Sports
Day 1, Wrestling Finals: Canton Goes 3-0; Plymouth, Salem, Northville, Novi Mixed Results
Canton's three wrestlers win bouts; Plymouth, Salem, Novi and Northville wrestlers have mixed results. Many will wrestle Friday morning in the consolation round.
Canton High School's three wrestlers were all victorious in their first bouts in Thursday's opening round of the MHSAA individual wrestling finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Canton sophomore Ben Griffin looked solid in his opening match of the individual state finals. He defeated Dave Markowicz from Kalamazoo on a 7-4 decision in 112 weight class.
Griffin scored three straight takedowns to take a 7-0 lead by the second round.
The only scare came with 19 seconds left in the second when Markowicz hit a reversal and briefly had a chance at a pin. Griffin powered out of it and was able to hold on for the win.
Canton's Alex Pantaleo (135) also won, beating Carter Stoddard of Davison, and Zach Marsh (145) beat Nick Brish of Brighton.
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All three Canton wrestlers will compete in the quarterfinals Friday Afternoon.
Plymouth: 1 Win, 2 Losses
Plymouth's Said Youssef beat Gideon Gaiter of Macomb L'anse Creuse North in the 140 weight class. He will compete in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon.
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Plymouth junior Chase Kallil ran out of time in his match against Macomb L'anse Creuse North senior Eric Maniaci in 125 weight class.
With 40 seconds to go, Kallil was down 6-0. He hit two takedowns in the final 30 seconds to make it 6-4. He was in total control as time was ticking down.
He tried to turn Maniaci over on his back for a pin, but time ran out.
Plymouth's Brandon Harris also lost, to Rochester's Justin Kim in 103.
Salem's 2 Wrestlers Lose First Round Bouts
Both of Salem's wrestlers lost first-round matches, Jacob McCabe in 189 to North Farmington's Kevin Miller and Tyler Gross in the 160 class to Greg Dolland.
Novi Wrestlers Both in Consolation Round
Heavyweight Novi senior Jimi Keller lost his opening match 3-1 to Cory Arnouts of Grand Ledge. Keller wasn't able to get Arnouts off his feet. Arnouts scored an early takedown and that was enough to ride out the win.
Novi's other wrestler, Jake Dobras, lost to Connor Moynihan of Grand Haven in the 171 division.
Northville: 1 Win, 1 Loss
Northville High School's Trevor Maresh won his 171-pound bout against East Kentwood's Ernie Morton, while Travis Compo fell to Brother Rice's Andrew Napieraj in the 135 class.
The state finals are a double-elimination tournament, so Law will open Friday morning in the blood rounds. One more loss and his season will be over.
Patch is covering all three days of the tournament, providing updates from our live blog. Make sure to follow along on , photos and more!
