OAA debut: Oxford makes statement by pinning down Clarkston, Rochester
ALL TANGLED UP: Clarkston's Raymond Wilkie had Oxford's Keegan Cantera in his graps, temporarily, during a 112-pound match Wednesday. Staff Phtoto | Dan Stickradt
NOSs.RochOxfordMats-2.1208BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
CLARKSTON — After dominating the Flint Metro League the past two years and finishing in the top two in that league for the past 10 seasons, Oxford made its long-anticipated switch of the Oakland Activities Association this year.
The Wildcats finally made their wrestling debut in the OAA Red Division Wednesday and walked away with a pair of impressive wins over two of the league’s top teams.
Oxford, which is ranked second in the state in Division 1, handed 10th-ranked and defending league champion Clarkston its most lopsided loss in league history, 54-7. In the second match, the Wildcats rallied past Rochester 44-21.
Rochester (6-5) also had no problems defeating Troy Athens 65-21, while Clarkston pounded Athens 70-6 in a match that lasted a mere 40 minutes.
Oxford, which was upset last week by Davison, found itself in a 15-6 deficit to Rochester before battling back with a 38-6 run.
“We can’t worry about other teams right now. We can only worry about ourselves and getting better,” offered Brad Keeney, Oxford’s new head coach who was an assistant coach on last year’s Final Four team. “We have a long way to go where we want to be.
“I think Rochester gave us a little bit of a scare,” admitted first-year Oxford coach Brad Keeney. “They hung with a us a little while. This is good for us. We need to face opponents like this all season in this league.”
Oxford picked up a couple of battles of state-ranked wrestlers. Keegan Cantera edged Josh Wood 9-7 at 112 in a rematch of last year’s state semifinal at 103. In a 125-pound battle, Oxford’s Rocco Borg edged Kaelen Richards 5-2 in a match that featured two state placers from a year ago.
Oxford’s Noah Cantera pinned Joey Gunther in 3:30 at 130 to bring Oxford to within 15-12. Kyle Hill and Mike Thomas both won by void to go up 24-18 and helped Oxford take the lead for good.
The Wildcats won four of the final six matches against Rochester.
Rochester has started the year 6-5, and all five of the Falcons’ losses are to state-ranked teams.
“We had to void two weight classes because of injuries and that hurt us. Other than that we battled with the No. 2 team in the state, said Rochester coach Frank Lafferty. “We went toe-to-toe with them. The (112 and 125) could have gone either way. If we win those two matches and we have everyone in our lineup, this would be closer.
“Oxford is very tough,” added Lafferty. “They make our league tougher. And our league was already very good.”
In its first match on the evening, Rochester wasted little time against Athens in its opener, winning 10 matches with Athens winning just three. One match ended with a double-void.
Josh Kim (103), Wood (112), Todd Puchovan (119), Richards (130), Trevor Elliott (145), Derrick Steinard (152), Cody Devoe (160), Matt Waskiewicz (171), Marcel Johnson, and Jameson Joyce (189) all won matches for Rochester (1-1 in conference meets) against Athens.
Andy Auten, a 1999 Clarkston grad, took over the reigns as the Wolves’ head coach. His team returns multiple starters and has eight seniors, but did not have enough to combat Oxford’s superior depth and balance throughout the lineup.
Oxford won 12 of 14 weight classes against Clarkston (7-2, 1-1).
“Oxford is a very good team. They might be the class of our league. We’ll see,” said Auten. “We have some work to do. We have time. It’s a long season.”
Nick McMaster (215), Prescott Line (285), Daniel Curtis (103), Keegan Cantera (112), Mike Willits (119), Borg (125), Kyle Hill (135), Mike Thomas (140), Marty Giannola (145), Matt Frisch (152), Dakota Peasley (160) and Matt Anger (189) all won matches for Oxford against Clarkston.
The Wolves had wins from Jeff Sloney (130) and Matt Vandermeer (171). Oxford started the match 28-0 before Sloney could put his team on the board.
“We still have a lot of guys back,” said Auten. “We have eight seniors on this team, but not a lot of juniors. Oxford is just a very good team. We saw that tonight. They beat us up pretty good, winning (12 matches).”
Clarkston had similar results against Athens, picking up wins in 13 of 14 weight classes. Jazz Hubbard’s pin at 125 brought Athens to within 15-6 but the Red Hawks could not match up the rest of the way.
