Canton's Marc Pryzbylski is pictured during his match against Northville's Sam Taconnelli.

Major Decisions

Canton rolls into Regional with
two emphatic District victories

BY ED WRIGHT
Feb. 11, 2010, 10:15 p.m.

  Fans of Canton's wrestling team clapped their hands rhythmically every time a Chief was on the verge of a pin during Thursday night's Division 1 District tournament in the Phase III gymnasium.

  There was a lot of clapping going on, to say the least.

  The Chiefs feasted on their District foes by a combined two-match score of 128-9 to advance to Wednesday's Regional tournament, which will also be held at Canton.

  The pair of lopsided wins boosted Canton's record to 28-6, which ties the record for most victories in a season at the school.

  The record should fall in next week's Regional semifinal against Dearborn Fordson. A triumph over the Tractors should set up a dramatic Regional final showdown against Novi Detroit Catholic Central, the No. 2-ranked team in Division 1. Canton entered Thursday's tourney as the No. 6-ranked team, according to MichiganGrappler.com.

  Canton upended PCEP rival Salem, 67-6, in Thursday's semifinal match. The Chiefs then crushed Northville, 61-3, in the final. Northville (20-14)  opened the night with a  44-26 victory over Plymouth.

  "Having the District tournament in our own gym was nice," said Canton coach Corey Mancuso. "The guys came out, knew what they had to do and got it done tonight."

  On a night that featured several anti-climactic wins, Canton junior Anthony Abro was involved in a pair of down-to-the-wire nail-biters. Abro, who was celebrating his 17th birthday, nipped Salem's Blake Abbey, 3-2, in the semifinal before edging Northville's Bobby Lahiff, 4-3.

  Lahiff was on the bottom of a re-start with 10 seconds left in the match, but couldn't pull off an escape against the determined Abro.

  "Anthony wrestled very tough tonight," said Mancuso. "He had two good matches. He finds ways to win close matches."

  The Chiefs' practices will be status quo leading up to next week's expected showdown with the Shamrocks, Mancuso assured.

  "We're going to keep doing things like we've done them all season long," the second-year coach said. "Hopefully, we'll get a lot of people out here and the guys will be fired up."

  Among the highlights in Plymouth's loss to Northville were Said Youssef's 10-6 triumph over Sam Taconnelli at 119 pounds and Trey Berry's 20-5 win over Kyle Gutkowski at 112.

135: Mitch Wolski (C) dec. James Middleditch, 4-0;
140: Zach Marsh (C) pinned Austin Banfield in 3:15;
145: Donnie Watkins (C) pinned Joe Williams in 0:55;
152: Tyler Gross (S) pinned Chris Pierce in 1:52;
160: Sean O'Keefe (C) pinned Alex Brown in 3:09;
171: Brent Winekoff (C) pinned Cory Mandelka in 2:25;
189: Keith Zech (C) pinned Jordan Zhou in 1:27;
215: Anthony Abro (C) dec. Blake Abbey, 3-2;
285: Ben Poirer (C) pinned Adam Turner in 0:37;
103: Richard DeMarois (C) won by void;
112: Daniel Fillippelli (C) dec. Danny Kemp, 11-2;
119: Marc Przybylski (C) won by void;
125: Waleed Faraj (C) dec. Devin Stratton, 7-4;
130: Connor Johnson (C) pinned Mark Lang in 1:56.

135: Kevin Lerner (N) dec. Jimmy Ahearn, 6-4;
140: Travis Compo (N) dec. Matt Ayoub, 12-4;
145: Josh Wright (N) pinned Tate Braboy in 2:39;
152: Jon Nelson (N) pinned Brandon Crowther;
160: Robbie Barackman (P) dec. Jake Johnson, 8-5;
171: Trevor Maresh (N) won by major dec. over Curtis Crosier, 12-0;
189: Nick Mudar (N) won by tech. fall, 20-5, over Brendan Varner;
215: Bobby Lahiff (N) pinned Brett Keyes;
285: Wally Eppler (P) won by void;
103: Ian Stirton (N) dec. Shadi Jammoul, 6-1;
112: Trey Berry (P) won by tech. fall over Kyle Gutkowski, 20-5;
119: Said Youssef (P) dec. Sam Taconnelli, 10-6;
125: Chase Khalil (P) won by void;
130: Zaid Tamini (P) pinned George McClymont in 4:56.

140: Zach Marsh (C) won by tech. fall over Trevor Compo, 20-5;
145: Donnie Watkins (C) won by void;
152: Chris Pierce (C) won by void;
160: Brent Winekoff (C) pinned Jake Johnson in 2:57;
171: Keith Zech (C) won by tech. fall over Trevor Maresh, 17-2;
189: Anthony Abro (C) dec. Bobby Lahiff, 4-3;
215: Ben Poirer (C) won by void;
285: both teams voided;
103: Richard DeMarois (C) dec. Ian Stirton, 8-2;
112: Alex Eimers (C) pinned Kyle Gutkowski in 1:01;
119: Sam Taconnelli dec. Marc Pryzbylski, 12-6;
125: Waleed Faraj (C) won by void;
130: Mitch Wolski pinned George McClymont in 1:24;
135: Connor Johnson dec. Kevin Lerner, 8-2.