Red Hawk junior Patrick Depiazza got his 100th varsity career win last week. Photo by B. Chong.

By Barbra Chong

Cedar Springs High School Wrestling traveled to Wyoming for the last Conference Tri Meet last Wednesday, February 3. Cedar Springs started the evening against Wyoming and claimed a victory, 71-6. Ending the night against Belding, it proved to be a battle going back and forth with each weight class. Unfortunately the Red Hawks came up short, with a 26-25 loss.

The Red Hawks finished second in the OK Bronze conference. Photo by B. Chong.

Overall, the team is 5-0 in the OK Bronze Conference. At our Junior Varsity level, 125 lb Anthony Brew, 145 lb Jacob Pease, 160 lb Xavier Anderson, 171 lb Billy Hammer and 215 lb Cody McHenry all won their matches. Special recognition goes out to freshman Anthony Brew, who wrestled an undefeated season. At our Varsity level, 112 lb Logan Hull, 125 lb Jordan Ringler, 135/140 lb Jacob Galinis, 145 Lucus Pienton, 189 lb Ryan Ringler and heavyweight Patrick Depiazza all went undefeated for the evening. 119 lb Patrick Fliearman, 130 lb Aaron Smith, 140 lb Jesse Empie, 152 lb Anthony Topolski, 171 Gage Gardner and 160 lb Nate Patin all won a match as well.

Junior, Patrick Depiazza claimed his 100th Varsity Career Win against Wyoming’s Caleb Gullick. This is a goal that wrestlers strive to achieve over their high school career but not easily attainable. Congratulations Patrick!

Friday, February 5, the Red Hawks traveled to Northview for the 2016 Conference Finals.  Final team placements ended with the Yellow Jackets of Greenville in first place with a score of 189.5, the Wildcats of Northview in Second Place with a score of 166 and Cedar Springs in Third place with a score of 160. Cedar Springs finished third in the Tournament and Second in the OK Bronze Conference.

Final individual placements ended with 135 lb Jacob Galinis, 189 lb Ryan Ringler and Heavy Weight Patrick Depiazza with Conference Championship Titles. 119 lb Jordan Ringler, 145 lb Anthony Topolski and 152 lb Lucus Pienton took Second Place. 112 lb Logan Hull, 130 lb Jordan Andrus, 140 lb Jesse Empie and 160 lb Nate Patin took Third Place and 125 lb Aaron Smith and 171 lb Gage Gardner took Fourth Place. Freshmen, Ryan Ringler continues to show his impressive skill sets. Ringler broke the Freshmen wins record of 31 set in 1992, he is now at 40 wins and still climbing. He also took the 189 lb Conference Championship wrestling above his usual weight class, giving up almost 20 lbs.

“The most important thing you can learn from high school sports is to get back up. We took a beating and how we react will summarize our character and determine the outcome of our season. It’s been a good season and we still have an opportunity on Wednesday to make it great,” said Head Coach Nick Emery.

The victory march began on Wednesday, December 15, as the varsity Red Hawk wrestlers traveled to Forest Hills Northern for an OK-Blue contest. The Huskies struggled to stay in the match, as the Red Hawks earned rounds of points and pins to achieve a final score of 60-12 in favor of the Hawks.
On Saturday, December 18, the Red Hawks found themselves on top once again as they took home the first place trophy at the Freeland Team Invitational. The first round found Cedar Springs matched up with the home team Freeland. First year wrestler, Connor Ackerman (215 lb/freshman) put the initial six points on the board for the Red Hawks with a pin late in the first period. Junior Austin Wamser (160 lb) earned the last points of the match with a strong, technical win to beat the Falcons with a 54-19 victory.
Round two matched the Red Hawks with the Vassar Vulcans. A forfeit win in the initial match and a quick, first round pin by Cory Wozniak (189 lb) in the next round lead to a domino effect in the six weight classes that lead the Hawks to a 60-23 victory and sent them into the next round with Heritage High School from Saginaw.  The Red Hawks swooped the Heritage Hawks to earn their third win of the day with a 69-12 score.
The Red Hawks would find themselves going into the fourth round with Gladwin. The Hawks weren’t taking the match up lightly. In 2009, the Gladiators put up a tough fight and only allowed the Red Hawks to squeak out a four-point lead.  This year the Hawks set out to conquer Gladwin for a second time. A slow start to the match, a rally in the mid-weight classes and a speedy pin by Dom Chong (145 lb) in the first minute of his round removed all chances of Gladwin moving into the championship match. The Red Hawks defeated Gladwin 57-24.
The Red Hawks dominated the tournament to earn a spot in the finals.
Reed City and Nouvel Catholic Central each had three wins in their pool and had to go head to head to see who the Red Hawks would battle for first place. Nouvel gave a tough fight, but were ousted 33-39 by Reed City.
As the final round of the tournament ensued, senior Levi Whipple (171 lb) started the ball rolling with a pin for the Hawks. Reed City dominated the next two matches.  Heavy weight, Joe Simon (senior) countered with a pin to tie the match 12-12.
Freshman, Baron Lenardson (103 lb) earned a 29 second fall to put Cedar Springs in the lead. The Red Hawks continued to dominate thanks to a pin by Scott Stockreef (112 lb), a technical win by Aaron Brooks (119), a forfeit win by Nic Baird (125 lb) and a fall by Jared Vodry (130 lb). The Hawks were ahead 41-18.  The point of no return for the Coyotes was during the 140 lb round. Junior Matt Patin sealed the win for the Red Hawks with a pin late in the second period, which was reinforced by Jake Marsman’s (152 lb) quick fall of his Reed City opponent. The final score 53-30 awarded the Red Hawks the title of tournament champions and the first place trophy.
Joe Simon, Matt Patin, Scott Stockreef and Nic Baird wrestled undefeated for the day. Next match up for the Red Hawks will be December 30 at the Comstock Invitational Tournament in Comstock, MI.