On Saturday, Dec. 11th the Varsity Wrestling Team traveled to Westland John Glenn for Team Tournament and came away with the tournament championship.  The team finished 5-0 on the day improving their record to 7-0 on the year.  Currently Clinton is ranked 2nd in division 3 after winning back to back state championships in division 4.  This weekend the team competed against all division 1 teams and earned some great wins. In round one of pool matches Clinton defeated Waterford Kettering 63-6.  In round two Clinton defeated Utica Henry Ford II 72-12.   In the final match of the pool Clinton defeated returning division1 Team State Qualifiers Wyandotte Roosevelt 58-21 to win the pool.  Clinton then wrestled the host team Westland John Glenn for an epic battle and came away with the win 39-27.  That win set up the finals with Division 1 5th ranked Macomb Dakota, and Clinton won a close battle 36-33.  The energy in the packed gym was awesome.  The benches and crowds were loud and the Redwolves prevailed for the championship.  Individuals going 5-0 were Connor Busz, Coy Perry, George Ames, and Logan Badge.  

Some of the highlights each dual were Returning Girls State Champion Taylor Randolph starting the team off at 140 pounds against Waterford Kettering by winning 2-0 against Emily Medford in an intense match.  The match then jumped to three time defending state champion Logan Badge earning a pin against returning division one state qualifier Drake Spencer, who is ranked #12, with a pin in the first period. Coy Perry also had a great win over #16 in the state Carter Melonio with a 9-2 win.  

Against Utica Chase Packard came up with a first period pin at 130 pound, and Maurice Ames picked up a second period pin at 135 pounds.  Winning big matches against Wyandotte Joey Preston at 160 pounds with a second period pin after collecting several takedowns. Quick pins came from Hamza Rafferty at Heavyweight, Braylon Long at 103, and Connor Younts at 112, all collected their pins in under 40 seconds.  

In the first cross over dual, which was essentially the semi finals against John Glenn Joey Preston came up big again with a pin in just 14 seconds, as that was the fastest pin all day.  Ethan Younts came through and wrestled tough at 145 pound to earn a pin after a back and forth match.  Coy Perry picked up another win over a ranked opponent at 135 pounds as he defeated #13 and returning state qualifier Matt Irwin 9-1 for the major decision.  Leanne Mercier finished the dual our with a huge win on her first match of the season with a pin in the first period against Jessica Cruz.  This was a great win that set us up for the finals.

In the finals against Macomb Dakota the team competed in every match and battled throughout each weight class.  Connor Busz got us on the score board with a pin at 119 pounds in the second period.  Chase Packard stepped in and earn a pin of his own at 125 pounds in the second period as well.  Zak Shadley competed at 130 pounds and wrestled extremely well against a very tough opponent and lost the match, but got the bench into the match even more.  His toughness and how he competed was awesome to see.  Coy Perry put some more points on the board for Clinton at 135 pounds earning a 3-0 win against another ranked opponent Jake Ferguson who is #11.  That put the dual score at Clinton 15 Dakota 9.  At 140 pound s Maurice Ames came through with a huge pin after building a 6-0 lead.  Ethan Younts then showed his competitiveness and batted for the team with great hand fighting and dropped a hard fought match, but again had his team on their feet.  At 152 George Ames came through with a pin in the first period to make the team score 27-12 Clinton.  Joey Preston came away with a great match and a 6-1 win for the Redwolves.  Clinton forfeited at 171 pounds all day and spotted each team 6 points that they wrestled due to not having a couple of wrestlers available for the day.  Logan Badge then collected an intentional forfeit to put the Redwolves up 36-18.  But Dakota came storming back with pins at 215 and Heavyweight to bring the score to Clinton 36 Dakota 30 going into the final match at 103 pounds.    In comes freshman Braylon Long who is taking on Ozia Wilson who is currently ranked 5th in division 1.  If Braylon gets pinned the match is tied at 36 and Clinton would loose on criteria.  But Braylon not just competed, but pushed his opponent to the edge.  After giving up a takedown in the first period the score was 0-2 going into the second period.  Long was able to score a point in the second period but gave up four more points to make the score 1-6 going into the third and final period.  Braylon then picked it up and scored an escape then a takedown to make it 4-6 and would run out of time, but the match was an awesome display from the freshman and had the gym on their feet.  In the end Clinton won 36-33.  

Westland John Glenn also hosted a JV individual tournament in their second gym were our Redwolves battled and won three individual championships and several medals.  Winning their weight classes were Bryce Rosacrans at 215 pounds, Faith Blackburn at 130, and Wyatt Federer at 140 pounds.  Finishing runner up were Gage Blackburn at 152 pounds, Nate Arntz at 103, and Rave Aldridge at 135 pounds.  Dylan Badge finished in 3rd place, Shelly Arntz finished in 4th, and AJ Johnson finished in 6th place.  Overall it was a great day of wrestling for the Clinton Redwolves and we are excited to host a girls varsity tournament and boys JV tournament on Saturday, Dec. 18th starting at 9am.