By Kristi McDevitt
Sports Correspondent
When senior captain Mike May took the mat at the MHSAA regional tournament Saturday afternoon he knew exactly what was at stake and exactly who his opponent was.
Two weeks prior May faced Linden’s Bobby Carsey in the semi-finals of the Flint Metro League tournament with the league championship for his team on the line. Despite a valiant effort, Carsey defeated May 7-6 and propelled Linden to a one-point victory over the Wildcats for the FML title.
Last Wednesday night Oxford faced Linden for the Regional title and a berth in the state quarter-finals. Again, May faced Carsey with the match on the line. What followed was another great match filled with some controversial calls by the officials and plenty of cheers and jeers from both sides of the gym.
Unfortunately for May and the Wildcats, Carsey prevailed with another 1-point victory to give his team the regional championship and a trip to Battle Creek for the State finals.
Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, to a crowded gym in Owosso High School. May had just lost his opening match in a tough fought battle against Corey Krings from Lapeer West. May was facing elimination from competition at the end of his high school wrestling career. His next match would determine whether the senior would advance to the individual state finals to be held at the Palace next week or pack up for the long drive back to Oxford.
As he walked to the mat he gave a glance over to his opponent in the opposite corner. As if Hollywood itself had scripted the story, there stood Bobby Carsey, of Linden, his nemesis who was once again preparing himself to end May’s season, his career.
From the opening whistle to the end of the final period May dominated Carsey winning 13-4 in a match that was never close. ‘He was determined not to let this kid beat him again and he showed it.? Head coach Paul McDevitt beamed after the match. ‘Mike beat him by 9 points. I wish we could have spread that nine point victory out into four separate two-point victories over the past couple weeks, but I’m very proud of Mike and his success this season.?
‘He had beat me three times already this season twice by one point and I was ready to get revenge,? May said after the win.
‘I wanted to be relentless with my attack and not wait for him. Going into it I didn’t want it to be a one point win, I wanted to beat him soundly.?
Unfortunately for the Wildcat’s seven regional qualifiers, May was the only one to advance to the individual State Finals.
‘It feels good to advance, but I wish more of my teammates could have joined me. We had six guys in the round to advance but our Regional was tough at a lot of weights and they weren’t able to make it out,? May said. As for how May plans to prepare over the next two weeks, ‘wrestle tough competition in practice and work on setting up my takedowns to take them out of their defense.?
The team portion of Oxford’s season came to an end Wednesday night as the Wildcats were defeated by Linden in regional competition 28-34.
‘It was a close duel. There were two or three really close matches that could have gone either way.? McDevitt noted.
‘Unfortunately, tonight we lost those close ones. If we could have won just one of those we would have won the match.?
Despite the loss, the wrestling team had an outstanding season finishing 22-5. The 22 wins is just one win shy of the school record. The 2000-01 team finished 23-4. The Individual State Finals are slated for March 9-11 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.