Saline Wrestlers Win Team District Championship

The Saline Hornets wrestlers opened the tournament season in fine fashion, defeating Pioneer, 43-28, and Lincoln, 60-12, to win the district championship held Thursday night at .

It was the second straight year the Hornets won team districts.

Saline advances to the MHSAA 103-1 Regional Tournament at Wyandotte Roosevelt, where the team opens against Southgate Anderson. With a win, Saline could face Bedford in the regional finals.

The Hornets were down 10-6 after three matches against Pioneer in the district semifinal. Ryan Boxeth (125 pounds) put Saline up with second period pin. Boxeth led 2-0 after the first period and doubled the lead early in the second period before giving a point back. Boxeth’s pin put Saline up 12-10 and the Hornets never relinquished the lea

At 130, Nate O’Sullivan followed with a 12-3 win. O’Sullivan led 4-0 after one and 9-1 after two. At 135, Dustin Funk gutted out a 3-2 win. Funk scored the match’s first takedown but gave the points back. He started the third period on bottom and tied at two. He looked like he might get turned a couple times before breaking free with 40-seconds left for the 3-2 victory.

At 140, Alex Cornelius won by pin in the second period. Cornelius led 3-0 after one and took an 8-0 lead in the second before winning by pin.

At 145, Doug Ayers picked up the victory in one of the night’s best matches. After giving up the first takedown, Ayers tied it at two late in the first. He let his opponent up in the second and fell behind 5-3. The third started with Ayers tying the match at three. Ayers scored the winning takedown with 20 seconds left in the match.

At 152, Ryan Wellings picked up four points for his team with an 11-0 victory. Wellings was up 2-0 after the first and 7-0 after the second.

Another dramatic win came at 160, where Chris Slattery was down 5-2 late in the third period before stunning his opponent with a pin.

At 189, Brandon Helle earned five points for the Hornets with a 17-2 Tech-fall win. Helle led 7-1 after the first and 14-2 after two periods.

The district final against Lincoln opened with a tough loss for the Hornets.
At 119, Taylor Ticknor lost a seesaw match, 13-12. Ticknor fell behind 2-0 in the first but bounced back for a 4-3 lead at the end of the period. Midway through the second, Ticknor led 8-5, but he was reversed and wound up down 9-8 after two. Ticknor fell behind 11-8 to start the third. He scored a reversal for two points but couldn’t maintain his advantage and was down 12-10. With just a few seconds left in the third, the wrestlers began from the center of the mat. Ticknor sprung and grabbed a leg for the tying takedown. But his Lincoln opponent broke loose just as the buzzer went for the 13-12 win.

The Hornets took control of the match with a series of wins by pin and by void. O’Sullivan. Funk and Cornelius had first period pins as Saline built a 36-3 lead.

Slattery had another come-from-behind victory. He was down 3-1 after two and fought back to win 6-3.

At 171, Raymond Schmidt built up a 6-3 lead and hung tough to win 6-5.

Helle picked up his second win of the night, winning by pin in the second period. At 215, Jason Anthony won by pin in the first period for a 54-12 lead.

The Hornets compete in the individual district tournament at Bedford Saturday. Hornets with dreams of competing in the state meet at The Palace of Auburn Hills will need to “win two before they lose two” Saturday to keep those hopes alive.