The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Big Reds third at Huron tourney
Nelson, Domas, Box win individual league championships
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 14, 2008
The Big Reds went into the Huron League tournament Saturday with hopes that a league championship might be within reach.
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Despite advancing 10 of their 11 wrestlers into the finals, the title eluded Milan, which finished third, two points out of second place behind Airport, 144-142.
New Boston Huron, which handed Milan its only league defeat in the regular season by a meager three points, took the championship with a score of 175.
Forced to void weight classes 112, 125, and 152 proved too much for the Big Reds to overcome, denying them a second place finish and possibly the league title.
"It was a good tournament for us," said head coach Gary Jonseck. "It could have been great for us, but I was pleased with the way the kids wrestled."
Overall, the Big Reds finished second in the Huron League, its highest ranking in the program's history, with a record of 6-1 and a dual record of 32-8.
Milan produced three league champions at the tournament Saturday.
Junior Jacob Nelson (160) won the title with a fall at 1:50 against his Flat Rock opponent in the finals. He pinned a Riverview wrestler at 1:32 and a Grosse Ile opponent in the first two rounds.
"I'm so proud for Jacob," said Jonseck. "He's worked so hard this year, wrestling 51 matches."
Junior David Box won the 285-lb title, dominating his opponent in the finals to get a pin in 61 seconds.
In total, Box spent one minute and four seconds on the mat during the day, pinning his second-round opponent in 43 seconds.
Jonseck said Box proved dominating because he is "so physical, strong and quick."
Sophomore Sean Domas (215) earned his title the hard way, defeating his New Boston Huron opponent in a tense 4-3 decision - the same wrestler who pinned Domas in the regular season.
Domas came back from a 2-0 deficit to take a 4-2 lead into the third period. With about 19 seconds to go, Domas was called for stalling and the score tightened to 4-3, but he denied his opponent another point to win the title.
"It was a huge win for Domas," said Jonseck, "to come back and win against a kid who pinned him in the duals."
Getting to the finals was no easy chore for Domas either. Tied 5-5 with his Riverview opponent in the semi-finals, Domas executed a reversal in the final 10 seconds of the match to pull out a 7-5 decision.
Freshman Tim Sims placed second at 140-lbs after in the first round coming back from being down 6-1 against a St. Mary Catholic Central opponent to get a dramatic pin with just 4 seconds left in the second period.
Aaris Gruber (103), Cody O'Keefe (130), and Warren Losee (189) finished third while Jeff Fletcher (119) and Dan Bailey (171) finished fourth.
Wilson may have provided one of the most exciting matches of the day in a back-and-forth contest against a wrestler from St. Mary's. The first period ended tied at 2-2 with each wrestler getting a reversal. The second period concluded knotted at 4-4, again with each getting a reversal. In the third, Wilson got another reversal to go up 6-4, but his opponent earned an escape and a near-pin to go up 7-6 with less than 10 seconds remaining in the match.
As time wound out, Wilson achieved a last-second take-down to win 8-7 and advance to the finals.
"He showed a lot of heart," said Jonseck of Wilson's performance.
Jonseck said he was pleased with the Big Reds' effort.
"You could see the heart of this team," he said. "The kids work well together and they have developed a certain respect among the other students for their work ethic and success."
The Big Reds faced Adrian Wednesday night in the first round of team districts, held at Milan High School.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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