Union City Wrestling takes two tough road wins to stay unbeaten

NILES, MI. — A shorthanded Union City Charger wrestling team traveled to Niles on Wednesday for a pair of tough road showdowns as the D4 7th ranked Chargers faced off with Niles Brandywine and Decatur.

Union City came away with a pair of hard fought road victories, beating Brandywine 34-24 and Decatur by the score of 46-30.

Union City held off a very good Brandywine squad while missing three of their regular starters on Wednesday, going on to take a very exciting 34-24 victory.

The match started at 132 pounds where Union City’s defending state champion at 125 pounds, Landyn Crance, defeated Brandywine’s Drake Heath via a 9-1 Major Decision, giving the Chargers the early 4-0 lead.

The Chargers lead grew by six more points at 138 pounds as Andrew Tundevold accepted a void, giving Union City a 10-0 lead. At 144 pounds it was Charger sophomore Aidan Taylor facing off with Corey Whitman, a match controlled by Taylor from the start. Taylor managed to build an 11-0 lead before turning Whitman, earning the pin fall victory in 2:45 to give Union City a 16-0 lead.

Union City extended their lead at 150 pounds as sophomore Montana Connell earned a pin fall win over Jason Wilson in 1:08, giving the Chargers a solid 22-0 lead.

Brandywine came back with two straight victories, beginning with a pin fall win for Gavin Schoff over Colton Russell at 157 pounds, followed by a 10-7 decision win for Dough Hawley over Union City’s Maddox Miller at 165 pounds, bringing the score to 22-9.

Union City got back on the board at 175 pounds as freshman Johnny Olmstead recorded his first varsity victory, battling his way to a hard fought 4-3 decision over Josh Patrolia, giving Union City the 25-9 lead.

Brandywine’s Carter Sobeki took a void at 190 pounds, followed by a double void at 215 pounds, finding the score of 25-15 with four matches left on the docket.

Union City looked to senior Grady Iobe for a big boost at 285 pounds and got it, as Iobe pinned Brandywine’s Philip McLaurin in 4:44, extending the Charger lead to 31-15.

Union City’s final victory came at 106 pounds where 2022 state runner-up Logan Mears took a hard fought 2-0 decision win over Brandywine’s Josmar Perez, pushing the Charger lead to an insurmountable 34-15.

After a double void at 113 pounds it was Brandywine’s Kaiden Rieth taking another hard fought decision, defeating Union City’s Mason Hawthorne via a 5-2 decision, closing the score to 34-18. The dual ended with Brandywine’s Brady Schoff taking a void at 126 pounds, finding the final score of 34-24.

In the dual versus Decatur the Chargers used six pins and a void to scoot past the Pirates by the score of 46-30.

The dual started at 138 pounds where Aidan Taylor picked up a pin fall win in the third period over Rilyn Mead, staking the Chargers to an early 6-0 lead. Union City went on to take wins in the next three matches to build an early advantage, beginning with a hard fought 14-4 Major Decision victory for Montana Connell over Giovanni Benavides at 144 pounds to extend the lead to 10-0. Colton Russell added to that lead with a pin fall win in 1:18 over Carson Shugars at 150 pounds, followed by a pin fall win for Maddox Miller over Chase Bailey in 1:32 at 157 pounds, giving the Chargers a 22-0 lead.

Decatur got on the board with three straight victories, starting with a void at 165 pounds for Brody Mead, followed by a pin fall win for Danny Camarillo over Johnny Olmstead at 175 pounds. Another void, this time at 190 pounds for Zach Wiggins, closed the score to 22-18 in favor of Union City.

Union City again got back on the board with a huge pin by senior big man Grady Iobe who stuck Decatur’s Tanner Shugars at 215 pounds, extending the lead to 28-18.

Decatur then took a void at 285 pounds for Brayden Ross, again closing the score to just four points at 28-24.

Union City took control of the dual with a first round pin fall win for Logan Mears at 106 pounds as he pinned Joel Pena in 1:53, pushing the lead to 34-24. After a double void at 113 pounds it was Mason Hawthorne officially putting the dual out of reach with a pin fall win over Ryder Gardner at 120 pounds, extending the lead to 40-24.

Decatur scored one more time with a void for Thor Baker at 126 pounds, followed by Union City ending the dual with a void accepted by Landyn Crance at 132 pounds, finding the final score of 46-30.

In exhibition news Union City’s Andrew Tundevold defeated Decatur’s Cody Hood via a 10-2 decision.

Union City will be back in action this coming weekend as they will travel to Coldwater on Saturday to compete in the Coldwater Classic. The annual team style tournament will pit Union City against a number of local teams, including the Cardinals, the Sturgis Trojans and perhaps Big 8 rival Bronson. Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. at Coldwater’s Coach Floyd Eby Gymnasium.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Union City Wrestling takes two tough road wins to stay unbeaten