Bedford rolls over Saline, Monroe to capture Team District Wrestling title

TEMPERANCE – The real season started for Bedford’s wrestling team Wednesday night.

Everything leading up the Division 1 Team District the Mules hosted were just preliminaries.

“The is just the first step of the journey,” Bedford coach Kevin Vogel said.

The Mules made it an impressive first step, crushing Saline 67-7 in the semifinals then cruising past Monroe 71-6 in the finials.

“It shows that all the hours and hard work we’ve put in are showing up,” said sophomore Dylan Sevilla, who had one of Bedford’s nine pins against Monroe in the finals.

Sevilla is one of many young, talented, hungry Mules.

More: Team District wrestling pairings, results for Monroe Couty Region teams

“Dylan is a hard worker,” Vogel said. “He’s a sophomore who didn’t see a lot of time on the varsity last year. He’s starting to set himself apart as one of our better wrestlers.”

Plenty of Bedford grapplers looked good Wednesday.

Lucas Gerber (138), Dillan Ward (215) and Vincent Cole (120) all pinned twice and Noah Benore (144) logged a pin and a technical fall.

Also going 2-0 were Connor Hall (157), Zach Miracle (165), Chase Norbury (285), Cody Duvendack (106), Tristan King (113), Nolan King (126) and Sevilla.

Anytime the Mules need motivation in practice, all Vogel has to do is say “31-28.”

That was the score of last year’s state quarterfinals against Hartland. After falling by a slim margin, Bedford watched Hartland go on to become the state runner-up.

“We were so close last year to going to the finals,” Vogel said.

The Mules graduated 14 seniors from that team.

“We definitely lost some good seniors,” Sevilla said.

But Bedford may be better this year, carrying a 19-4 dual-meet record and No. 3 ranking in the state.

“We only have three seniors this year, but these guys have worked so hard,” Vogel said. “We’ve been climbing in the rankings all season.”

The high ranking is a nice bonus for the Mules.

“They are just rankings,” Vogel said. “The kids like it, but it doesn’t matter. We just have to keep working to get a good seed at state.”

Bedford continues its journey next week in a Regional Tournament at Gibraltar Carlson Wednesday. The Mules will take the host team in the semifinals at 5 p.m.

“Next week will be more of a challenge,” Sevilla said.

The Regional winner moves on to the state quarterfinals in Kalamazoo Feb. 23.

Monroe, which beat Ypsilanti Lincoln 72-6 in the semifinals, ends its dual-meet season with a 24-7 record.

Coach Jordan Mayes’ team did that despite losing its top wrestler – senior Angel Rincon – to an injury early in the season.

“We had a super year,” Mayes said. “We had no seniors in the lineup and only two juniors. The rest are freshmen and sophomores who kept growing and learning. … For being as young as we are, the guys just kept on fighting.”

Brendan Bacon recorded a pin at 150 pounds to account for all of Monroe’s points against Bedford.

“Brendan is tough,” Mayes said. “He’s a weird wrestler. He’s super funky. It’s hard to wrestle against him.”

Myles Myers (150), Jakoby Haefler (215) and Jakson Durell (285) won by fall and Monroe accepted nine voids against Lincoln in the semifinals.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Bedford wrestlers make strong first step on state-tournament road