D1 Preview: Favorites Vie for 1st Title
February 26, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This weekend’s MHSAA Team Finals Division 1 bracket seems a little upside-down from what we usually expect at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena.
Last season’s finalists – champion Detroit Catholic Central and runner-up Davison – will instead face off in a Friday Quarterfinal. The top seeds – Brighton and New Baltimore Anchor Bay – are seeking their first championship match berths.
Below is a look at all eight teams competing in Division 1, listed by seed. Their Quarterfinal matches begin at 3:15 p.m. Friday, with Semifinals at 9:30 Saturday morning and the championship match at 4 p.m. All matches this weekend will be streamed live on a subscription basis on MHSAA.TV. For results throughout, check the MHSAA Wrestling page. (Records below are based on those submitted for the Individual Finals.)
#1 Brighton
Record/rank: 26-1, No. 1
League finish: First in Kensington Lakes Activities Association (Lakes and overall)
Coach: Tony Greathouse, second season (53-8)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Lee Grabowski (34-9) soph., 119 Grant Morrison (39-12) jr., 119 Jackson Renicker (39-9) jr., 130 Kyle Bohnsack (30-15) sr., 145 Ryan Salmon (31-9) sr., 152 Tanner Maschke (40-8) sr., 160 Beau Mourer (40-7) sr., 171 Nicholas Brish (41-2) sr., 215 Eric Conquest (40-9) jr., 215 Lucas Ready (45-2) jr.
Outlook: This will be Brighton’s third Quarterfinal appearance in five seasons. Greathouse previously took Tecumseh to the Semifinals in 2012 and can rely on a lineup with 13 upperclassmen including 12 seniors. Brish and Ready were Individual Finals placers in 2014. Brighton’s only loss this winter was to Division 2 top-ranked Lowell, and that dual came down to the final match.
#2 New Baltimore Anchor Bay
Record/rank: 36-0, No. 2
League finish: First in Macomb Area Conference Red.
Coach: Jim Morisette, 25th season (606-223)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Jack Medley (50-1) soph., 119 Nolan Romanoski (44-8) jr., 125 Jeff Andrews (41-9) jr., 130 Adam Wiscombe (43-10) sr., 135 Joey Dombrowski (41-2) sr., 152 Tyler Grimsley (51-1) sr., 171 Ross Morisette (39-6) sr.
Outlook: Anchor Bay is making its third Quarterfinal appearance and first since 2010; that season it fell to eventual champion Detroit Catholic Central, and in 2006 the Tars lost to eventual runner-up Hartland. Anchor Bay has crushed its postseason competition, allowing only a combined 28 points in four matches. Medley, Dombrowski and Grimsley all were Individual Finals placers last season and are among 14 on the team with at least 30 wins.
#3 Hartland
Record/rank: 29-3, No. 3
League finish: Second in Kensington Lakes Activities Association West
Coach: Todd Cheney, 23rd season (631-95-2)
Championship history: Four MHSAA runner-up finishes (most recent 2007).
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Noah Lopez (38-6) jr., 112 Garnet Potter (45-5) soph., 130 Reece Hughes (46-5) soph., 135 Sage Castillo (41-6) jr., 145 Logan Vish (42-4) jr., 152 Jacob Gorial (51-0) sr., 171 Lucas Laforge (44-8) jr., 171 Andrew Spisz (31-13) soph., 215 Jake Economou (33-6) sr.
Outlook: This is Hartland’s 14th straight trip to the Quarterfinals, and it's seeking its first championship match berth since finishing runner-up for the fourth straight season in 2007. The Eagles defeated No. 6 Walled Lake Central in the Regional on the way to Battle Creek and will try to advance to their sixth straight Semifinal. Castillo and Gorial were Individual Finals placers last season – and Gorial is one of only four seniors on the roster.
#4 Detroit Catholic Central
Record/rank: 22-3, No. 4
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic League.
Coach: Mitch Hancock, eighth season (171-35)
Championship history: Eleven MHSAA championships (most recent 2014), two runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Aaron Rehfeldt (32-15) jr., 125 Tommy Herrmann (33-13) sr., 130 Trevor Zdebski (41-5) sr., 160 Myles Amine (42-0) sr., 171 Tyler Morland (22-1) soph., 189 Nick Giese (37-14) sr., 285 Nick Jenkins (37-14) soph.
