Heading into the 13th annual Goodrich Tournament of Champions, the host Martians were heading into rough waters even with a full squad.
However, things got tougher for the Martians when one of their top wrestlers, senior Jeff O’Mara, could not compete at the tourney Dec. 27-28. The Martians, who fielded an eight-man unit, failed to crack the top 10 in the 16-team field, placing 14th with 39 points.
Dundee won the tournament with 200 points, beating out second-place Lapeer West (175) and third-place Springport (153) for the championship in the highly regarded tournament.
Individually, the Martians placed three competitors, led by senior Barrett Johnson, who finished second in the 189-lb. weight class. Also placing were Jason Fischer (sixth, 112) and Andy Bohlen (7th, 171).
Goodrich coach Matt Turnbow said O’Mara’s absence hampered the Martians, but they gave a competitive effort.
‘Team-wise, that didn’t help us very much,? he said of O’Mara’s absence. ‘I think he had a good chance of winning his weight class (171 lbs.). Overall, the kids that did wrestle, wrestled hard. They did pretty good for as tough a tournament as this is.?
After a first-round bye in the 189-lb. bracket, Johnson won his second-round match by pinning Joshua Bennett of Swartz Creek in 1:30. He then advanced to the finals with an 8-2 victory against Tyler Betterly of East Kentwood.
However, Chris Watson of Belleville defeated Johnson by a 5-2 decision in the division finals, leaving Johnson in second place on the day.
In the 112-lb. competition, Fischer started out by pinning Brennan Dowsett of Carson City Crystal in 1:14 before dropping an 8-5 decision to Kris Lewis of Temperance Bedford.
Fischer moved on to the consolation bracket and defeated Roseville’s Josh Stadwick by a 5-1 decision. He then lost a 4-2 decision to Chris Deane of Lapeer West before falling once again to Temperance Bedford’s Lewis in the fifth-place match, this time by a 6-4 decision.
Goodrich’s third placer, Bohlen, lost a 14-1 decision to Belleville’s Jeff McCumber in the first round of the 171-lb. bracket. He then rebounded to win a 10-2 decision against Pantero Damian of Traverse City Central and a 7-6 decision against Jake Riske of Springport.
Bohlen then pinned Justin Nichols of Carson City Crystal in 3:38 to win seventh place in his bracket.
Other Goodrich competitors in the tourney were:
‘Brian Grzecki (103): pinned by David Priest of Swartz Creek in 46 seconds; pinned by Drew Ferry of Bronson in 19 seconds.
‘Garrett Higdon (119): first-round bye; lost to Josh Johnson of Clinton Township Chippewa Valley by a 6-0 decision; lost to Trenton Vandusseldorp by a 7-3 decision.
‘Josh Foerster (135): pinned by Matt Keiley of Detroit Catholic Central in 1:17; pinned by Waseem Elawadi of Brighton in 1:19.
‘Erik Fernelius (152): pinned by Mike Kohlman of Dundee in 25 seconds; second-round bye; lost an 8-6 decision to Trevor Ferry of Bronson.
‘Kyle Fletcher (160): pinned by Kevin Zink of Temperance Bedford in 3:41; second-round bye; lost a 9-7 decision to Jason Wiesnewski of Belleville.
The Martians return to action Wednesday, Jan. 7 when they travel to Capac to take part in a meet that also includes Croswell-Lexington.
On Saturday, Jan. 10, the Martians will compete in the Chesaning Tournament for the second straight year. Last season, the Martians finished second to Birch Run in that event.