Final step: Oxford prepped for state title run
FINISHING ON TOP: Oxford's Keegan Kantera (top) and the Wildcats are three wins away from the Division 1 state champioinship and wrestle Southgate Anderson at 3:15 p.m. Friday in the state quarterfinals at Battle Creek's Kellogg Arena. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
BATTLE CREEK — When Ben Ralston and Matt Frisch were freshman, they dreamed about what it would be like to win a wrestling state championship. Now as seniors, they have helped put together quite a legacy and are now three wins away from such a goal.
The Wildcats, ranked second in the polls, hold down the No. 2 seed at the Division 1 state tournament at Kellogg Arena. Oxford is 31-4 entering the final weekend of the postseason.
“I remember talking with Matt about this when we were freshmen,” said Ralston. “We talked about how great it would be a state championship.”
Oxford’s first step is Southgate Anderson (21-4) at 3:15 p.m. for its state quarterfinal match. Southgate upset perennial power Temperance-Bedford in the regional finals nine days earlier to advance.
“Southgate is a tough team,” admitted Oxford coach Brad Keeney, who is his first season at the held after serving as an assistant the past few years. “Now, based on what I know about them, I feel we match up well with them. But it’s the state tournament. Everybody here is good.”
Oxford is one win from its fourth straight Final Four and sixth overall. The Wildcats also reached the Final Four in 1998, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010 and potentially in 2011.
The Wildcats have wrestled a brutally-tough schedule. The goal is to wrestle for the state championship.
“That’s why we went out and scheduled the very toughest schedule we could, to prepare us for this,” offered Keeney. “We wanted to be as prepared as we could. I think we are as prepared as we can be.”
Oxford’s four losses were all to state powerhouse teams, three which are wrestling in Battle Creek in one of the state’s four divisions. The other loss was to Davison in the season opener, a team the Wildcats avenged in the district finals two weeks ago.
The only other loss to a Division 1 school was top-ranked Novi Detroit Catholic Central, the defending state champions who defeated Oxford earlier in the year and in last year’s state semifinals.
Oxford was a Division 2 state semifinalist in 2008 and the D-2 state runner-up in 2009. Last season, Oxford made the leap to D-1 last season due to an enrollment surge and still reached the Final Four.
This season, they could meet Catholic Central in Saturday’s finals at 4 p.m. if the seeds hold up and there are no upsets.
“When we wrestled (Catholic Central) earlier in the year, we didn’t have a great day,” recalled Frisch, another one of several seniors on the Wildcats’ roster and a four-year starter, along with Ralston. “I think us seniors would love another chance at them. We know we can wrestle better.”
Category: High School, Oxford, Prep Wraps