Brett Foltz (103), Ray wilkie (112), Jake Dionne (119), Sloney (130), Marc Bosnack (135), Nick Vandermeer (140), Tristan Tozzi (145), Jamie Jameson (152), Chris Calvaro (160), Matt Vandermeet (171), AJ Schlaff (189) and Scott Devos (215) all had wins for Clarkston against the Red Hawks (1-5, 0-2).
BOX SCORES
OXFORD 54, CLARKSTON 7
215: Nick McMaster (O) p. Adam Myers 3:45; 285: Prescott Line (O) d. Scott Devos 11-2; 103: Daniel Curtis (O) d. Peter Foltz 10-0; 112: Keegan Cantera (O) tech. fall Raymond Wilkie 18-3; 119: Mike Willits (O) p. Jake Dionne 1:40; 125: Rocco Borg (O) d. Mike Cordinale 10-3; 130: Jeff Sloney (C ) d. Noah Cantera 14-4; 135: Kyle Hill (O) p. Marc Bosnack 1:26; 140: Mike Thomas (O) d. Nick Vandermeer 10-3; 145: Marty Giannola (O) d. Kyle Broughtlin 6-3; 152: Matt Frisch (O) p. Jamie Jameson 1:28; 160: Dakota Peasley (O) maj. dec. Mike Henige ( 9-0; 171: Matt Vandermeer (C) d. Ben Ralston 6-0; 189: Matt Anger (O) maj. dec. Ethan Frick 12-2.
ROCHESTER 65, TROY ATHENS 21
215: Marcel Johnson (R) p. Brandon Yochem 0:51; 285: Steve Toporawski (TA) d. Cameron Daniels 8-4; 103: Justin Kim (R) Nick Molter 15-0; 112: Josh Wood (R) p. Thomas Keyes 5:45; 119: Todd Puchovan (R) p. Chris Berard 0:59; 125: Jezz Hubbard (TA) p. Joey Gunther 1:40; 130: Kaelen Richards (R) p. Brian Turner 4:19; 135: Dylan Abro (TA) void; 140: Double void; 145: Trevor Elliott (R) p. Saad Youseff 0:57; 152: Derrick Steinard (R) by void; 160: Cody Devoe (R) p. Andrew Correano 1:00; 171: Matthew Waszkiewicz (R) by void; 189: Jameson Joyce (R) p. Chris Codreany 0:36.
OXFORD 44, ROCHESTER 21
285: Marcel Johnson (R) p. Zack Wood 1:49; 103: Justin Kim (R) p. Dan Curtis 5:13; 112: Keegan Kantera (O) d. Josh Wood 9-7; 119: Todd Puchovan (R) d. Mike Willits 6-5; 125: Rocco Borg (O) d. Kaelen Richards 5-2; 130: Noah Cantera (O) p. Joey Gunther 3:30; 135: KyleHill (O) by void; 140: Mike Thomas (O) by void; 145: Trevor Elliott (R) d. Marty Giannola 3-1; 152: Matt Frisch (O) d. Derrick Steinard 12-0; 160: Cody Devoe (R) Dakota Peasley 3-2; 171: Ben Ralston (R) d. Matt Waskiewicz 9-1; 189: Matt Anger (O) p. David French 4:50; 215:Prescott Line (O) p. Jameson Joyce 5:50.
CLARKSTON 72, TROY ATHENS 6
285: Scott Devos (C) p. Steve Toporowski 0:48; 103: Brett Foltz (C) p. Nick Holter 0:33; 112: Ray Wilkie (C) d. Thomas Keyes 11-4; 119: Jake Dionee (C) p. Chris Berard 5:15; 125: Jazz Hubbard (TA) p. Mike Cardinale 1:17; 130: Jeff Sloney (C) maj. dec. Brian Turner 12-2; 135: Marc Bosnack (C) p. Dylan Abro 1:46; 140: Nick Vandermeer (C) maj. dec. Saad Youseff 15-6; 145: Tristan Tozzi (C) by void; 152: James Jameson (C) by void; 160: Chris Calvaro (C) p. Andrew Carreanu 4:25; 171: Matt Vandermeer (C) d. Chris Cordeanu NA; 189: AJ Schlaff (C) p. Brandon Yochem 1:42.
To submit information to www.northoaklandsports.com, e-mail dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com. To advertise, e-mail advertising@northoaklandsports.com
Category: Clarkston, Oxford, Prep Wraps, Rochester, Troy Athens
