Jefferson tops Huron in finals to win Division 2 Wrestling District

CARLETON – Saving points saved the Bears.

Jefferson’s wrestling team held off New Boston Huron 38-33 to win their sixth consecutive MHSAA District title Thursday night.

“This win tonight was a total team effort – from the guys that saved points to the guys that got falls,” Jefferson coach Ryan Nadeau said of the Division 2 championship at Airport.

By saving points, two of Jefferson’s losses were actually victories for the Bears as a team.

“If you’re a little bit overmatched, there’s other ways to win matches,” Nadeau said.

Nadeau doesn’t mince words with his wrestlers when he thinks they might be going up against a tough test. He and the rest of the coaches focuses on communication.

“We talk to the kids. There are no surprises. They know what’s coming,” he said.

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That strategy is exactly what the Bears executed during their two largest match-point loss margins.

Daniel Allen (113) and Tyler Vanderpool (120) suffered those loses, but it was the points that Huron didn’t score that made the difference.

Allen dropped his match to Huron’s Carson Gemmel 12-0 and Vanderpool fell to Huron’s Daniel Gemmel 15-4.

Allen avoided a pin and dodged a technical fall, while Vanderpool avoided a technical fall himself.

“Saving points in matches is huge,” Nadeau said. “I always tell the kids there’s more ways to win than just getting your arm raised. Sometimes you’ve got a job to do and if it’s saving points, that’s as good as a win and we did that three or four times tonight.”

Huron coach Logan Ritchie knew the points were left on the mat and was visibly frustrated after each match smacking his hands together.

“The Jefferson kids did their job, it’s hard to get bonus on kids just trying to prevent bonus,” Ritchie said.

Malachi Pribyl (175), Gabe Hall (190), Dan Phipps (215), Anthony Cousino (heavyweight), Ty Rose (126), Ryder Mulherin (144), Carter Simota (150) logged victories for Jefferson.

Nadeau expressed his emotions after securing the win, but isn’t letting off the gas in pushing his team to go further.

“There’s a lot that goes into this behind the scenes, it takes a lot of people and the kids have been awesome this year putting in a lot of hard work,” he said. “What’s next though is getting back to work tomorrow, getting back in the room and getting a good sweat in.”

Ritchie will look to use the strides made this year to leverage his young team into next year.

“I thought we did what we wanted our team to do, we got better every time we stepped on the mat, he said. “We’re pretty young; we’ve only got three seniors out of 34 so we’re looking forward to next year.”

Drew Ladach (165), Caleb Frazier (106), Carson Gemmel (113), Daniel Gemmel (120), Jason Downs (132), Josh Hubbard (157) recorded wins for the Chiefs.

Huron reached the finals by beating Airport 39-25 in the semifinals.

Ladach (157) and Daniel Hubbers (165) got Huron off to a fast start with pins. Other winners for the Chiefs were Carson Gemmel (113), Trever Davis (120), Jason Downs (138) and Braydon Hall (144).

Jack Mills (175) had a pin for Airport, Harrison Simpson (190) won by technical fall and Isaac Kemp (285) and Kenny Wingate (106) won.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Saving points helps Jefferson wrestlers secure District crown