WHITEHALL — Whitehall shrugged off any extra motivation from the previous week’s rules issue-induced forfeit against Montague Wednesday and simply let its work on the mat do the talking.
The Vikings dispatched the rival Wildcats, 65-7, before rolling past Orchard View, 69-9, to earn their fourth consecutive district title, and 12th in 13 years. Whitehall now advances to the Feb. 14 regional, hosted by the winner of Thursday’s Belding district.
Whitehall’s Ryan Goodrich said the Viking wrestlers allowed the setback last week to weigh on them for only an evening before getting back to work. They rolled to the title at the West Michigan Conference tournament Friday and were in fine form Wednesday.
“Our goal has never been to win every single conference dual,” Goodrich said. “We just put it behind us, because we’re in the postseason now. You can’t change anything now. All of our goals are right in front of us.”
Whitehall trailed for only a brief moment against Montague after Chris Aebig earned a major decision over Caden Varela to put the Wildcats up 4-3. Whitehall ripped off 32 straight points over the next six bouts, racking up bonus points along the way. Ryne Christensen, Blake English, Goodrich and Gavin Craner had pins during the run, and Darnell Mack added a technical fall. Cody Manzo later added a pin, and Whitehall earned several wins by forfeit later in the match. Liam Leeke also picked up a win.
Montague’s highlight came at 190 pounds, where Isaac French fought off Trenton TenBrock in an exciting 15-8 win that got the Wildcat bench on its feet. Coach Kris Maddox said the two had split their previous four meetings, so the team was rooting hard for French to break the deadlock.
“It helps going into this Saturday,” Maddox said, referring to the individual district tournament. “I’m sure they’re going to see each other a couple more times, and hopefully all the way to the state tournament. They’ve gone back and forth.”
The Wildcat girls were on hand, but did not dress for the match. Maddox wryly said they weren’t happy with the coaches, who made the decision to give them rest heading into their own postseason, which begins Feb. 19 with the regionals.
Whitehall’s win over Orchard View was also inevitable, especially given the four forfeit wins the Vikings had baked into the game plan. Whitehall won the first seven bouts, scoring 39 points, before OV got on the board. Along the way, Leeke, Christensen, English and Craner picked up pins to move to 2-0 for the night. Mack scored his second technical fall, and Goodrich won a major decision. Blake Morningstar also won by pin, and Kolten Weiler provided one of the emotional highlights for Whitehall by scoring a pin of Aquilla Payne, a wrestler coach Justin Zeerip said had beaten Weiler previously.
“He’s been ranked throughout the year,” Zeerip said of Payne. “He’s a tough opponent. Kolten had lost to him a couple of times. The kids were excited to see him flip that result. It was a great match for him, a great confidence booster.”
Zeerip, who said last week’s miscue with the weigh-in sheet that led to the Montague forfeit was his fault, added his pride at how his team responded to the aftermath.
“It was just a little bump in the road and we just moved on from there,” Zeerip said. “I’m just proud of our team and how they handled the adversity. They showed a lot of high character in how to handle it with class.”
With that issue now handled, the Vikings can turn their attention to their near-annual date at regionals, as well as individual postseason runs. Now ranked #2 by Michigan Grappler, Whitehall’s expectation is clear- to wrestle in the last match of the season again, likely with superpower Dundee on the other side.
“Anybody can beat anybody on any given day,” Zeerip said. “Every single match matters, and as we get through the tournament, every bonus point matters. We’re just stressing to every individual to do their job and get bonus points or limit (the opponent’s) bonus points or whatever their job may be. I thought they did a good job of that tonight.”
