Undefeated, still champion, now legend
March 4, 2012
AUBURN HILLS – Taylor Massa looked up to Davison’s Brett Metcalf as a kid and grew up only 30 minutes from Williamston’s Simmons brothers. And the St. Johns senior surely knows all about Hesperia’s Justin Zeerip as well.
Massa has been mentioned with those names for three seasons, since going undefeated and winning his first MHSAA individual title as a freshman in 2009. Now, he will be discussed as arguably the best of the group.
As expected, Massa finished his high school career with one more win Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills, pinning Ferndale’s Chevez Farris in 2:35 to earn the Division 2 championship at 171 pounds. In doing so, Massa also became the 15th in MHSAA history to win four individual titles. And he joined Metcalf, Zeerip and Nick and Andy Simmons among wrestlers who never lost in MHSAA competition.
“Brett Metcalf, he’s one of my biggest idols ever. I looked up at him growing up and I was like, I want to do what he’s doing,” Massa said. “That’s what I strived for, and I hope I can motivate some kid enough to go out and work hard enough to earn this. Because it’s not given. You earn this.”
He earned 221 wins over four seasons, tying for 20th-most in the MHSAA record book – and that’s with going only 42-0 this season. He won 59 matches as both a freshman and junior and 61 as a sophomore.
Massa also stacked his wins in what are traditionally some of the most comeptitive weight classes. His championships came at 145, 152, 160 and 171 pounds. And, as his coach Zane Ballard pointed out, Massa beat reigning MHSAA champions and anyone he could find as soon as he first walked onto the high school mat.
“In my personal opinion, yeah, he is the best of the bunch. For high school, I’ve never seen anybody that dominant,” Ballard said. “I’ve watched the other ones. They’re all great wrestlers. All great people, and I have all the respect for them in the world. But in my eyes, Taylor is number one and will be, in high school, until somebody does it in a more impressive fashion.”
Massa said during the Team Finals that he already had more than 200 pins for his career – and that was before getting four more this weekend. Zeerip holds the MHSAA record with 203 pins for a career, but Massa could be at the top of the list when his final statistics are compiled.
He won by pin in 11 of 16 career Individual Finals matches. But Farris didn’t make this one easy. Massa led just 2-0 after the first period before gaining control early in the second.
Massa's 221 wins without a loss will place him seventh in the national record book for consecutive victories. He’s wrestled internationally and wants to make a run at the Olympics. He’s signed to continue his career at the University of Michigan next season.
But Saturday’s finish – along with team championships St. Johns won the last three seasons – ranks right up there with the best of what he’s accomplished so far.
“This is one of the top things,” Massa said. “It’s a great honor.”
PHOTO (top): Massa wrestles Ferndale's Chevez Farris in the Division 2 171-pound Final. See more photos from the Finals and all season at High School Sports Scene.
Gonzalez Locks Down Emeralds' 1st Title
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
March 10, 2017
MANISTIQUE — It was a celebration nearly fit for a king Sunday as the city of Manistique welcomed home its first MHSAA Finals champion.
Senior Tanner Gonzalez became the first Manistique wrestler to capture an individual title by taking a 5-4 double-overtime decision from Dansville’s Johnathon Stid last Saturday night in a Division 4 160-pound Final at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
“It was awesome,” he said. “When I came out (at the high school), the whole community and people from all over the U.P. were there. We also had the cop cars, fire trucks, ambulance and the chief of police were there.”
Gonzalez secured the title on a reversal shortly after Stid took a 4-3 lead with an escape.
He became only the third Upper Peninsula grappler to take an MHSAA wrestling title, four years after Joe Ostman and Galloway Thurston of St. Ignace were crowned champions. Ostman also captured Division 4 titles in 2012 and 2011, and Thurston additonally was a champion in 2012 and runner-up in 2011.
Gonzalez began wrestling when he was in kindergarten, but said it took him a while to really get into it.
“I always liked football, but didn’t like wrestling when I was a little kid,” he added. “I did it because my brothers were doing it, and it kind of rubbed off on me. Things started coming together during my sophomore year, and I started taking practices more seriously. I started working at it harder.”
Gonzalez came up through the ranks in the Manistique youth wrestling program, but transferred to Norway before his freshman year.
After spending two years in Norway, he returned to Manistique for his junior and senior years.
“My dad had a job in Norway which was the reason for the transfer,” he said. “Then, he got a job in Manistique as a truck driver and now owns his own company. While we were in Norway, it was nice to go to Wisconsin and see different competition. It was different once we came back to Manistique because we didn’t have (brothers) Cole or Zavier on our team. I felt a lot of kids looked up to me.”
Tanner qualified for the Individual Regional as a freshman. As a sophomore, he placed seventh in the MHSAA Finals and moved up to sixth in his junior year.
“Losing in the state tournament is a bad feeling because it’s so final,” he said. “I wasn’t putting in the extra time. I worked all of last summer and my brother Matt helped me a lot with my strength program. There was more sense of urgency this year.”
His first tournament last summer took place in early June at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
“The first kid I had to wrestle was ranked 11th in the nation and he pinned me in about 1:30,” said Tanner. “It was kind of an eye-opener because there’s always somebody better out there. I was more calm down there because there was no pressure. I tried moves I normally wouldn’t try in a high school match and got better at finishing my shots and cradling. I finished 4-4, then I got a concussion and was out for about a month. I didn’t wrestle too much the rest of the summer. My wrestling became a little more rusty.”
Gonzalez, who finished 49-0 this season, says he had a close call with Gladstone senior Austin Demeuse at St. Ignace. Demeuse held a five-point lead before Tanner rallied for a 9-5 victory.
“That motivated me to get into better shape,” he added. “I wasn’t moving my feet as well as I did all summer and had to get my weight down. I realized I wasn’t disciplined enough and picked up my intensity level. I raised the bar after losing to him in the U.P. Finals as a junior.”
Tanner says he worked a lot with youth wrestling coach Tim Nixon prior to his transfer to Norway.
“I worked with him a lot when I was in eighth grade and learned the importance of staying disciplined and working hard,” he added.
Tanner is undecided about his college choice, but is looking at Ellsworth Community College, a wrestling power in Iowa Falls, Iowa. He plans to major in criminal justice.
“I visited the college and really liked it,” he said. “It’s a little town and I feel comfortable with the small town setting. Their team took fourth in the (National Junior College Athletic Association) national tournament. They have five All-Americans and one was a national champion.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Manistique's Tanner Gonzalez celebrates his MHSAA Division 4 title Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills. (Middle) Gonzalez (left) locks up with championship match opponent Johnathon Stid of Dansville. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)