wrestlers because of injuries, ineligibilities and lack of interest, Wawasee has taken its share of lumps.

The Warriors suited up seven wrestlers for the team competition, but five qualified for the regional.

Advancing to the individual regional at Clay by finishing in the top four slots were 11 wrestlers from Plymouth, seven from Warsaw, six from Culver and Triton, five from Bremen, four from Rochester and one from Tippecanoe Valley.

"We are going into the meat grinder," said coach Read. "We will just work hard. We have wrestled those kinds of teams before."

PLYMOUTH 243, CULVER MILITARY ACADEMY 227, CULVER 168, WARSAW 165.5, TRITON 144, ROCHESTER 120, BREMEN 119, WAWASEE 112, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 44
At Plymouth Sectional

Championship Round

103: Devin Vass (CMA) dec. Taylor Judy (TV), 7-0; 112: Justin Brooks (War) pinned Chase Lewandoski (Ply), 4:32; 119: Dominic Sheets (Cul) pinned Joey Melendez (Waw), 1:01; 125: Daniel Young (CMA) maj. dec. Derek Nelson (Roch) 17-5; 130: Chase Davis (Waw) dec. Andy Hacha (Ply), 4-2; 135:Matt Elvidge (War) tech fall Kevin Dobbyn (CMA), 22-7; 140: Adam Keener (War) dec. Blake Hoffer (Tri), 7-5; 145: Garrett James (CMA) pinned Bryce Sheehan (Ply), 2:28; 152: David Read (Ply) dec. Andy Keener (War), 4-2; 160: Branden James (CMA) maj. dec. Derrik White (Ply), 14-5; 171: John Popi (Ply) dec. Jake Urednick (Brem), 7-2; 189: Chad Ulmer (Tri) pinned Jon Bradley (Ply), 0:45; 215: Braxton Riley (Waw) dec. Harold Lemler (Tri), 11-6; 285: Ryan Secrist (Roch) pinned Justin Deurloo (Ply), 4:25.

Consolation Round

103: Brandon Klosowski (War) pinned Ethan Starke (Brem), 2:52; 112: Alex Sage (Cul) pinned Jake Wyatt (Roch), 3:59; 119: Chuck Holmquest (Ply) dec. Alex Canacci (CMA) 2-0; 125: James Letsinger (Ply) maj dec. Dylan Senff (Tri), 9-0; 130: Paul Thompson (War) maj. dec. Roman Clark (CMA) 15-4; 135:John Girard (Cul) pinned Jason Thompson (Tri), 2:40; 140: Josh Workman (CMA) dec. Zach Naas (ply), 5-0; 145: Robert Molebash (Cul) maj. dec. Jared Miller (Brem), 10-2; 152: Brock Reynolds (CMA) dec. Mike Hurford (Cul), 7-5; 160: Justin Wegener (Waw) maj. dec. Adam Ulmer (Tri), 11-2; 171: Robert Barbe (CMA) pinned Andrew Greives (Roch), 0:25; 189: Jeff Lanning (Brem) pinned Tommy James (Cul), 3:54; 215:Drew Flora (Ply) dec. Nathan McKenzie (Brem), 4-0; 285: Shawn Stuart (War) pinned Jacob Sexton (Waw), 0:32.

 

Rockies claim sectional crown

By Anthony Gadson
Pilot Sports

PLYMOUTH — With 12 wrestlers finishing in the top four of their respective weight classes, therefore advancing to individual regionals, the Plymouth Rockies secured a sectional championship Saturday at The Rock, edging out the CMA Eagles by 16 points.

“I thought we had a shot at it, but it took a team effort,” Plymouth coach Bob Read said about the Rockies first sectional championship since 2004.

Plymouth senior David Read (152) and sophomore John Popi (171) were the Rockies two individual champions, meaning the rest of the team had solid performances, leading to the overall team win.

“We wanted to place all of our guys in the top three, and we only had two kids that didn’t accomplish that,” Read said.

For the better part of the season, David Read wrestled in the 160-pound weight class, but leading up to sectionals, he opted to wrestle at 152.

