For 10 Clarkston wrestlers, individual championship aspirations are very much alive. As a unit, however, their dreams came to an end.
The Wolves will be sending their largest contingent in school history, according to Coach Mike DeGain, to the individual wrestling finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills March 6-8. They earned that right by virtue of their performance in individual regional action Feb. 22 at Saginaw Heritage.
Three Clarkston grapplers – senior Clint DeGain, junior Tony LaJoie and senior Joe Wood – will be heading up the Wolves’ contingent at the individual finals, as all three won their weight classes at the regionals.
DeGain, who won a state championship at 160 lbs. last year, will be looking to turn the trick again, this time at 171 lbs. He pinned John Ostlund of Traverse City Central at 5:44 in the finals of that weight class Saturday.
LaJoie (125) earned a 9-2 decision against Greg Kohnke and Wood (275) pinned Mike Efthemiou of Utica in 1:57 to earn regional titles in their respective weight classes.
In addition, three other Clarkston wrestlers took runner-up honors in their weight classes Saturday. Junior Matt Herron (103) lost a 9-2 decision to Grand Blanc’s Josh Williams; sophomore Braden L’Amoreaux (130) lost a 7-5 decision to Davison’s Cory Rogers; and senior John Langdon (140) lost a 23-8 technical fall to Davison’s Brent Metcalf.
Other Clarkston individual state qualifiers, along with their finishes in their weight classes at Saturday’s regionals, are: junior Elliot May (third, 112); senior Brenton Place (third, 160); sophomore Bryan Webb (fourth, 119); and senior Kyle Hester (fourth, 189).
The Wolves’ hopes for a state championship were dashed at the hands of top-ranked Davison, the defending state champions, in the team regional semifinals Feb. 19 in Clarkston.
The Cardinals built a 29-3 lead and held off the Wolves for a 37-30 victory. Davison later defeated Waterford Mott 44-33 in the regional finals to advance to the state quarterfinals.
The Wolves finished this season with a 23-4 record. Two of the Wolves’ four losses this season have come at the hands of the Cardinals. Davison defeated the Wolves 38-30 in December. Clarkston’s other two losses were to nationally ranked schools in the Cleveland, Ohio area.
Davison started building their lead with Jon Reader’s pin of Josh Hensel in 44 seconds in the 112-lb. match. Paul Donahue (119) pinned May in 2:55 and Jason Whitman (125) pinned Bryan Webb in 4:27 as the Cardinals took a commanding 18-0 advantage.
LaJoie (130) scored Clarkston’s first points of the meet, earning an 8-5 victory against Davison’s Rogers. However, the Cardinals came right back, as Tony Ward (135) pinned L’Amoreaux in 5:50 and Metcalf (140) pinned Nate Parker in 3:05, giving Davison the 29-3 advantage.
The Wolves would mount a comeback, winning the next four matches to trim the Davison lead to 29-18. Langdon (145) defeated Kyle Chittick by a 3-2 decision; Sean Turner (152) earned a 10-4 win against Nate Bundy; DeGain (160) pinned Trevor Perry in 1:39; and Place (171) scored a 16-9 win against Zach Denkins.
However, the Cardinals won major decisions in the next two matches, as Jesse Reader (189) defeated Hester 16-7 and Adam Wilmouth (215) defeated Jason Talbott, clinching the match for Davison.
Clarkston salvaged some pride in the evening’s final two matches, as Wood (275) pinned Jason Skinner in 55 seconds and Herron (103) pinned Eric Warner in 25 seconds to make the final score closer. However, it was not enough to prevent the Wolves from being eliminated.
According to Coach DeGain, Davison’s fast start didn’t have as much of a bearing on the outcome as the fact Davison earned more pinfall wins than Clarkston.
“They just happened to start with their stronger wrestlers and we finished with our stronger wrestlers,” he said.
Still, the coach was proud of how hard the Wolves fought. “It was a heartbreaking loss for us,” DeGain said. “Everyone thought we had a chance, and we fought valiantly.”
With the individual finals a little more than a week away, DeGain is optimistic the Wolves will make a strong showing. “I think we’ve got a possibility of quite a few guys going to the finals (in their respective weight classes) if they wrestle their best,” he said.