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Sports

Berkley Eliminated From State Individual Wrestling Regionals

The Bears' three district qualifiers fail to get through to the state finals after being eliminated in regionals Saturday at L'Anse Creuse.

HARRISON TOWNSHIP – The Berkley High School varsity wrestling team had a tough day at individual regionals on Saturday at L’Anse Creuse, with all three district qualifiers eliminated.

The top four wrestlers in each weight division qualified for the state finals. 

The Bears won't send anybody to The Palace of Auburn Hills in two weeks to compete for the state individual wrestling title. 

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“It’s a tough district we matched up against and we are young,” Berkley coach David Roche said.

Sophomore Aaron Par-Besemer (112) was the only Bears wrestler to win a match.

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Par-Besemer won a 12-4 major decision in the consolation bracket over East Detroit’s Justin Baughman. Par-Besemer lost to Oxford’s Edwin Schlickenmeyer in the regional semifinals (fall 1:53).

Juniors Myles Brown (119) and Austen Brantley (140) both lost their first two bouts and were eliminated.

Brown lost a close match in the consolation bracket to Anchor Bay’s Joey Dombrowski.

Down 10-4 in the third round, the junior closed the gap with a takedown and near fall to make the score 10-9. Dombrowski’s shoulders were an inch away from the mat as time ran out in the third round.

“Myles did great considering he only wrestled 12 matches this season,” Roche said.

Brown transferred to Berkley this season and had to sit out a semester before becoming eligible. He came into regionals with a 10-4 overall record.

Roche said with all three qualifiers coming back next season, the future is bright for the Bears squad.

“All three of the kids started as freshman; it was nice to get their feet wet here,” Roche said. “We also have eight eighth-graders coming in. We are already excited for next year.”

Tough Competition

The L’Anse Creuse regional wasn’t lacking in top competition.

“There’s not a bad wrestler here; this is a really tough site,” Rochester High School coach Frank Lafferty said. “It might be one of the toughest (sites) in the state.”

It makes what his team and Oxford accomplished all the more impressive. The schools won more than half of the regional titles up for grabs on Saturday.

All six Falcons wrestlers made it to the regional finals in their respective weight classes. Rochester was only a takedown away from bringing home six regional championships. 

Kaelan Richards (135), Dean Vettesse (140), Aaron Morgan (145), Justin Kim (103) and Shwan Shadaia (189) all won regional titles.

In overtime, Falcons senior Cody DeVoe lost in the championship match to Utica Eisenhower’s Charlie Myers in a 3-2 decision. The 171-pound finals bout was probably the closest match of the night.

“Great day, great day, better than we expected,” Lafferty said.  “Best we’ve ever done.”

Oxford brought 11 wrestlers to the Division 1 regional and all of them are headed to the state finals. It won four regional championships.

The two undefeated wrestlers in the regional stayed that way. Oxford senior Prescott Line (42-0) won the 215-pound bracket and Stoney Creek senior Nick Gajdzik won the heavyweight division (285).

Last year in the state finals, Line and Gajdzik wrestled for the championship in 215-pound bracket.

Gajdzik moved up a weight class this year and they avoided each other in the regionals. Gajdzik’s teammate Serge Andreou wasn’t so lucky. Line pinned Andreou (1:47) in the regional finals.

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