WRESTLING: Clarkston takes down Oxford, Utica Ford for first regional since 2007
Clarkston celebrates its first Division 1 regional title since 2007 Wednesday night following wins over Oxford and Utica Ford.
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
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OXFORD — Cole Wiegars doesn’t mind being in a pressure situation. He’d rather be in this particular position on the mat and not watching from the sidelines.
Wiegars entered his 125-pound class either having to record a technical fall or a pin in order for Clarkston to win its Division 1 regional semifinal against rival Oxford.
Wiegers stuck Oxford’s Matt Curtis to the mat in 3:44 in leading the seventh-ranked Wolves past ninth-ranked Oxford, 31-29, in front of an high-energy crowd.
“I would rather be out there. It’s a lot more nerve-wracking watching from the sidelines,” said Wiegers. “That’s probably the best feeling I have ever felt. Knowing that we have been working for this. My fourth year, never beat them. I was a lht there,” said Oxford coach Ross Wingert, whose program had won regional titles in 10 of the past 11 seasons but came up shy this season. “If we got the win at 119, we win the match. Hats off to Clarkston, though. They wrestled tough. They are a good team. They beat us last time when it came down to the last match. We knew this would be a good one, but definitely a match where we could have come out on top. That’s the disappointing part.”
Clarkston (20-7), the Oakland County and OAA Red Division champion, lost by 12 to Oxford in last season’s regional semifinals. The Wolves took another step forward in getting back to amongst the state’s elite.
“It’s been a while,” offered second-year Clarkston coach Joe Wood, a former assistant coach at Oxford. “Clarkston has always been a good program, but we have had a hard time getting past (Oxford or Hartland) in regionals.
“This has been a really great season and this is kind of the icing on the cake,” continued Wood. “We won the county, we won the league, to be able to come in here. And (Oxford) was coming for us, they were ready for us. To be able to come here and do this, in their gym, says a lot about our kids and how hard we train. This is what we wanted this year, ever since last year.”
Clarkston (20-6) went on to oust Utica Ford, 41-26, an anti-climactic regional finals — the Wolves’ first regional crown since 2007. Over the past 11 seasons, the Wolves have lost in the regional semifinal or regional finals 10 times.
The win propels Clarkston into the state quarterfinals Feb. 22 at Wings Arena in Kalamazoo against an undetermined a opponent.
Utica Ford (7-13) made its first appearance in the regional finals in more than two decades. The Falcons raced out to a 13-0 lead after three matches and hung on for a thrilling 37-33 victory over Rochester Adams in the other regional semifinal Wednesday.
Ford led 29-6, only to see Adams charge back and tie it at 33-33. The Falcons won the final match to prevail, as Noah Tgiros recorded an 11-0 victory in the 125-pound division.
“We were in regionals five years ago, but I don’t know how long its been since we got to the regional finals,” noted Ford coach Scott Scalici. “We lost some close matches earlier in the season where we left guys out. We were kind of building towards the end of the season.
“Adams beat us by a lot earlier in the season. But I knew if it lined up right we’d have a chance,” added Scalici. “I told Adams coach (Mike) Holtz that everything that could have went our way did in our match with them. Our goal was to beat them. We knew Clarkston and Oxford were out of our league right now, but I felt that if everything went our way we could beat Adams.”
Adams competed in the regionals for the fourth time in five seasons, but came up short. The Highlanders, third in the loaded OAA-Red behind Clarkston and Oxford, finished 24-9.
“We fell behind early and that was a huge difference,” offered Holtz. “Sometimes you win here and sometimes you don’t. Ford won a lot of swing matches that could have gone either way and they had way too many pins. Looking back, there were some matches where if we could have stayed off our backs, we might have won.”
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