The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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MAGIC ON THE MAT
Saline holds on for district title
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 22, 2007
As with most of the Saline wrestling team's dual meets this year, last Thursday's district championship came down to the last match.
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As with most of Saline's other meets, the Hornets came out on top.
Senior Luke O'Brien took a 4-1 decision over Ypsilanti-Lincoln's Kirk Phifer in the 189-pound and final match, clinching a 34-28 win for Saline and the program's fourth district championship in five years.
"We're a still in work in progress," said head coach Scott Marvin, "but the kids have worked really hard. We haven't had many easy wins and it was the same tonight. The kids scratched for every point and just kept battling."
Saline had advanced to the finals with a 48-21 win over Ann Arbor Huron, while Lincoln stormed back from a 30-9 deficit against Ann Arbor Pioneer to win 37-30 in the other semifinal.
Seniors and Southeastern Conference individual champions Bryce Rajabian (at 215) and Joey Everett (285) got Saline off to a strong start in the final, each notching pins for a quick 12-0 Hornet lead.
Ryan O'Sullivan (at 103) and Nick O'Neil (at 112) lost, but each avoided pins, losing in a major decision and a technical fall, respectively, to leave Lincoln behind 12-9. Saline then responded with a major decision win from Brent Clink at 119, a pin by Jimmy Smyrnis at 125, and another pin by Nate Opaleski wrestling up a class at 130 for a commanding 28-9 lead.
Saline senior Aaron Nagy won a minor decision at 135 over Lincoln's Brandon Freeman in one of the meet's most competitive matches, stretching the lead to 31-9 before Lincoln made their run. The Railsplitters ripped off five consecutive wins at 140, 145, 152, 160, and 171.
But the five Saline wrestlers at those weights — Joe Orecchio, Mike Blackwell, Will Baiocco, Brent Greene and Ean Pokryfky — gave up only one pin and no major decisions, meaning the Hornets still held a 31-28 advantage heading into O'Brien's decisive match.
Afterward, Marvin credited the ability of his less experienced wrestlers to "go the full six minutes" as a major factor in the outcome.
"That's like a win for us," he said. "You could see tonight, our seniors really appreciate when they save their team two points (by avoiding a pin) … The kids did what they had to do."
That left O'Brien to seal the victory, despite the senior wrestling up a class (O'Brien wrestled at 171 in individual districts Saturday) and having missed the majority of the season through injury. He took control against Phifer early, grabbing a 2-0 lead via takedown in the first period.
A reversal midway through the second period gave O'Brien a 4-0 lead to work with and from there the senior wrestled defensively, giving up one third-period point but otherwise limiting Phifer's opportunities as the time ran out on the Railsplitter comeback.
"It was tougher than I thought it would be," a visibly exhausted O'Brien said afterward. "I knew I had to get the early lead because I knew I'd be gassed later on … This was big for us. We won as sophomores and we all wanted to win it again."
"He's still working himself back into shape," Marvin said. "But he got the lead and held on. He knew where he needed to go and where he couldn't go."
The wins improved Saline's dual meet record for the year to 20-17.
Next up for Saline was the team regionals, which the Hornets hosted Wednesday. Saline took on 24-6 Canton in one regional semifinal with Detroit Catholic Central facing Livonia-Franklin in the other. Full coverage will be available in the Feb. 29 edition of The Reporter.
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