The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Big Week for Big Reds
Milan still unbeaten in Huron, wins tourney
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 17, 2008
The Milan varsity wrestling team remains undefeated in league play after grinding out a grueling 40-31 win over Monroe Jefferson at home Jan. 9.
Advertisement
In the first seven weight classes, Milan built a 28-12 lead on pins from Jacob Nelson (160), Sean Domas (215), David Box (285) and Aaris Gruber (103).
Nelson came back to pin his opponent at 1:06 in the second period after falling behind 7-3 to get Milan on the board and into a 6-6 tie with the Bears.
Dan Bailey (171) followed, earning a 10-2 major decision with a takedown in the final seconds of the match to put the Big Reds up 10-6.
Jefferson retook the lead with a pin to go up 12-10, but Domas, Box and Gruber strung together a series of quick falls to break open a 28-12 lead.
Domas, who is 26-3, reversed his opponent and immediately made him pay with a pin at 1:15 in the first. Box took only 15 seconds to earn his 24th victory of the season, and Gruber notched her eighth win at 103 after having wrestled up at 112 earlier in the year with only 39 seconds left in the first period.
If the first half of the meet was determined by falls, the second half swung on close decisions that prevented Jefferson from re-gaining the lead.
Down 2-0 in the first period, Dan Vivian (125) battled back in the second, finally clawing out an escape with only 12 seconds remaining to knot the score at 2-2. With under 20 seconds to go in the match, Vivian got a near pin to win a 4-2 decision.
Jefferson came up with two hard-fought decisions to get within a point of Milan (31-30), but Tim Sims (140) pulled out a 9-3 decision to put Milan up by four.
Sophomore David Wilson (145) put the match away with a fall in 1:07.
Head coach Gary Jonseck said he was proud of the Big Reds' effort.
"I thought the kids showed a lot of heart," he said.
In the second dual of the night, Milan overwhelmed a small Blissfield squad 51-15.
Earning their second wins of the night were Gruber, Vivian, Wilson, Nelson, Domas and Box. Also winning were Cody O'Keefe (130), R.J. Gaskill (135) and Kyle Latta (189).
The Big Reds took on their next league foe, New Boston Huron, Wednesday at home.
"New Boston is loaded for bear," said Jonseck. "We'll have to dig down deep and find another gutsy match."
The Big Reds carried the momentum fro mthe Jefferson win into the Niles Brandywine Team Invitational Saturday and came away with a championship.
The Big Reds dominated the tournament field, beating Honer 60-17, Mendon 66-8, Eau Clair 75-6, Climax-Scott 63-12 and Brandywine 42-31 on their way to the title.
"Winning breeds winning," said coach Gary Jonseck. "We're getting the mindset that if you work hard, good things will happen."
Aaris Gruber (103), Jeff Fletcher (119), Dan Vivian (125), Cody O'Keefe (130), Kyle Latta (189), Sean Domas (215) and David Box (285) all went 5-0.
Tim Sims (140) and Dan Bailey (171) each went 4-1 on the day, while R.J. Gaskill (135), David Wilson (145) and Jacob Nelson (160) each went 3-2.
Ken Clifford (152) went 1-0 and Mark Thornton went 1-4 at 152.
The tournament win raised Milan's dual record to 21-6.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
