White Pigeon ends wrestling season in regional finals
WHITE PIGEON — The end result on Wednesday night was not one the White Pigeon wrestling team wanted.
But the Chiefs made both their coach and their community proud on the wrestling mats. And even in defeat in the regional finals, White Pigeon still finished with a record-breaking season. The Chiefs fell to the co-op team of Climax-Scotts and Martin on Wednesday in the regional finals, 36-33.
Jay Sosinski's squad finished with 31 victories on the season, which tied last year's mark for the school record. It's obviously the first time in White Pigeon wrestling history where consecutive seasons have ended in 30-win campaigns.
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"I'm extremely proud of the kids and all the work they put in throughout the season," Sosinski said. "The effort they continually bring, it was great. They had both great determination and attitudes. It's everything a coach would want, that championship mentality. Even though we didn't win tonight, we're still champions."
In Wednesday's regional finals, White Pigeon won the opening bout as Caleb Lane pinned Matthew Noble at 3:02 of the 175-pound matchup. David Stanley then fell by pin at 190 before White Pigeon earned consecutive wins by decision with Seth Miller (215) and Chaz Underwood (285). This put the Chiefs up 12-6.
After David Lane (106) lost by pin to tie the match, White Pigeon got back on top as Mazzy Lambert pinned Kristian Heighton at 113. The 18-12 lead would not last long, though. Cole Reitz beat Drew Johnson (120) by pin, Jayce Richie pinned Hunter Pant (126), Seth Toris won 8-2 over Maddix Jancasz (132) and Haylen Buell won over Justin Kendall (138) by pin as well. This string of victories then put Climax-Scotts/Martin ahead at 33-18.
White Pigeon would get an 11-9 overtime win from Jesse Fielis at 144 before Jack Bagwell secured the match with a victory, 5-2, over Luke Hinkson at 150. This put the co-op squad ahead 36-21. Because of this, they voided the next two bouts to Evan Rudloff (157) and Blake Alldridge (165) to bring the match to 36-33.
"These kids have worked so hard and this was one of our goals," Sosinski said. "They fought hard all year and they gave me everything they had. Martin is a good team, they're good all the way up and down."
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White Pigeon beat Eau Claire 57-16 in the first match. Tiago Andrade (175) won by void, Caleb Lane won by a 7-1 decision, Miller and Underwood won by pinfall, David Lane (106) won by pinfall and Lambert won by void.
Drew Johnson (120) picked up a win by pinfall before Pant won by pin as well. Hinkson would win by pin at 144.
White Pigeon's team season has come to an end, but they still will be represented well at the individual regionals. There are nine Chiefs heading off to the regionals as David Lane, Lambert, Johnson, Jancasz, Fielis, Rudloff, Miller, Caleb Lane and Underwood will each wrestle.
Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as twitter, @BwatsonSJ.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: White Pigeon team grapplers end season
