St. Edward drops heartbreaker to Detroit Central Catholic on criteria
It was ‘almost’ a typical opening weekend for perennial national power, St. Edward, as they opened the season against a highly ranked national opponent. This year the Eagles hosted #11 Detroit Central Catholic. The difference this season is that the young Eagles are not ranked in the top 20 for the first time since 1991, and do not have a returning state placer on their squad, something that has not occurred in decades.
The dual opened like most for St. Edward, as sophomores Isaac Collier and Hunter Ladnier picked up a fall and major decision to roll their team out to a 10-0 lead.
The next six bouts were all Detroit Central Catholic, as they took a 31-10 lead as the Amine brothers, Myles and Malik, started the charge with a fall and a last second win. Malik, who will be wrestling for the Wolverines next season, took senior Ray Barr down with five seconds left to win.
The Eagles who are missing some of their upper-weights due to their football teams playoff run, forfeited the 170-pound slot and bumped up senior Kevin Khoma to wrestle nationally ranked Logan Marcicki, but the junior proved to be too much as he notched the fall in the first period.
Returning state qualifier Gabe Dzuro was able to stop the bleeding as he bumped up to the 195 class to face returning state place winner, Nick Giese. Dzuro went down early in the match but wrestled back to a 6-4 win.
Senior Jimmy Russell scored a pin in the 220 pound class, as he would be the last winner in the meet for Detroit Central Catholic. In a bizarre change of events, the Eagles' Kevin Ward took a 2-0 lead on the Nick Vaiketcus, but the match would soon end in Ward’s favor as Vaiketcus weighed in less than the required 215 pounds. OHSAA rules state that in order to compete in the heavyweight class, the wrestler must weigh at least 215 pounds. DCC was forced to forfeit the match, making the match score 37-19.
The Eagles then needed 3 falls in their final 3 matches just to tie the meet. At 106 pounds, freshman standout Allan Hart made quick work of his opponent in only 32 seconds. It was now up to junior state qualifier, LJ Bentley, to go after a must needed fall. Bentley was on the verge of winning by tech fall, but was able to flatten his opponent with just 10 seconds left on the clock. It was now up to Eagle sophomore Mason Daugherty to get the 3rd fall to tie up the match. This would prove to be difficult as his DCC opponent was clearly stalling in order to avoid the match tying fall. But with only eight seconds left in the match, Daugherty was awarded the match by stalling disqualification and the six points needed to tie the dual meet.
The dual meet ended in dramatic fashion as the officials had to go down to the ninth match criteria to declare a winner. Detroit Central Catholic edged St. Edward in the near fall points category, as they had 23 points to the Eagles 15 points.
Despite the Eagles youth and lack of returning state experienced wrestlers, they proved that they are still a team to be reckoned with at the National level. St. Edward defeated CVCA earlier in the day by a 66-15 margin, winning 11 of the 14 bouts.
The defending state champions will return to action this Friday at the prestigious Walsh Ironman.
126: Isaac Collier (SE) pinned Chyle Johnson, 5:36
132: Hunter Ladnier (SE) maj. dec. Evan Toth, 9-1
138: Myles Amine (DCC) pinned Joey Ciacchi, 5:20
145: Malik Amine (DCC) dec. Ray Barr, 4-3
152: No. 15 Nick Bennett (DCC) pinned Matt Pauvlik, 5:21
160: Tyler Morland (DCC) maj. dec. Adam Wukie, 15-4
170: No. 10 (at 182) Andrew Garcia (DCC) wins by forfeit
182: No. 16 (at 170) Logan Marcicki (DCC) pinned Kevin Khoma, 1:56
195: Gabe Dzuro (SE) dec. Nick Giese, 6-4
220: Jimmy Russell (DCC) pinned Mike O'Malley, 3:15
285: Kevin Ward (SE) wins by forfeit
106: Allan Hart (SE) pinned Alex Geelhood 0:32
113: L.J. Bentley (SE) pinned Tommy Hermann, 5:50
220: Mason Daugherty (SE) over Parker O'Brien by DQ
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