Hesperia was at the finals Saturday at Battle Creek (Whitehall was, too), which means I was there. It made for a 14-hour day from departure (7:15 a.m. after a deadline night for a 2-hour drive...brutal) to return (9 p.m. after having to carefully navigate a snowy route home). Why I know I am in the right profession - there's no other thing I could enjoy doing for 14 hours with the expectation of being paid for it.
It helped that the last two matches (I'll get to Whitehall later in the week) were pretty exciting. Full disclosure: I wasn't crazy about high school wrestling prior to this season. But watching it at Kellogg Arena Saturday, in a wacky environment of fans cheering, made it fun.
Hesperia's win over New Lothrop in the semifinals was as exciting as a wrestling match gets. Going into the 14th and last bout, the score was tied at 26.
(For those of you who may not know, each wrestling match is worth 3-6 points to the team. You get 3 for winning by 1-7 points [a decision], 4 for winning by 8-14 points [a major decision], 5 if you go up by 15 at any point [technical fall], or 6 if you pin the opponent, the opponent gets injured and can't continue, or the other team doesn't have an opponent at your weight.)
David Jacobs was the last to go, at 130 pounds. All he had to do was beat Gabe Bennett for New Lothrop, ranked #7 in the state at 125 (and wrestling up a weight, obviously). No pressure.
 |
| This was the scene as time ran out on the final match of the semis last Saturday and Hesperia earned a trip to the finals. Coach Doug Baird is the gentleman at center and assistant Craig Zeerip has his arms raised. (Photo by Kim Smith) |
Alas, Hesperia drew four-time defending state champ Hudson in the state finals. You can check out the full story of that one in this week's Oceana Herald-Journal, but the gist of it is Hesperia let two matches get away in the final minute (6-point swings on each) and lost by 8. Ouch.
Still, it was a great year for the Panthers, who lost in district finals in 2012 after Shelby somehow became a Division 4 school for a year (they were back in D-3 this year and lost to Whitehall in the district finals). Only two seniors started for Hesperia over the weekend, so they'll be locked and loaded — and judging by their demeanor afterwards, they know it.
"We’re going to bring a lot of experience back. Hopefully we come out on top next year." — Coach Doug Baird
Baird said something else interesting that I didn't have room for in the recap story — his assistant, Craig Zeerip, who's been there almost 20 years (longer than Baird, I believe), may be leaving. I'm not sure why (I'm going to ask him later this week when I get in touch with him for a feature we're going to do on his Univ. of Michigan-wrestler sons, though I suspect I may know the answer), but he would be a big loss to that team.
On a side note, Hesperia didn't have even close to the most brutal loss at the state finals. That dubious honor goes to Davison, who dropped the Division 1 final to Detroit Catholic when the Cardinals' final wrestler, Derek Humphrey, with his team up by three and himself up 9-2 in the final match, somehow got pinned by Evan Toth, and the Shamrocks almost literally stole the championship. It was an incredible scene to witness — the Detroit Catholic crowd losing its collective mind as the pin became closer and closer to reality, followed by Humphrey bursting into tears right there on the mat as he immediately realized he'd just lost the title. Above all else, that's what I'll take from Saturday's action.
I'll have some extra notes from Whitehall's semifinal loss to Richmond later in the week, folks. Let me know how I'm doing in the comments!
Andy Roberts
