Braves Roll Past Eskymos In Wrestling Dual Match

ESCANABA----The Gladstone High School wrestling team juggled its lineup and those match-ups worked well as the Braves beat the Escanaba Eskymos, 49-24, in a dual meet Wednesday night in Escanaba. The Braves avenged an earlier loss to the Eskymos.

"The kids worked hard," said Gladstone Assistant Coach Marcus Godfrey, who was filling in for Head Coach Jesse DeBacker. "They didn't stop fighting all year since we lost to Esky the first time. They didn't want to lose again. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears."

"Gladstone earned it," Escanaba Head Coach Jeff Wright said. "They moved their guys to put them into position and they earned that one. We still felt comfortable with the match-ups. We just didn't capitalize on them, and they came out ahead on them."

Perhaps the biggest win of the night for the Braves came from an unlikely source. Sophomore Diego Mileski went up against Escanaba's Sergei LaMarche at 125 pounds, and LaMarche had a 10-5 lead in the match.

Mileski came back to get the pin.

"That was just all heart," Godfrey said of Mileski. "He never gives up. That was a huge win for us. Huge. He was down when he pinned him. It was just a huge match. It was unreal."

Gladstone moved 160-pounder Austin Demeuse up two weight classes to go up against Cory Chenier, and Demeuse, despite fighting a nasty cold, earned the victory. Also, the Braves moved senior Bobby Beauchamp up from 145 to 152, and he faced Eskymo sophomore Scout Wunder. Beauchamp battled to a 6-0 win over Wunder.

The Braves still got the win at Beauchamp's usual weight class, 145, when the Eskymos did not have a wrestler. Sophomore Spencer Husbye showed up and got the forfeit win.

Escanaba led the match, 18-10, with senior Mo Hoque winning at the heavyweight spot. The Eskymos also got wins at 103and 112, but Gladstone's Vadym Torvinen earned a tough 3-2 win over Courage Krueger at 119 pounds, setting up Mileski's win at 125.

Gladstone freshman Adam Bruce continued his winning ways with a pin over Justin VanDrese, but Esccanaba's Ean Bevins topped James Young at 135 pounds on a pin in just 35 seconds. Those six points brought Escanaba to within 25-24, but the Eskymos would get no closer as the Braves won the final five matches of the evening.

The first was sophomore Alex Chouinard pinning Hunter Royer in 1 minute, 28 seconds.

Then after the forfeit at 145 and Beauchamp's win at 152, Kostya Torvinen filled Demeuse's usual 160-pound spot.

And Torvinen pinned Escanaba's Braden Olsen.

The final match of the evening saw Gladstone senior James Bruce battle Escanaba juior Breyden Papineau. And this was, indeed, a battle that went right to the wire. Both boys tallied two points in the final period, but Bruce held on to win, 5-4.

Wright says the loss is disappointing, but the season is not over for the Eskymos.

"We start the post-season now," Wright said. "It's a whole new game. We'll make up for this by winning a district title next Wednesday."

That district tournament, featuring Petoskey, Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie, and the Eskymos, will be held in the Escanaba High School Gym on February 10.

Gladstone, meanwhile, will travel to Boyne City for its team districts on February 11. That district features Boyne City, Elk Rapids, Grayling, and the Braves.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos from Wednesday night's match.