Nearly nine hours of wrestling ended with all eyes on a showcase match during the Dragon Invitational last Saturday at Lake Orion High School.
Holt took first place in the event (259 team points), but the 152-pound wrestlers from second place Lake Orion (243 points) and third place Hartland (228.5 points) stole the show.
LO’s Jake Varilek used a reversal in the closing seconds of the match to score a 6-4 decision over Jeremy Bommarito, the defending Division 1 state champion at 145 pounds.
‘I needed to pull something out of my butt just to score,? Varilek said of the reversal.
‘If I hadn’t listened to my coaches, I wouldn’t have won.?
The senior, who signed a letter of intent with Belmont Abbey College (NC) on Tuesday (look for more in next week’s Review), earned his 150th career victory in the process.
‘It just means I have 50 more to go to get to 200,? he said.
Evan Gros (189 pounds) joined Varilek as the only other Dragon wrestler to have a perfect 5-0 record on the day.
Those two weren’t the only ones to have big days for Lake Orion.
‘We got great production from Jeremy Peshl at 145,? Coach Doug Kline noted. ‘He stepped up and wrestled well for us.?
Kline also complimented the work of Morgan Maciejewski at 171 pounds. Doug Mack (119), Curtis DeGeorge (135) and Joe Graffeo (160) joined Peshl and Maciejewski with 4-1 records on the day.
The 11th annual event had been a team tournament in recent years, but went back to what Kline called an ‘old school style? of individual round robin matches this year.
The Dragons finished just 16 points behind Holt, despite missing two starters in Jake Arnold (injury) and A.J. Pratt (discipline) and losing 112-pound favorite Spenser Grzadzinski after two matches with a shoulder injury.
‘This is the highlight tournament of the entire state for the first weekend,? Kline said. ‘I’m very pleased.?