Traverse City Record-Eagle

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    Wrestling Petoskey at TC West

  • Douglas Tesner

    Wrestling Petoskey at TC West
January 7, 2009

Petoskey wrestlers upend Titans

After trailing 16-0, Northmen post 39-34 victory

By JAMES COOK

TRAVERSE CITY -- Petoskey controlled the middleweights as the Northmen came back from an early 16-0 deficit to topple Traverse City West 39-34 Wednesday night in a Big North Conference wrestling meet.

The Titans started off fast as Matt Town registered a pin 33 seconds into the second period of his heavyweight match, 103-pounder Mike Ostram won an 11-0 decision and Mitch Harrison took only 11 seconds to get a pin at 112.

"I knew we'd win those first three matches and they'd come back," West coach Berard Priante said.

The Northmen -- now 5-2 in dual meets and 1-0 in the Big North -- came back with five straight wins to take a 26-16 lead.

Joe Lopez notched a pin at 119 pounds in one minute exactly, Trent Foster came up with a reverse and two-point nearfall to rally from a 3-2 deficit after two periods for a 6-3 win at 125 pounds, Steve Brecheisen had a third-period pin at 130, Brandon Ferguson won his 135-pound match by technical fall and Keegan Arthur won by fall 36 seconds into the second period.

TC West's Brad Gillison stopped the bleeding with a first-period pin at 145 to pull the Titans within four at 26-22.

Petoskey reeled off three more wins from 152 to 171, as Tyler Smiley won a 6-3 decision over Lerone Howard in a match that was tied 3-3 early in the final period. Travis Lucier posted a pin with 26.3 seconds left in his 160-pound match and Zack Marihugh won by major decision at 171.

"Twenty-five and 152 were two matches that were toss-ups," Priante said. "If we'd have won those two, we win (the meet).

"It's disappointing because we were coming off a great weekend down in Lansing," Priante said of the Titans' second-place finish at Lansing Sexton's tournament.

The Titans (5-4, 0-1) responded with a pair of pins to end the meet, as Zach Skeels had a fall in 2:41 at 189 pounds and Brandon Dalzell notched a pin 3:00 on a nice roll for the final 39-34 score.

The Northmen won the match without three starters. With state qualifier Alex Cannon (130/135) gone with a broken thumb, 189-pounder Jake Kisiro nursing a sholder injury sustained snowboarding and 112-pounder Miles Newton out, Northmen coach Ray Arthur shuffled his lineup, moving two wrestlers up two weight classes.

Smiley bumped up from 140 to 152 and Lucier went from 145 to 160.

"They're a much-improved team and all their guys are competitive," Arthur said. "We've been following them and we knew where to move our lineup around."

Newton will be back this weekend and Cannon and Kisiro should return in about three weeks.

"Once we get those three back, we'll be pretty good to go," Arthur said.

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