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Powerful Gaylord takes down Marquette Redmen in MHSAA Division 2 team wrestling

Marquette’s Colin Fure, top, and Gaylord’s John Sosa vie for position in their 119-pound match during an MHSAA Division 2 team regional tournament semifinal meet held Wednesday evening at Marquette Senior High School. (Journal photo by Corey Kelly)

MARQUETTE — Marquette fell to Gaylord in the semifinals of the MHSAA Division 2 team wrestling regional tournament held at Marquette Senior High School on Wednesday night.

The Redmen were defeated by the Blue Devils, 60-21.

St. Johns defeated Flint Kearsley in the other semifinal 39-30 to advance to the championship round versus Gaylord.

The Blue Devils claimed the Division 2 regional title over St. Johns 44-21.

MSHS head coach Tony Gentz credited Gaylord for a strong and competitive match.

“The guys wrestled their butts off,” he said. “Gaylord is ranked No. 4 in the state for a reason and they showed it (tonight), so hats off to them.”

Gentz also reflected on the season as a whole and considered it a success.

“We were one of the best teams in the county, and we beat Escanaba who was considered one of the best teams in our district,” he said. “We’re among the top of the entire Upper Peninsula, I think.”

The Redmen did see some match victories, with senior Zachary Albright pinning Gaylord junior Michael Coy Jr. at 215 pounds and sophomore Griffin Moore pinning Blue Devils freshman Logan Ford at 130.

Marquette senior Jacob Johnson decisioned Gaylord senior Brady Schulz 3-2 at 152. Marquette senior Cooper Holferty also pinned Blue Devils sophomore Austin Kettlewell at 189.

Gaylord head coach Jerry LaJoie said his team’s chemistry was on point just at the right time.

“The kids kind of came together today,” he said. “It’s the first time they’ve jelled as a team in a long time. We wrestled a good team, got pretty physical and handled them pretty well.

“We have a great coaching staff who put our game plan together and a great group of young men who battled hard.”

Gaylord advances to the MHSAA D-2 team finals on Feb. 23-24 at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo.

Despite Marquette’s season coming to an end in the team tournament, there are four Redmen hopefuls with a chance to advance to the individual state finals by doing well at the Division 2 regional to be held at Gaylord on Saturday. Those state finals are set for March 2-3 at Ford Field in Detroit.

Gentz said Moore and Holferty along with senior Darren Holman at 160 and sophomore Joseph Lagrou at 103 will advance to the finals if they can place in the top four at Saturday’s regional. Holferty will wrestle at 171 in the individual tourney.

Email Ryan Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.

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