Outlook: The Shamrocks have won four Division 1 titles in five seasons and entered as only the third seed last year before winning again – although this year’s fourth seed comes with a rematch of last year’s Final. DCC rebuilt a bit this winter after graduating some strong contributors from the last few seasons, but still enters this weekend with reigning champions Amine and Zdebski and another placer from last season in Giese.
#5 Davison
Record/rank: 19-6, No. 5
League finish: First in Saginaw Valley Association
Coach: Roy Hall, 18th season (445-78-1)
Championship history: Eight MHSAA championships (most recent 2006), three runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Max Johnson (40-7) jr., 112 Augustine Facundo (32-8) fr., 119 Deven Perez (42-10) jr., 130 Ryan Schlak (32-14) soph., 135 Lincoln Olson (46-0) sr., 140 Hunter Fifield (37-7) sr., 145 Kurt Schlak (33-14) jr., 160 Brenden McRill (36-9) soph., 171 Mike Kennedy (25-14) sr., 189 Tanner Thomas (24-8) jr., 215 Dakota Powers (32-12) sr., 215 Jake Ellis (36-8) sr.
Outlook: The runner-up the last two seasons, Davison is looking to continue its championship match streak from a tougher spot after entering last season as the top seed. But the Cardinals do have Olson – who next weekend will go for a fourth individual title – and another reigning champ in Johnson plus a returning placer in McRill.
#6 Monroe
Record/rank: 37-3, No. 10
League finish: First in Southeastern Conference Red.
Coach: Don Mayes, seventh season (162-73)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Neil Antrassian (48-9) fr., 112 Carl Antrassian (53-2) jr., 140 Logan DiCarlo (41-5) sr., 160 Travis Labell (39-9) sr., 171 Tyler Hammack (53-3) sr.
Outlook: Monroe is making its second appearance in the Quarterfinals after also advancing in 2003 and winning its first District title since 2010. Monroe may have the most senior-dominated lineup at the Finals this weekend, with 10 starters and one at every weight from 125-189. Carl Antrassian is only a junior, but was Individual Finals runner-up at 103 last winter.
#7 Grand Haven
Record/rank: 26-3, No. 7
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Red.
Coach: James Richardson, 17th season (304-92)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 125 Camden Bertucci (39-0) sr., 135 Antonio Reyes (35-4) sr., 140 Evan Johnson (34-11) sr., 160 Aaron Cummings (38-6) sr., 189 Nick Mulcahy (39-9) sr., 285 Chase VanHoef (38-3) sr.
Outlook: Grand Haven is back in the Quarterfinals for the second time and first since 2012 after edging No. 8 Grandville 31-30 in their Regional Final. The Buccaneers have 15 District titles in Richardson’s 17 seasons but this winter have set a high for victories during his tenure. VanHoef was an Individual Finals placer last season.
#8 Oxford
Record/rank: 16-7, unranked
League finish: First in Oakland Activities Association Red.
Coach: Paul McDevitt, 18th season (362-147)
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2011, two runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Ryan Miller (34-11) fr., 112 Sergio Borg (39-9) fr., 125 Alex Hrisopoulos (45-3) jr., 130 Vinny Vackaro (34-14) soph., 135 Collin Campbell (42-6) sr., 189 Wyatt Harden (35-7) jr., 285 Adam Schlickenmeyer (29-12) jr.
Outlook: Oxford is making its seventh Quarterfinal appearance in eight seasons. Hrisopoulos was the Individual Finals runner-up at 112 in 2014 and is the only non-senior captain for a lineup that starts only two seniors total and has eight underclassmen among regulars.
PHOTO: Detroit Catholic Central's Nick Giese (right) and Davison's Jake Ellis faced off in last season's Division 1 Final and will help lead their teams back to Battle Creek on Friday. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Champ Lilly Honed In on Historic Quest
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 15, 2020
Chris Lilly could have plenty of thoughts racing through his mind as he goes through his senior wrestling season at Croswell-Lexington.
It’s his final year wrestling for his dad, Cros-Lex coach Joe Lilly, who has been in his corner since he began wrestling at 7 years old.
It could be his final year wrestling competitively period, as he’s not sure he’ll continue with the sport in college.