“About four weeks ago, he came to us and wanted to come down a weight class,” coach Read, David’s uncle, said of the 152-pound champion.

Plymouth’s other sectional champion, Popi, also wrestled in a heavier weight class earlier in the season, but took the title in the 171-class after having wrestled at 189.

By placing first and second at sectionals, the Rockies and Eagles move on to the South Bend Clay Team Regional on Wednesday night, where Plymouth will match up with the Penn Kingsmen and CMA will battle the Mishawaka Cavemen. Both schools will enter regionals as underdogs, but Read believes in his guys.

“They have a tough team,” the Plymouth coach said of Penn. “But our kids are battlers.”

The CMA Eagles left Saturday’s Plymouth Sectional with four individual champions, including Devin Vass (103), Daniel Young (125), Garrett James (145) and Branden James (160).

After Plymouth and CMA compete at the team regionals on Wednesday, Plymouth will send 12 wrestlers on to the individual regional, also at Clay, on Saturday, while CMA will send 10. In order to qualify for the individual regional competition, a wrestler needed to finish in the top four at sectionals. Along with the Plymouth and CMA individual wrestlers, the Triton Trojans and Culver Cavaliers will each send six wrestlers to the competition and the Bremen Lions will send five. Among the Cavs participating at the individual regional will be Dominic Sheets, the Plymouth Sectional Champ-ion in the 119-weight class.

Team regionals will take place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Clay, and on Saturday, the individual regional competition will begin at 9 a.m.

PLYMOUTH 243, CMA 227, CULVER 168, WARSAW 165.5, TRITON 144, ROCHESTER 120, BREMEN 119, WAWASEE 112, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 44

At Plymouth Sectional (Jan. 27)
Championship Round

103: Devin Vass (CMA) dec. Taylor Judy (TV) 7-0; 112: Justin Brooks (War) pinned Chase Lewandowski (P) 4:32; 119: Dominic Sheets (Cul) pinned Joey Melendez (Waw) 1:01; 125: Daniel Young (CMA) maj. dec. Derek Nelson (Roch) 17-5; 130: Chase Davis (Waw) dec. Andy Hacha (P) 4-2; 135: Matt Elvidge (War) tech fall Kevin Dobbyn (CMA) 22-7; 140: Adam Keener (War) dec. Blake Hoffer (Tri) 7-5; 145: Garrett James (CMA) pinned Bryce Sheehan (P) 2:28; 152: David Read (P) dec. Andy Keener (War) 4-2; 160: Branden James (CMA) maj. dec. Derrik White (P) 14-5; 171: John Popi (P) dec. Jake Urednick (B) 7-2; 189: Chad Ulmer (Tri) pinned Jon Bradley (P) 0:45; 215: Braxton Riley (Waw) dec. Harold Lemler (Tri) 11-6; 285: Ryan Secrist (R) pinned Justin Deurloo (P) 4:25.

Consolation Round
103: Brandon Klosowski (War) pinned Ethan Starke (B) 2:52; 112: Alex Sage (Cul) pinned Jake Wyatt (R) 3:59; 119: Chuck Holmquest (P) dec. Alex Canacci (CMA) 2-0; 125: James Letsinger (P) maj dec. Dylan Senff (Tri) 9-0; 130: Paul Thompson (War) maj. dec. Roman Clark (CMA) 15-4; 135: John Girard (Cul) pinned Jason Thompson (Tri) 2:40; 140: Josh Workman (CMA) dec. Zach Naas (P) 5-0; 145: Robert Molebash (Cul) maj. dec. Jared Miller (B) 10-2; 152: Brock Reynolds (CMA) dec. Mike Hurford (Cul) 7-5; 160: Justin Wegener (Waw) maj. dec. Adam Ulmer (Tri) 11-2; 171: Robert Barbe (CMA) pinned Andrew Greives (R) 0:25; 189: Jeff Lanning (B) pinned Tommy James (Cul) 3:54; 215: Drew Flora (P) dec. Nathan McKenzie (B) 4-0; 285: Shawn Stuart (War) pinned Jacob Sexton (Waw) 0:32.