ALLEN PARK — With the dual-meet regular season schedule in the rear-view mirror, the Downriver League shifted its focus to the postseason with its individual championships on Saturday at Allen Park High School.
Among the teams in contention was Gibraltar Carlson, who went a perfect 8-0 in the dual meets during the season against conference foes. It was an opportunity for the Marauders to also win the league championship outright after sharing that crown with Wyandotte Roosevelt a season prior.
To say it was a nerve-wracking day for various parties on Saturday would be an understatement. And while Carlson did not end up winning the league meet — that honor went to the hosts from Allen Park — a narrow runner-up finish was good enough for the Marauders to clinch the outright league championship.
PHOTO GALLERY: Wrestling – Downriver League Championships at Allen Park High School
"Wild season really with this young team," Carlson head coach Lance Hassell said. "We have only had one senior in our varsity lineup this season. So there have been lots of ups and downs, but they have been figuring it out.
"They have been getting better every week," Hassell added. "This is a totally different team from what we showed at the beginning of the season."
And there were no shortage of ups and downs on Saturday, which saw five different schools have at least seven wrestlers finish in the top four while seven different teams had at least one individual champion. It's a stark contrast from a season ago when three teams were responsible for 11 of the 14 individual winners.
The young Carlson bunch put together a solid day overall, finishing with 234 points which was well behind first-place Allen Park (277.5) but narrowly ahead of third-place Southgate Anderson (230).
That final team scoring at the top proved to be the biggest difference in determining the outright league champions.
Had Anderson jumped the Marauders by day's end, Allen Park would have then emerged as the overall DRL champs. The hometown Jags certainly did their part on Saturday after they tied Anderson with a 6-2 mark during the regular season. That, too, also played a factor into the drama of crowning a league champion.
Roosevelt (208.5) finished the day in fourth place. Then it was Trenton (166) in fifth, Brownstown Woodhaven (158.5) in sixth, Dearborn Edsel Ford (142) in seventh, Lincoln Park (97) in eighth, and Taylor High (19) in ninth.
Here is a look at how teams did during the dual meet portion of the regular season (*denotes head-to-head tiebreaker):
1. Carlson (8-0)
T2. Allen Park (6-2)*
T2. Anderson (6-2)
4. Roosevelt (5-3)
T5. Edsel Ford (4-4)*
T5. Woodhaven (4-4)
7. Trenton (2-6)
8. Lincoln Park (1-7)
9. Taylor (0-8)
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No team had more top-4 finishes than Allen Park and their 12 such honors led by first-place finishes from Jayson Clark (120 pounds) and Santana Ramon (126).
Clark went 3-0 on the day including two major decision victories where he totaled 42 points. One of those was a 24-10 win over Carlson's Tyler Kamm in the first-place match. Ramon meanwhile won three of his four matches on the day by fall including a pin of Carlson's Mike Skowronski in the finals.
With their performances on Saturday, Clark and Ramon are a combined 63-6 on the season.
Elsewhere for Allen Park, runner-up finishes in four of the final six first-place matches help solidify the overall first-place team finish on Saturday. Those came courtesy of Dominic Walker (157), Yaseen Jaber (165), Gryphon Alwell (175), and Zach Van Etten (215).
Walker and Alwell each fell to Anderson counterparts in their respective finals matches; Walker in technical fall fashion to Isaac Norscia and Alwell by 6-1 decision to Jackson Sage. Jaber meanwhile fell to Carlson's state-ranked Zachary Taylor in a 12-4 major decision while Van Etten suffered a first-round defeat by pin from Roosevelt's Steven Andreone.
The Jags also saw Alyssa Campbell (106), Bird Nasceif (144), Evan Piche (150), and Braylon Orsette (190) each salvage third-place finishes while Luca Tuccini (112) and Zack Helvey (285) each settled for fourth-place finishes.
With his win over Jaber, the aforementioned Zachary Taylor accounted for Carlson's only individual league champion on Saturday. The standout junior was impressive once more, winning his first four matches by fall before topping Jaber to improve his season record to 41-0.
Taylor was one of eight Marauder grapplers to pick up a top-4 showing on Saturday. In addition to the runner-up finishes from Kamm and Skowronski, both Wally Sindone (113) and Gabrial Lyle (190) each finished second in their resepctive weight classes.
Sindone saw all four of his matches end by fall, the first three going in his favor before falling to Anderson's Habibullah Majedi in the finals. Lyle meanwhile suffered just his third defeat of the season after losing by a 6-2 decision to another Anderson wrestler, Henry Feller, in the championship bout.
Carlson also ended up seeing Bennett Szucs (132) place third Denim Gessner (138) and Michael Shaw capped off their respective days with fourth-place honors.
No squad had more individual champions by day's end than Anderson and their five. The Titans ended up matching Carlson with eight top-4 placeholders as well.
Joining teammates Norscia, Sage, Majedi, and Feller atop the podium Sparrow Centeno (106). With her victories on Saturday, including a pin of Trenton's Cole Scrimenti in the finals, the multi-sport star athlete for Anderson upped her season mark to 28-7 overall.