He’s a returning MHSAA Finals champion, having won the Division 2 title at 135 pounds a year ago, which has placed a target squarely on his back. Lilly is also the first Cros-Lex wrestler to ever have the chance to win a second title, as the school’s previous two champions – Donnie Corby and Collin Lieber – won as seniors.
But Lilly isn’t thinking too much about any of that. He’s just thinking about wrestling.
“I’m just going to do what I do,” Lilly said. “I don’t feel pressured. I just feel like it’s my last season, so I’m going to work hard, and the outcome will be what it is. I know I have the opportunity to (be the program’s first two-time MHSAA champion), and that’s another motivation. But I don’t think about it like that all the time. I just feel free. I feel like if it happens, it happens. I want it to.”
Lilly’s approach is working as he’s 24-0 on the season and recently recorded his 150th career victory. While the possibility of creating Cros-Lex history is in front of him, what he’s already done makes him one of the program’s greatest of all-time.
“That’s awesome,” Joe Lilly said. “That’s beyond words and beyond my expectations. That’s never been put on the plate that it was what the expectation was. The main expectation for my kids is to put their best effort into everything they do. To now see where he’s come with that is phenomenal.”
As noted above, Chris began wrestling when he was 7 and has been coached by his dad the entire time. But he has been around the Cros-Lex program essentially since birth.
“I was actually looking through pictures for graduation with my mom, and she kept pulling up pictures of me in (Dad’s) arms in the middle school gym with the wrestling team,” Chris said. “Ever since I was little, I was with him there.”
It was in sixth grade, Joe said, that things really started to click for Chris. That was the year Corby, a 2008 graduate, came back to coach after finishing his career at Central Michigan University.
“I looked up to Donnie a lot,” Chris said. “I remember coming in when I was really little, and he’d mess around with me. When he went away and wrestling season would roll around, I’d always remember him and I’d look in the hall, look in the wrestling room and see his picture on the wall and think that I wanted to be that. When he came back, it made me want to buy in. Then (Lieber) comes around, and he was just another perfect role model for me. He was (a senior) my freshman year. He was a really good friend and role model.”
As a freshman and sophomore, Chris qualified for the MHSAA Finals but didn’t place. He entered last year’s tournament as a Regional runner-up with a 48-7 record, but battled through his bracket, defeating Madison Heights Lamphere’s Matthew Tomsett 6-3 in the final.
“If you would have told me that I was going to be a state champ my freshman year, I probably would have called you silly,” he said. “Honestly though, before states we were running in the wrestling room and I turned the corner and looked toward the door – that's where Collin’s picture and Donnie’s pictures are at – and that’s where I wanted to be. I felt like I had the stuff to do it. Checking into our hotel, the other wrestlers were there and I looked at every one of them and I wanted to wrestle them all in the lobby. I knew I could (win) it. We get there, and something just clicked. It was amazing. I felt like I couldn’t be stopped.”
While Chris was confident, it didn’t stop his dad from taking part in what has become a pre-Finals ritual of sorts.
“In all of my state championship matches that I’ve had kids wrestle, I’ve thrown up before we stepped on the mat,” Joe Lilly said. “In all three of them. With Chris, I was thinking I was fine, then they called his name and I threw up in the garbage can and went and met him at the mat. The component of it being your son, it’s a whole new dimension. But actually, once we got wrestling, it was the same as coaching him all year.”
Chris has a video saved on his phone of the post-match celebration, when the emotion of the moment started to hit and he jumped into his dad’s arms. It’s a video he said he watches every night.
He’s motivated to enjoy that feeling again. But more than that, he’s motivated to show everyone that he can earn it once more.
“I feel like I still have something to prove,” he said. “I feel like people kind of doubt it. I was ranked seventh, and they say it was a fluke. I have to go back, and I have to prove it wasn’t.”
To do that, he’s focused on keeping things normal and not worrying about all that surrounds this season.
“It’s business as usual,” Chris said. “I get in the room and do what needs to be done. We work hard, but I kind of try to keep it light. That’s been kind of my key this year, is to have fun, like I did last year.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Croswell-Lexington’s Chris Lilly has his hand raised in victory during last season’s MHSAA Division 2 Individual Finals at Ford Field. (Middle) Lilly’s father and coach, Joe (front), celebrates his son’s win. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)