Wrestlers top Bangor in quarterfinals
Rogers City advanced to the semifinals of the Division 4 wrestling tournament Friday. The win sends the team to the semifinals for the first time ever in the school’s history. Bangor took its only lead as Jesse McDonald (13-12) took a 9-2 win over Alex Matthews (15-31). But that would be the last time the Hurons would trail in the match.
Dylan Centala (46-3) came out on the attack, leading 5-0 before pinning freshman Cody Fletcher (15-19) in 1:23 as the Hurons went up 6-3. A 4-2 win by Cody Wenzel (42-10) and a major decision by Tyler Schuiteman (27-21) gave the Hurons a 13-3 lead. Schuiteman led 10-2 when a flip twisted his shoulder, causing an injury timeout in the third period, but he continued on for the win.
After freshman Jerome Gapczynski at 152-pounds suffered a 9-6 loss to junior Nick Tomsic (19-14) to make the score 13-6. Then Huron freshman Chase McLennan (27-10) got six more team points with a pin of Darrick Parker (44-6) at 5:28. That started a string of three straight Huron wins to run the lead to 28-6. Mark Grulke (38-16) battled his opponent for a 3-0 win, then Chris Rhode (49-1) came up with a pin in 41 seconds.
Bangor, not yet out of it, came back as Tyler Gorlewski (215) and Scott Kamyszek each were pinned to make the score 28-18. Then Brian Krueger (46-6) got the momentum going again with a pin 58 seconds into the second round. Freshman Tharin Wilk (34-13) followed with a 20-8 major decision and Brent Freel (40-7) rang up a 12-1 major decision to put the lead at 42-18. Mike Mierzwinski lost a hard-fought 4-0 decision to end the scoring.