Jeff Chaney
Sports Scene
Who says seeds matter?
The Whitehall wrestling team proved that being the lower seed doesn’t always mean a loss at the Michigan High School Athletic Association Team Wrestling Finals.
The Vikings, the sixth seed in Division 3, beat third seeded Remus Chippewa Hills 33-27 to move on to Saturday morning’s semifinals at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena. There they will take on Dundee at 9:30 a.m.
“Our motto all year has been ‘Almost…'” Whitehall coach Cliff Sandee said. “Almost a win, almost a championship, almost this, almost that, so we didn’t want to come down here and almost get a win. We were aware of how tough and close seeds were from third to eighth, and on paper we had this a 7-7 match. We knew this would be an ‘Almost’ situation, and it felt good to come out better than our prediction.”
Whitehall actually won eight of the 14 matches wrestled to edge the Warriors.
“So many of the matches come down to one performance, either a poor won or an outstanding one,” Sandee said. “Today Whitehall had an outsadning team performance. Right from the beginning we had a senior captain bump up a weight.”
Dillon McCarthy was that captain that bumped up from 140 to 145 pounds, and beat Jason Peacock 6-4 in overtime to give the Vikings the early lead and momentum.
What made the win even more special for McCarthy, is that he lost to Peacock’s older brother, Elvis Peacock, in the ‘Blood Roound’ at last year’s individual finals.
Other great performances by Whitehall wrestlers came from Roger Champion at 112 pounds. He may have lost to returning state champion Zack Cooper 17-1, but did not give up a pin.
“It’s not always how important you win the matches you win, but how you lose the matches you lose,” Sandee said. “It’s a fight for every point down here. And Whitehall didn’t ‘Almost’ advacne, they did.”
The rest of Division 3 played out accoring to seeding, as top seed Richmond beat Roscommon 60-16, second seed Dundee beat seventh seed Caro 41-19 and fourth seed Birch Run beat Otsego 39-21.