The Varsity Wrestling team came out and made a statement this past weekend at the Oakland County Tournament when they took third place over the two day event.
Detroit Catholic Central won the event with 326 points, running away and hiding from the field. Clarkston finished second with 236 and Oxford was third.
Even with a third place finish, the Wildcat faithful in attendance had plenty to cheer for as they saw eight wrestlers place fifth or higher, and nine altogether place.
The top finisher for the Wildcats was Keegan Cantara, who won the 103 lb. weight division, and wasn’t really challenged until his championship match against Tyler Foley of South Lyon East.
Cantara jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead halfway through the match, but Foley never quit and mounted a comeback, butting the lead to 7-6.
Cantara held on for a 8-6 victory and claimed the only tournament championship for the Wildcats.
‘Keegan coming out and being a champion is awesome. He’s a junior and been around the program a long time…he doesn’t quit. It doesn’t matter who it is, he comes out and wrestles tough,? said Wrestling Head Coach Scott Couch.
The Wildcats had three third place finishers, Jacob Peasley at 112 lb, Matt Frisch at 140 lb and Ben Ralston at 145.
Peasley defeated Cody Vanderhagen of Hazel Park 9-1; Frisch pinned his opponent, Nick Burt of Milford and Ralston defeated Doug Eldridge of Detroit Catholic Central 4-1.
The fifth place finishers for the Wildcats were Steven Ferguson, who defeated Matt Thompson of Detroit Catholic Central 10-6, Mike Thomas won 9-1 over Ryan Jose of Rochester, Matt Anger defeated James Nichols of Holly 5-3 and Prescott Line took care of Milford’s Kevin Tierney by pinfall.
Overall Couch was pleased with his team’s performance throughout the tournament.
‘We had a good tournament. We were right there. We are definitely are still there, even with everybody that we graduated, were right there and everybody knows that we are still tough,? said Couch.
All fourteen wrestlers made it to the second day of the tournament.
Even with the success, Couch wants to see his guys improve in the close matches. ‘We weren’t outmanned, we just need to work on the little things.?
The next chance for hard-hitting grappling action is at the annual Oxford Invite, which will take place at the Middle School on Dec. 30 starting at 9 a.m.