Time to Play The Game
By Dan Ward

After all the summer open mats, summer weight lifting, summer camps, the pre-season conditioning, and Alpha testing, Wrestling season finally got underway on Wednesday. St. Johns traveled to Mason to wrestle Mason right? I mean, surely the schedulers own maps? Nope. We drove through DeWitt to wrestle DeWitt and Waverly. It’s OK, though, we get to travel to Mason this Wednesday to wrestle Mason. “Life in a Northern Town…”

Anyway.. St. Johns started with DeWitt. As usual, DeWitt was a close one, coming down to the last match with St. Johns up 37-35. Reagan Ward closed the door on them, winning 7-3 and earning 3 team points, making the score 40-35. Also winning for the Redwings were Donovan Quinn (Pin), Tristan Densmore (Pin), Doug Thurston (13-2), Brady Heibeck (18-1), Abram Matice (15-7), Gavin Moreno (Pin), and Elliot Lor took a void.

After that, St. Johns faced off against Waverly. St. Johns Waverly is also a typically close match, but this year wasn’t Waverly’s year, with St. Johns winning decisively 50-27. Getting wins for the Redwings were Corey Keck (Pin), Owen Parker (Pin), Tristan Densmore (Pin), Doug Thruston (16-0), Brady Heibeck (Pin), Abram Matice (Pin), Gavin Moren0 (10-4), Reagan Ward (Pin), Donovan Quinn (Pin).

While all that was going on St. Johns also had the Varsity Girls in action. Getting wins for the girls were Annabelle Longoria, Mia May, Olivia Pettigrew, Lori Morris, and Peyson Sova (who got 2).

Some of the JV also traveled to Mason. Winning for the JV were Jonathan Infante, Timothy VanLake, Aedin Besonan, Ethan Shotthoefer, Gabe Maras, Colton Robbins, Will Wharton, Greyson Osborne, and Oliver Nobis.

On Friday, the JV traveled to Midland for the Chemic JV Clash. Out of 22 divisions, the Redwings medaled in 17 of them. Nicholas McGillis (2nd), Gabe Osborne (1st), Kael Whitaker (2nd), Michael Grow (2nd), Bridger Haviland (1st), Austin Clark (1st), Logan Finn (1st), Paden McConnell (1st), Nathan McGills (2nd), Timothy VanLake (1st), Keegan Hamilton (1st), Alex Shepard (2nd), Emery Rosekrans (1st), Leonardo Marilla (2nd), Colton Robbins (1st) and Elliot Lor (2nd).

Also on Friday, the Varsity Girls traveled to East Jackson for the EJ Legends Invitational. The girls placed 4th out of 48 teams. Placing for the Redwings were Peyson Sova (1st) and Lori Morris (3rd).

Finally, on Saturday, the Varsity Boys traveled to the Don Johnson Invitational. St. John was able to reclaim the title from Springport this year, scoring 238 points to Springport’s 222.5. Placing for the Redwings were Abram Matice (2nd), Brady Heibeck (3rd), Corey Heck (3rd), Donovan Quinn (1st), Doug Thurston (3rd), Gavin Moreno (2nd), Hayden Billings (3rd), Oliver Nobis (4th), Reagan Ward (3rd), Tristan Densmore (2nd) and Will Wharton (5th).

Coach Pettigrew had this to say about the start of the season: “The dedication and commitment from this team has led to our early success on all levels. We have to continue to push ourselves every day to get better.”

St. John’s is back in action on Wednesday in Mason with the Varsity Boys, the Varsity Boys B, the Varsity Girls, probably some JV matches, and might even get some coaches on the mat.

Then everybody travels to Fowlerville on Saturday for the Fowlerville Boys Scramble, the Fowlerville Girls Scramble, and the Fowlerville JV Round Robin. If you are traveling to Fowlerville on Saturday, we can always use help taping matches. There are usually six mats for this, and with 50 or so wrestlers, there is a good chance we will be on all of them at once.