Centala and Rhode named top wrestlers of the Bill Barrett tourney

For the Rogers City wrestlers, it was good to be home over the weekend for the fourth annual Bill Barrett Memorial Tournament. “It was really a fine day of wrestling,” said coach Pat Lamb Tuesday afternoon. “It’s not every day that you have eight teams and you wrestle five times and are home at quarter to six. “It’s nice having a tournament at home for a change where you don’t get home at two or three in the morning.”

Lamb commended the parents who “helped out tremendously, as wrestling parents always do” in providing assistance with the cleanup. The wrestlers also received some extra rest with an already extended weekend, with no school on Monday and Tuesday. The boys needed it, according to Lamb, as a number of wrestlers are nursing injuries.

Things went well on the mat as well as off, as five Hurons finished with undefeated records, including two young men who earned most valuable wrestler honors. AS A TEAM, Rogers City earned runner-up honors behind Whittemore-Prescott, which pulled away in the finals when the score was tied at 27 and earned the first place trophy with a 46-27 victory. While the Hurons won the first two Bill Barrett trophies, W-P has taken the last two. “Even though we lost in the finals to Whittemore, you can’t take anything away from the performance of our kids because they wrestled tremendously all day,” said Lamb.

The path to the finals was dominating for Rogers City as the Hurons skunked Alpena, 78-0, and defeated St. Ignace, 60-21, in pool play. The closest match in the pool was against Oscoda, which Rogers City won, 49-27. In the semifinals, Rogers City easily handled Onaway, 66-12, and then moved into the finals against W-P. WHEN THE score was 27-27, W-P coach Ryan Cunningham said he had some of his senior leaders on the mat, which finished out the scoring in the dual. Junior Dylan Centala (135 pounds) and sen

ior Chris Rhode (189) were both 5-0 and earned MVP plaques, Centala for the lower weights and Rhode for the upper weights. Rhode pinned all five of his opponents in less than two minutes. His quickest pin came in only 38 seconds. Centala had four pins and a void. His quickest pin took 1:11.

The MVP’s are determined from votes of the coaches and officials. “It was pretty much unanimous choices by everyone,” said Lamb. Also turning in undefeated performances were Brian Krueger (103), Tharin Wilk (112 and 119), and Mark Grulke (171). Tyler Gorlewski (215) and Chase McLennan (160) were both 4-1.

“RIGHT NOW we have been working hard, just gearing up for the Straits Area Conference crown, which has eluded us for the last couple of years,” said Lamb. The Hurons are at home tonight for Parents Night with two quality opponents on the mats as Mio and Sault Ste. Marie visit. Then it’s back on the road Saturday for the Ithaca Tournament, where the competition will be comparable to an individual regional tournament.