The Lake Orion wrestling squad used a second place finish at the OAA I meet Friday night to pass Rochester Adams for second place in the final league standings.
Regular season champ Clarkston ran away with the tournament title, scoring 232 points, 98 better than the Dragons. The Wolves had seven individual champions out of a possible 14.
‘Our goal is to always win the league title,? Lake Orion Coach Doug Kline said. ‘Having said that, I am, and the team is, very pleased with our overall 2nd place finish.’With all the injuries this team has had to overcome this year I felt that our young guys stepped up and performed admirably.’It takes some of the sting away from our loss to Adams last week.?
Troy Athens had a solid night to finish third in the tournament, with Adams placing fifth behind Avondale.
The Dragons, meanwhile, had two individual winners in Jake Varilek and A.J. Pratt, at 152 pounds and 130 pounds, respectively.
‘I was extremely pleased with Jake Varilek capturing his league title over Colton Tweed, who is one of the very best 152 pounders in the state,? Kline said. ‘This is Jake’s third win over Tweed this year and this win sets Jake up for a long state tournament run.?
‘Also, A.J. Pratt, with his conference title at 130 pounds was great,? the coach added. ‘A.J. has been plagued with injuries over the last year and it was gratifying to see him win a championship.?
Lake Orion had three wrestlers place second in Doug Mack (112 pounds), Justin Ruddy (125 pounds) and Allen Sigler (160 pounds).
Sigler met up with Clarkston’s Bryant Craft for the third time this season in yet another tense match, falling in double-overtime.
?(Craft) was able to get in his shots finally (in overtime),? Clarkston Coach Joe DeGain said. ‘He was able to get deep in on (Sigler’s) legs.?
The regular season/tournament sweep was Clarkston’s second in as many years, and the tournament outcome was decided even before the final round of wrestling began.
The event, held at Lake Orion, ran deep into the night, prompting Kline to note that a Friday night league championship is no longer feasible in the nine-team league.
After their long night, however, the Dragons don’t have much time to rest.
‘Team districts are Thursday here in LO,? Kline said. ‘Rochester wrestles Adams first and we take on the winner of that contest.??
‘Adams, I’m sure, is looking to rebound from their poor performance in the league tournament and they can use their win over us in our dual as a confidence booster,? the coach noted.?
‘It will be difficult to defeat them, if they should be our opponent, but we will use our loss to them as a motivator. We will not be at full strength and there is the possibility that we will be without Evan Gros, who hurt his shoulder Friday night. We’ll see, it should be a fun and exciting evening.?