Brandywine’s Schoff, Ward to wrestle for state championships

Published 6:28 am Saturday, March 2, 2024

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DETROIT —A pair of Brandywine wrestlers with compete for Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 4 state champions at Ford Field Saturday.

The Bobcats’ Gavin Schoff, a senior advanced to the 157-pound championship match with an 8-6 overtime victory over Hudson’s Jacob Pickford Friday night.

Schoff advanced to the title match with pinning Charlevoix’s Logan Wilks in 2:36 of the opening round before pinning East Jackson’s Clayton Clark in 22 seconds in the quarterfinals.

Schoff will wrestle Bronson’s Layne Knisley for the state championship.

Brandywine’s other finalist is Maddison Ward, who pinned her way to the 170-pound championship match in the girl’s portion of the state finals.

Ward, who earned her 100th career victory on the way to the title match, pinned Portland’s Maddy Newberry in 20 seconds in the opening round, pinned Columbia Central’s Brianna Boone in 1:08 in the quarterfinals, and stuck Grand Haven’s Isabelle Wisenbaugh in 3:48 of her semifinal match.

Ward, a junior, will wrestle Kalamazoo Loy Norrix’s Heaven Cole for the state title Saturday afternoon.

Brandywine’s Kaiden Rieth reached the semifinals before suffering a 7-2 loss to Manchester’s Sammy Stewart.

Rieth won his first two matches in the 126-pound weight class.

He won by major decision (12-2) over Hudson’s Owen Look in 44 seconds of the opening round, and then pinned Inland Lakes’ in 44 seconds in the quarterfinals.

In Division 3, Dowagiac had a pair of wrestlers reach the semifinals before suffering their first defeat on the two-day tournament.

Israel Villegas pinned Algonac’s Alex Bright in 3:20 of the opening round, and won a 6-2 decision over Meridian Early College’s Elliot Noyes in the quarterfinals.

Dundee’s Blake Cosby won by technical fall (24-9) over Villegas in the semifinals.

Cal Chapman reached the 285-pound semifinals before falling to Reed City’s Wyatt Spalo 3-1 in overtime.

Chapman reached the semifinals with a major decision (15-1) victory over Doug Hoyt, of LakeVille Memorial, in the opening round, and then won a 6-4 decision in overtime against Central Montcalm’s Waylon Lingeman in the quarterfinals.

Still alive when wrestling begins Saturday morning is Dowagiac’s Cinthia Villegas, who is 2-1 so far at 130-punds in the girls finals.

Cinthia Villegas pinned Shepherd’s Kerra White Pigeon in 1:56 of her opening round match. She was pinned by Oxford’s Jewlie Gonzalez in 3:57 of her quarterfinal match, but bounced back to pin Mount Pleasant’s Chloe Churchman in 2:41 in the second round of the consolation matches.