Wrestlers go 3-2 at Barrett Tournament, place fifth

by Angie Asam, Staff Writer

The Rogers City wrestling team hosted their annual Bill Barrett Memorial Tournament Saturday. Before any wrestling began, kind words were spoken about the man for whom the tournament was dedicated, and the father of Rogers City wrestling. Throughout the day the Hurons wrestled tough and with pride in honor of their father who began the wrestling program in 1970.

The Hurons started off the dual tournament against the Whitemore-Prescott Cardinals and defeated them 48-36. Needing a win in the last match at 160 pounds junior Jacob Reisner stepped up big winning by pin very early in the match to give Rogers City the victory.

Next up for the Hurons would be the division two Gladstone Braves. The Hurons would battle the Braves tough most of the way but in the end came up short losing 45-34. The Braves would go on to win the tournament after going 4-0 in pool play and defeating the St. Ignace Saints by just one point in the finals.

Against conference foe Sault Ste. Marie, the Hurons would find themselves in another tight match that would come down to the final match and the Hurons prevailed winning 36-33.

Grayling would be next for the Hurons and another close match did not go the Hurons way as they fell 40-30. ?I came to a stunning realization during the Grayling match that I haven?t been coaching very well. We need to really get back to the basics and we need to spend some time working to fight off the offensive moves that some of the other wrestlers are putting on us. I have to take blame for that, because I spend so much time making sure that we are in shape and that we are good on our feet that we don?t spend a whole lot of time on defense. We need to work on fighting off our back. We always have a saying around here that the best way to fight off your back is to not get on your back but the realization is that we have been getting on our back and we overlook that as a very important part of wrestling. As any wrestling fan knows, getting pins and not getting pinned are the keys to winning a dual meet. We need to spend some time avoiding getting put on our backs and learning to fight off our backs when we do,? said coach Pat Lamb.

In their final match of the day it was a battle of county rivals as the Hurons took on the Onaway Cardinals in a battle for fifth place and a winning record on the day. The Hurons would defeat the Cardinals 48-33.

?The young men are really working hard and I have no doubt in my mind that we are going to make a very valiant effort to keep all of the streaks we have alive. Meaning coming up and securing a winning record, we have had 36 straight winning seasons and also trying to keep that district title right here where it belongs in Rogers City,? said coach Lamb. Four Hurons were 5-0 on the day, Joey Sobeck, Cameron Wilk, Ben Tulgestke and Devin Pommerenke. Sobeck recorded five pins at 103 pounds and has lost only two matches on the season. Wilk (125) recorded three pins, a major decision and a void to go undefeated. Tulgestke (152) won four

of his matches by pin and one by decision.

Pommernke (285) remains undefeated on the season as he recorded three pins and two wins by void and was voted the most valuable upper-weight wrestler of the tournament. Going 4-1 for the Hurons were Keegan Urban (130) and Travis Fleis (112). Urban recorded four pins while Fleis recorded two.

Other wrestlers for the Hurons were Greg Tulgestke (135) who was 2-3 on the day. Earning one win on the day were Mike Pacella (215), Travis Lafferty (119), Daniel Marx (140) and Jacob Resener (160). Blaise Ryan (145) and Jim Tomas (171) also competed for the Hurons.

The Hurons traveled to Alpena Tuesday (after press time) and will be in action at Mio on January 7.

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