Oxford, Clarkston, Adams matmen lead hopefuls for Battle Creek
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
OXFORD — Sometimes a loss can be one of the best things that can happen to a team. It sure did to Oxford in its season opening quad on Dec. 1.
The Wildcats, coming off back-to-back Final Fours, dropped a 33-30 decision to Davison in their opener. It has paid dividends ever since.
Oxford, now ranked second in Division 1, is still alive in the state tournament and wrestles Wednesday night in the team regional at Saginaw Heritage. Clarkston and Rochester Adams are the other www.northoaklandsports.com local schools still alive in the postseason, and both will participate in the Hartland regional Wednesday.
All three hail from the OAA Red Division. Oxford finished as the league champ, while Adams and Clarkston tied for third in the final league standings.
“I really think that loss was the best thing that happened to us,” admitted first-year head coach Brad Keeney, who was an assistant last season. “We came into the season, posting up our individual rankings and our team rankings. And then we lost to a team we beat last year. We tore down all of those rankings and that got us really focused.
“Since then we have wrestled very well,” continued Keeney, whose team avenged Davison, 31-19 in last week’s district finals. “We scheduled as tough of a schedule as we ever have and I think that has prepared us.”
Last season Oxford pounded Saginaw Heritage (67-0) and Bay City Western (67-10) en route to the regional championship and a trip to Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena, site of the state MHSAA state quarterfinals, semifinals and finals each year.
“We are confident, but we realize that we have to wrestle well,” said Keeney. “There are some good teams in every regional. We know that if we just show up and not wrestle well that there are teams that can knock us off. I think the teams in our region are better than last year.”
Oxford will face host Saginaw Heritage in one semifinal match, with Bay City Western and Flint Carman-Ainsworth facing off in the other at 5:30 p.m. The finals will take place 10 minutes after the completion of the semifinals.
“I think if the guys want to get a top (four seed) for the (quarterfinals), they have to win big,” said Keeney, whose team lost to eventual state champ Novi Detroit Catholic Central in the state semifinals last season. “Catholic Central is ranked No. 1, and they should be, but there are four or five teams that could end up winning it. You have to get there first.”
In the Hartland regional, unranked Rochester Adams (24-4) will meet No. 4 Hartland (26-2), which has reached the state quarterfinals each of the past eight years, while Clarkston (21-9) will tangle with West Bloomfield in the other semifinal.
Adams is having its best season in a decade, while Clarkston and Adams tied for third in the OAA Red Division standings this season.
Adams is trying to make it to Battle Creek for the first time since 2000, while Clarkston the first time since 2007, when the Wolves (21-9) lost to Hartland in the state semifinals. Hartland knocked out Clarkston in the regional finals last year.
“We’re excited for a chance to compete for a regional. It has been 10 years since we’ve be to this point,” said Adams coach Mike Holtz, who competed for the Highlanders in the 1990s when they were a state powerhouse program. “I know we have a great group of seniors that have worked so hard to get us back to this point.”
Are the Highlanders capable of upsetting Hartland, who has not lost since a defeat to Lowell in mid-January.
“I always tell the guys, ‘don’t ever take a back seat to anybody,’ not to their teammates, not their classmates,” offered Holtz. “We’re going in tomorrow wanting to leave as regional champs. Are we the favorite? Absolutely not. But if you work hard and believe, anything can happen. Here we are a couple wins away from getting to the state tournament in Battle Creek. That’s the goal.”
First-year Clarkston head coach Andy Auten feels his team matches up well with West Bloomfield, a team the Wolves already beat this season. He hopes that Adams can pull the upset of Hartland in the other semifinal for the same reason.
“We match up with West Bloomfield very well. Their best wrestlers are 130, 140 and 152, and those are weight classes that we are very strong in and can beat them,” he said. “I think we actually match up better with Adams than we do with Hartland. When we lost to Adams this season, we were missing a few guys. I know Hartland beat us last year, so I’m sure the guys wouldn’t mind getting a other shot at them.
“One of our goals at the begging of the season was to get to Battle Creek,” added Auten. “I think it is possible, but we have to win a very tough regional.”
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Category: Clarkston, Oxford, Prep Wraps, Rochester Adams
