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Esky Wrestlers Come Up Just Short At Elks Tourney
 ESCANABA---The annual Escanaba Elks Wrestling Invitational went right down to the wire Saturday night as the host Eskymos and the Reedsville (Wis.) Panthers were neck and neck in team points as the final matches were held. Reedsville had a penalty point deducted from its score, but the Panthers were able to beat the Eskymos by a razor-thin margin, 190 points to 188.5. The Jenison Wildcats from the Lansing area of Lower Michigan finished third with 154 points. The Norway Knights took fourth with 149 points, and the Gladstone Braves ended up fifth with 141.5. Munising was sixth (110), Benzie Central (103) was seventh, and Newberry was eighth (77.5). Iron Mountain was ninth (72.5), and Marquette was tenth with 72 points. Reedsville got championships from Issac Roffers (135 pounds), Daniel Kocourek (152 pounds), Elliott Ebert (171 pounds), and Jordan Brandt (285) to win the trophy. ESCANABA ESKYMOS: Escanaba's Teddy Peippo won the 160-pound weight class title, beating Gladstone's Austin Demeuse in the championship match on a major decision, 12-2. 
Escanaba's Mo Hoque took third place.
At 125 pounds, Denhem Miron made it to the championship match before losing to Florence's Danny Jones in overtime, 6-4. Miron received a first-round bye befrore beating Norway's Timmy Huddleston, 7-0, and topping Reedsville's Andy Spatchek in the semifinals, 8-2. Three Eskymos finished third in their weight classes: Cory Chenier at 189 pounds and Mo Hoque at 215 pounds. Chenier pinned Iron Mountain's Brayden Fitzpatrick and Reedville's Cole Knier, before losing to Gagnon in the semifinals, 10-0. Chenier then pinned Norway's Travis Moon to capture third place. Hoque pinned Reedsville's Mikey Griffey in his first match ( in 1:51), and then he pinned Newberry's Hunter Collins in the second match in 1:12. Hoque lost to Bark River's Curtis Labadie in the semifinals, then won third place when he pinned Collins again. Eskymo freshman Scout Wunder was also third in the 135-pound weight class. He took advantage of a first round bye, and then beat Menominee's Ian Brown on a major decision, 23-13. Jenison's Brycin Alexaner pulled out a 5-3 decison over Wunder, before the Eskymo freshman beat Brown again, 12-7, in the third place match. Five other Eskymos finished in fifth place in their respective weight classes: Simon Chouinard (103), Courage Krueger (112), Ean Bevins (130), Breyden Papineau (152), and Brandon Punzel (189). GLADSTONE BRAVES: Gladstone did not have an individual champion, but the Braves did have several boys who competed well. The Braves had four wrestlers lose in championship matches. Demeuse, a sophomore, beat wrestlers from West Iron County and Benzie Central to advance to the final, before losing to Escanaba's Peippo in the 160 final. At 145 pounds, Gladstone's Bobby Beauchamp pinned opponents from Munising and Jenison before losing to Marquette's Beau Caster in the championship, 4-1. At 171 pounds, Braves senior Jeremy Kadish battled hard before losing to Reedsville's Ebert, 4-1, in the final. Kadish had pinned his opponents from Bark River--Harris and Gwinn, and won on a tech foul over Norway's Taylor Bonetti in the semis. At 189 pounds, Gladstone's Bradley Gagnon advanced to the final before losing a very tight 3-2 decision to Jenison's Dan Burkholder. Gagnon had defeated wrestlers from West Iron County, Munising, and Escanaba (Chenier), before settling for second place. Gladstone junior James Bruce finished third at 140 pounds, beating Jenison's Josiah Mazzola in the third place match, 8-2. And Braves heavyweight Zach Bailey, a sophomore, finished fifth in his "285 pound" weight class. BARK RIVER-HARRIS BRONCOS: Bark River-Harris finished 14th overall with 50 points. At 215 pounds, Bronco Curtis Labadie made it to the championship round before losing a tough 7-6 decision to Benzie Central's Devin Philo in the final. Earlier, Labadie beat Negaunee's Austin Argall on a pin in 40 seconds, then he pinned Menominee's Nick Alger in 1:01. Labadie then pinned Escanaba's Hoque in 1:31 to advance to the final. At 145 pounds, Bronco Kadin Mustafa took seventh place in his 16-man bracket, beating Ishpeming's Dylan Giuchin in the consolation final on a pin in 1:45. At 160 pounds, Bronco Tyler Labadie also took seventh place in his 16-man bracket, pinning Newberry's Tristen Farmer in 4:07 in the consolation final. OTHER U.P. WINNERS: Kingsford's Zack Jones won the 103-pound championship, beating Munising's Nick Miles on a major decision, 13-2. At 112 pounds, Norway's Dylan Moffat beat Munising's Zach McGowan for the championship on a pin at the 3:51 mark. At 119 pounds, Gwinn's Alex Anderson topped Jenison's Milo Maya in the final on a major decision, 13-3. Iron Mountain's Alex Edwards won the 130-pound title, pinning Austin Falbe of Jenison in 1:11. There was a great championship match at 140 pounds as Norway's Cole Gonzalez topped Ishpeming's Jonathon Willey on a 6-3 decision. 
Escanaba's Cory Chenier (top) took third place during Saturday's Elks Invitational. (Sheila Olsen photo)
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