Local Sports: Bears off to great start in bid for third straight title

Jefferson’s wrestling team is bidding for its third straight Huron League wrestling championship with a new man in charge.

Photo Gallery: Huron League wrestling quad at SMCC

Longtime assistant Ryan Nadeau has replaced Mike Humphrey as the head coach.

It doesn’t look like the Bears have lost a step.

They had no trouble with a pair of league foes Wednesday night, whipping Riverview 84-0 and Flat Rock 72-12 in a quad meet held at St. Mary Catholic Central.

“The guys are really working hard in the (practice) room,” Nadeau said. “They are buying into the new coaching staff and what we are teaching them. They don’t seem to get tired when other teams are breaking. I told them that conditioning is the X factor for us right now.”

Malahki Pribyl (190), Seth Minney (215), Nathan Massarant (285), Joseph Peer (106), Daniel Allen (113), Tyler Vanderpool (120), Isaac Massarant (126), Ryder Mulherin (132), John Allen (144), Carter Simota (157), Martre Pearson (165), and Anthony Cousino (175) all went 2-0 for Jefferson.

The Bears are 5-0 in dual meets.

“I just enjoy the sport of wrestling,” said Nadeau, who was an assistant under Humphrey for 19 seasons before taking over this season. “And coaching at my alma mater is a dream come true."

Flat Rock also beat SMCC 42-40.

Andrew Given (150), who recorded his 100th career victory, and Wyatt Mack (138) went 2-0 for the Rams.

SMCC also lost 42-27 to Riverview, but had Brianna Lynch (106), Cole Smith (120), Michael Lynch (144), Eric Mathies (215) and Murphy Bogdanski (285) go 2-0.

The Falcons stayed close in both of their matches despite forfeiting five weight classes.

“The kids wrestled well,” SMCC coach Nick Eby said. “Our team is young. Flat Rock and Riverview are young, too. We had some good matches.”

PREP WRESTLING

Huron starts league 2-0

MILAN – New Boston Huron got its Huron League season off to a great start by beating Airport 46-34 and Grosse Ile 62-18 Wednesday.

“We looked good,” Huron coach Logan Ritchie said. “We were wrestling free tonight, attacking, scoring and having fun out there.”

The win over Airport looks large in the league race.

“Airport and Jefferson are the two toughest teams,” Ritchie said.

Amelia Szawara came up big for Huron with two falls and Carson Gemmel moved up two weight classes to deliver a huge fall against Airport.

Also going 2-0 for 8-3 Huron were Eric Radulescu, Drew Ladach, Wyatt Marentette and Joshua Buettner.

Airport, which beat Milan 52-22,  got 2-0 nights from Kenny Wingate (106), Jacob VanBuskirk (120), Blake Haliburda (138), Jack Mills (165), Isaac kemp (175) and Tristan Philbeck (190).

“We are still missing two solid kids from our lineup,” Airport coach Jon Morris said. “Huron had a tough squad and came ready to wrestle. My hat is off to Coach Ritchie and his team.”

Carlson flexes muscle

TRENTON – Gibraltar Carlson showed why it is the favorite to take the Downriver League title this season by cruising past Dearborn Edsel Ford 68-12 and Southgate Anderson 64-12 Wednesday.

“It was definitely a nice way to start the league,” Carlson coach Lance Hassell said. “Southgate had some good wrestlers.”

Benett Szucs (106), Cole Fountain (113), Kyle Steinert (120), John Wallace (126), Deisel Gessner (132-138), Jayse Alkahwaji (144), Zachary Taylor (150-157), Timmy Simons (165-175), Brennen Mitchell (190), Matt Beach (215), and Ben Przytula (285) all won twice for the Marauders.

One negative was that Alkahwaji broke his collarbone and will be out several weeks.

Massingill leads Dundee

IDA – Aiden Massigill provided the highlight of the night for Dundee during lopsided wins over Hillsdale (75-6) and Onsted (78-3) Wednesday.

“He bumped up to heavyweight gave up almost 100 pounds,” said Nate Hall, co-coach of the Vikings with Garrett Stevens. “Was able to gut out a competitive match and get a third-period fall.”

Joining Massigill at 2-0 were Bryan Sterling (106), Braden Broderick (120), Blake Cosby (132), Owen Motylinski (144-150), Trey Parker (157-165), and Kole Katschor (157-165).

“We were able to get some of our less experienced wrestlers matches tonight,” Hall said.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Jefferson slump ends

HAZEL PARK – Jefferson ended its scoring slump in a big way Wednesday as Myles Tackett (29 points) and Ben Merkel (25) both hit career highs to lead the Bears to an 82-69 victory over Hazel Park.

Tackett also grabbed 14 rebounds. Eastin Kegley hit all nine of his free throws and added 13 points.

“Proud of the way our team played,” said Jefferson coach Corey Wiley, whose 4-3 team scored 17 points over its previous season high for points in a game.

Jefferson trailed 36-26 at halftime, but dominated the third quarter 29-9 and scored 56 points after the intermission.

JEFFERSON: Tackett 10 (1) 8-10 29, Gelso 1 2-2 4, Armetta 0 5-6 5, Schroeder 1 1-2 3, Kegley 3 (1) 9-9 13, Merkel 11 (2) 1-3 25. Totals 26 (4) 26-32 82.

HAZEL PARK: Logan 1 1-3 3, Huffman 8 (3) 1-2 20, Hart 2 0-0 4, Bell 4 3-6 11, Rogers 3 (1) 0-0 7, Picket 3 (1) 0-0 7, Strotter 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 (5) 5-11 69.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Local Sports: Bears off to great start in bid for third straight title