The wrestling mats wait rolled and hanging from the ceiling at Clarkston High School gym.
Wednesday night, they come down for the Team District meet, deciding which team will go on to the regional meet next week in Fair Haven.
The night begins with Grand Blanc and Holly dueling it out, while the Wolves prepare to take on the winner.
‘Both are well-coached and have a good group of wrestlers,? said Clarkston Coach Joe DeGain.
‘If we go in there and perform like we are suppose to with no upsets and no blowups, we will be okay.?
The boys will head to Rochester on Saturday for the Individual Districts.
‘I am really excited,? said DeGain. ‘This is why kids sign up to wrestle. In 5-10 years no one is going to ask them how they did in the Howell Invitational, but how they did in finals.?
Districts will be the one step each wrestler will be fighting to be one of the top for finishers in their weight class to move on to Regionals next week at Saginaw Heritage.
‘It’s the road to states,? said DeGain. ‘A chance to wrestle at the big show even though it’s a month away.?
Alex Popp, Dietz, King and Hadsall made an appearance at finals last year.
‘Chances to go again are good,? said DeGain. ‘Sometimes there are wrestlers that step up, our guys are ready to step up.
The boys will see 13 schools on Saturday, including Lake Orion, Rochester, and Rochester Adams from the OAA Red, Pontiac Northern and Stoney Creek from the OAA White, and wrestlers from Wednesday’s Team District Meet from Grand Blanc and Holly.
The Wolves saw their OAA Red foes last Saturday at their league meet.
Zak Roberson (103), Matt Deitz (125) and Evan King (152) were champions in their weight classes.
Clarkston, Lake Orion, and Rochester Adams each had 6-1 dual meet records going into the tournament.
Lake Orion won the league scoring 197 points for the day. Adams finished with 180 and the Wolves took third place with 153 points.
‘I thought we wrestled like we were supposed to,? said DeGain. ‘We won against wrestlers we were supposed to and lost to who we were supposed to. Now we have to focus on the unexpected.?
King defeated Matt Bienick from Adams for first place, 6-4. It was the fourth time King had wrestled him and second time he had won the match.
Dietz defeated A.J. Fligger from Lake Orion in overtime for his champion title, 4-2. While Roberson didn’t allow Troy’s John Biegan to score any points on him to win, 6-0.
Matt Vandermeer (160) took second place after a loss to Tim Pettit from Rochester.
Mike Richmond (215) took third place, scoring one point in overtime against Rochester’s Nick Davis. Ty Foltz (125) and Scott Devos (285) also took finished in third.
Also placing for the day was Chris Burkhart (140) in fourth, Mike Henige (130) in fifth, and Sloan Hadsall (171), Andrew Fairse (189), and Mike Williams (119) in sixth.