Among the individual victories for Centeno was a gutty 3-2 tiebreaker decision win over Allen Park's Campbell in round three that vaulted her into the championship match.
Other Titans picking up top-4 showings on Saturday included both Lavelle Hughes (165) and Johnny Pardo (215) each earning third-place finishes while Sean King (150) salvaged a fourth-place finish.
Andreone was responsible for one of three individual championships for Roosevelt, second only to Anderson. The big junior for the Bears was about as impressive as any wrestler on Saturday, winning all four of his matches via first-round pins.
Roosevelt also saw Gabe Gibbons (138) and Desmond King (144) collect league titles; King doing so for a second straight season. With their collective efforts on Saturday, the duo now post a combined individual mark of 76-10.
Gibbons was impressive in his four matches -- three by fall and one by technical fall -- ending it with a pin of Trenton's Liam Totten in the championship round. King meanwhile pinned each of his first three opponents on the day before muscling through a 3-1 decision win over Woodhaven's Reece Brant in the finals.
Elsewhere for Roosevelt, big Zach Allman (285) had a good performance on the day, winning three matches by fall before he himself got pinned by Nick Martinez in the first-place match. The Bears also saw Tyler Mayville (175) pick up a third-place finish while Caleb Andzelik (126) and Donavan Stone (165) each settled for fourth-place finishes.
The runner-up showings from Scrimenti and Totten were two of six top-4 finishes for Trenton at leagues.
The Trojans were ultimately led by Kevin Lopez (150), who won three of his four matches on Saturday by fall including a pin of Woodhaven's Travis Richards in the finals.
Trenton also saw Blake Scrimenti (113) and Kevin Fritz (120) each finish third in their resepctive weight classes. Fritz had some of the more dominant performances on Saturday as all three of his wins were pins in 34 seconds or less. Brock Culpepper (190), meanwhile, tallied a fourth-place finish for the Trojans.
Despite being one of two teams to not have a wrestler win a league title, Woodhaven still was represented in the top four in nearly half of the 14 weight classes on Saturday.
In addition to Brant and Richard, the Warriors also saw Koen Huepenbecker (132) pick up a second-place finish. One of the top area wrestlers in his eight class, Huepenbecker cruised through his first four matches with one by fall, one by technical fall, and two by major decision. The junior, unfortunately, had to bow out in the finals due to an injury default against Edsel Ford's Ali Jaber.
Had Huepenbecker been able to go, it would have been a matchup between two matmen whose combined individual record currently sit at 72-7.
Elsewhere, Woodhaven saw the trio of Camren Scott (126), Tahj Ferguson (157), and Caleb Perez (285) all earn third-place finishes in their respective weight classes.
Albeit due to an injury default, the win for Jaber over Huepenbecker accounted for Edsel Ford's only individual champion on Saturday. Jaber was one of officially five Thunderbirds who earned a top-four finish.
Mohamed Aljabali (138) improved to 30-12 on the season after going 3-1 and placing third in his weight class while Hammam Salim (120), Wesam Altaleb (157), and Jacob Hazamy (175) all salvaged fourth-place finishes.
Lincoln Park's only individual league champion comes in the form of the aforementioned Nick Martinez. Excluding a win over Carlson's Jeffery Morris by injury default, each of Martinez's other four wins on Saturday came by first-round pins, upping his win total to 39 on the year.
Elsewhere for the Railsplitters, a trio of Mariah Torres (106), Vincent Navarro (132), and Aden Palazzolo (144) each finished in fourth place. Navarro unfortunately bowed out in his consolation match due to injury but will go into the postseason with a 40-10 mark on the year.
Meanwhile for Taylor, it was a new experience competing at the league meet altogether. This season is the first that the Griffins have fielded a wrestling program since the combining the former Kennedy and Truman High Schools back in the 2018-19 school year.
It is also believed to be the first time any Taylor-based high school has offered wrestling as a varsity sport in roughly 50 years.
Jacari Rivers (120), who accounted for seven of the Griffins' 19 points earned. Rivers' lone win, however, was by forfeit from Roosevelt's Johnny Emory.
Taylor also picked up five points from Aiden Havener (285), who notched just his third individual victory of the season with a 49-second pin of Trenton's Brody Peterson in his second bout of the day.
UP NEXT
All nine teams in attendance on Saturday will now turn their attention towards the state tournament, which begins next week.
One team district in Division 1 will take place at Edsel Ford where the Thunderbirds will be joined by Allen Park, Lincoln Park, and Taylor. Another D1 district hosted by Roosevelt sees the Bears accompanied by Carlson and Woodhaven as well as Belleville.
Meanwhile in D2, Trenton will host a team district that includes Anderson along with two other local programs in River Rouge and River Rouge.
Following team districts, teams will then focus on individual districts, which are held all day on Saturday, February 10.
The aforementioned local D1 programs find themselves competing over at Westland John Glenn High School. The foursome from the D2 team district at Trenton will head down to an individual district hosted by Monroe Jefferson at the Monroe Recreation Center.
