Ferndale Wrestler Falls Short of County Championship

PONTIAC – The 2010 Macomb & Oakland County Wrestling Championship wrapped up Saturday night at the Pontiac Silverdome with  going home without a county championship.

It was the first year Macomb and Oakland counties combined the championships. Nearly 100 teams competed across 21 mats Friday and Saturday. 

The Eagles had high expectations for team captain Chevez Ferris in the 171-pound class, but the all-state wrestler lost in the quarterfinals to Holly's Shawn Scott in a very close 6-5 decision. Ferris moved down to the consolation bracket and won two more matches to finish in third place.

"I'm sure he expects to be in the finals, and we think he's fully capable of being in the finals," Ferndale coach Charlie Morgan said. "That's not taking away anything from Scott; he wrestled well, and he got a takedown when he really needed it. I just think my guy can do a little bit more."

All Ferris needed was a little bit more. The junior had a 5-4 lead in the match against Scott with only 16 seconds left on the clock. Scott was able to catch Ferris off-guard and hit a quick takedown to secure the late lead. 

"The guy (Scott) got a shot in on him, and he (Ferris) kind of let his hips go to the mat, so that was the difference in the match," Morgan said.

Ferris had a nice 5-point move in the third round to take control of the match after trailing for most of the second round. He spun Scott down to the mat and nearly pinned him.

Morgan said Ferris let up a little bit after getting the point advantage and needed to move his feet more. The lack of execution late in the match allowed Scott to find an opening. "I think he has a lot more to give," Morgan said.

As a team, Ferndale finished in 27th place and had 54 points. The Eagles needed just one more point to finish in the top half of the standings.

The other highlights of the tournament for the Eagles included a major decision win for Jordan Wilson in his 125-pound, second-round match and Donovan Jackson making it to the quarterfinals in the 140-pound class championship bracket.

For the overall team, though, Morgan was slightly disappointed with the finish.

"We could wrestle better all the way around," he said.

Catholic Central, Oxford dominate

In the Oakland County region, the big winners were Detroit Catholic Central and Oxford. They finished first and second, respectively, in the team competition, captured four individual class titles each and captured the Most Valuable Player awards in the lightweight (Alex Moordaian, Catholic Central) and heavyweight categories (Prescott Line, Oxford).

The two wrestling powerhouses had the most headlines, but two other local schools brought home individual titles as well. Birmingham Brother Rice's Andrew Napieraj won the 130-pound title, and Farmington Harrison's James Roberts brought the Hawks their first county title in more than 30 years in the 140-pound division.

Stoney Creek (10th place), Avondale (seventh place) and Rochester (fifth place) had wrestlers make it into the finals, and the schools finished in the top 10 teams at the tournament. Adams didn't have any wrestlers make it to the finals, but it did have numerous students place to give the team a sixth-place finish.

'Huge undertaking' not without problems

Thousands of fans attended the tournament at the Silverdome across the two days to support the wrestlers. The competition was the largest of its kind and experienced some  technical and logistical problems. 

"It's a huge undertaking," Brother Rice coach Scott Moseley said.

It wasn't without some major hiccups. Many coaches were dissatisfied with the setup of the tournament, and the much-hyped crossover championship between the winners of each weight class between Macomb and Oakland counties didn't take place because the tournament ran more than five hours late Saturday.

"It's been a poorly run tournament," Rochester coach Frank Lafferty said. "We've had seven guys wrestling at one time, and they told us this wouldn't happen."

Lafferty was ejected from the tournament Saturday morning for arguing a call with a referee. The longtime Rochester coach said his frustrations about the tournament boiled over and got the best of him.

Moseley said part of the problem was a lack of communication between tournament officials and coaches that caused some logistical issues. It didn't help that the computers holding all the Oakland County results crashed Saturday morning, and the results had to be re-entered.

"I think the vision was something a few people in Oakland had, bringing it to such a large venue," Moseley said. "I think if you look at any major tournament or undertaking, there's always going to be some struggles."

None of the struggles seemed to affect the students' wrestling. The competition was fierce across all weight classes, and at the end of the day, most of the students who placed stayed through the end of the tournament to receive their medals and get a nice ovation from the Silverdome crowd.

Other highlights

• Stoney Creek's Nick Gajdzik lost to tournament MVP Prescott Line in the 215-pound class finals on a 4-3 decision.
• Avondale's Victor Vettese also lost to a tournament MVP, in a close 3-1 decision to Alec Mooradian.
• Rochester had two wrestlers lose in the finals: Josh Wood lost in the 112-pound class final to Detroit Catholic Central's Malik Amine by pinfall at 3:42, and Cody Devoe lost to Ben Ralston of Oxford in a 10-2 decision.

Corrections: The names of wrestlers Donovan Jackson and Nick Gajdzik were misspelled in an earlier version of this story.