Canton dominates Garden City Christmas Tournament

  Sixteen local teams participated in the 46^th Annual Garden City Christmas Tournament.  The Canton Chiefs, who sent only 12 wrestlers, dominated the wrestling and came home with all the hardware. 

  Canton’s light weights were unstoppable as Ben Griffin (103), Richard DeMarois (112), Alec Pantaleo (119), Keshav Patel (125), and Alex Eimers (130) cruised to first place finishes.  Pantaleo was voted most valuable wrestler for the lower weights following his convincing win over state qualifier, and 7^th ranked Chris Carroll of Riverview.

  The Chiefs had a little more trouble in the middle weights, as Zach Marsh (140) was the only champion.  Danny Filippelli (135) lost to eventual champion Keegan Cummins of Annapolis in the semi-finals, but bounced back to take third.  Similarly, unseeded Julia Salata (145) dropped her quarter-finals match to eventual champion Adnan Berisha of Annapolis, but won the rest of her matches to place fifth.  Patrick Murphy brought home a fourth place medal.  Canton did not enter wrestlers at 160 or 171 pounds.

  The Chief big men also put in dominating performances, with first place showings by Anthony Abro (189), Robby Lincoln (215), and Ben Poirer (285).  Abro was voted most valuable wrestler for the upper weights.  Canton’s total of 280.5 team points was more than 120 points above the second place finisher.

  Speaking of second place, that is where North Farmington ended up.  The Raiders were led by Kevin Miller, who won the 171 pound weight class.  John Davis (160) and Courtney Drew (189) placed second, Jordan Russell (119) and Majd Mokbel (285) took third, Jared Redmer (103) came in fourth, and Joe Benjamin (130) and Justin Shelton (215) placed fifth.

  Redford Union has been looking much better under new head coach Rob Rankin.  The Panthers had six wrestlers win medals, and as a team came in eighth.  Medalists were Steve Knox (3^rd at 125), Josh Hall (3^rd at 140), Roderick Howard (4^th at 160), Collin Rankin (2^nd at 171), Daven Gardiner (6^th at 215), and Christian Colon (2^nd at 285).

  Other Observerland area teams participating were Garden City (10^th place), Livonia Churchill “B” (11^th place), Livonia Clarenceville (12^th place), and Lutheran Westland (15^th place).

TEAM STANDINGS:  1. Canton, 280.5; 2. North Farmington, 156.5; 3. Riverview, 149.5; 4. Fordson, 120; 5. Allen Park and Annapolis, 115.5; 7. Grosse Ile, 114.5; 8. Redford Union, 110; 9. Gibraltar Carlson, 66.5; 10. Garden City, 63; 11. Livonia Churchill B, 52; 12. Clarenceville, 49; 13. Berkley, 45; 14. Woodhaven B, 38; 15. Lutheran Westland, 33; 16. Inkster, 20.

103 pounds:  1st:  Ben Griffin (C) maj. dec. Mike Farkas (AP), 17-3.  3rd:  Brandon Washington (Carlson) dec. Jared Redmer (NF), 5-3.  5th:  Zach Bohn (Churchill) pinned Devin McClain (W), 5:04.

112:  1st:  Richard DeMarois (C) pinned Jake Polenkiewicz (AP), 3:54.  3rd:  Aaron Par-Besemer (Berkley) dec. Eli Cabellaro (GI), 7-2.  5th:  Zach Francis (LW) dec. Dain Runyan (RV), 5-2.

119:  1st:  Alec Pantaleo (C) dec. Brandon Hernandez (RV), 3-2.  3rd:  Jordan Russell (NF) dec. Alex Karrar (GI), 6-4.  5th:  Mike Weiss (CL) maj. dec. Rami Merhi (Ford), 10-0.

125:  1st:  Keshaw Patel (C) dec. Chris Carroll (RV), 7-4.  3rd:  Steve Knox (RU) dec. Mike Williams (NF), 8-3.  5th:  Imad Soucar (Ford) dec. Nick Doane (GC), 7-6.

130:  1st:  Alex Eimers (C) tech. fall Adel Yaffai (Churchill), 16-0.  3rd:  Danny Okun (Berkley) dec. Britton Borlace (GC), 5-4.  5th:  Joe Benjamin (NF) dec. Chucky Wright (GI), 9-3.

135:  1st:  Keegan Cummins (Annapolis) pinned Brad Ferguson (AP), 1:30.  3rd:  Danny Filippelli (C) pinned Kyle Karrar (GI), 4:05.  5th:  Brian Spehar (GC) dec. RJ Amine (W), 6-0.

140:  1st:  Zach Marsh (C) dec. Jeff Czajka (RV), 4-1.  3rd:  Josh Hall (RU) dec. Jake Mydloski (Carlson), 4:05.  5th:  Yeyia Taleb (Ford) dec. Sean Ellison (GI), 8-2.

145:  1st:  Adnan Berisha (Annapolis) pinned Mathew Rossi (RV), 2:23.  3rd:  Vic Lindsey (Ford) dec. Chris Tromley (GI), 8-4.  5th:  Julia Salata (C) maj. dec. Coy Sillanpaa (CL), 15-6.

152:  1st:  Mike Carnavon (RV) dec. William Snider (GI), 10-6.  3rd:  Aaron Bibik (CL) dec. Patrick Murphy (C), 4-2.  5th:  Tony Dunlap (AP) pinned Sheehab Natour (Ford), 4:57.

160:  1st:  Ali Harp (Ford) maj. dec. John Davis (NF), 10-2.  3rd:  Nate Labonte (Carlson) maj. dec. Roderick Howard (RU), 11-1.  5th:  Mike Church (GI) pinned Brendan Groves (CL), 4:44.

171:  1st:  Kevin Miller (NF) maj. dec. Collin Rankin (RU), 14-5.  3rd:  Zack Kephart (Carlson) dec. Martin Kemp (LW), 6-1.  5th:  Hunter McCoy (Annapolis) dec. Travaun Reaves (Berkley), 7-0.

189:  1st:  Anthony Abro (C) maj. dec. Courtney Drew (NF), 23-9.  3rd:  Jake Martin (RV) pinned Desmond Livingston (I), 3:47.  5th:  Mo Soukar (Ford) dec. Dylan Brown (Annapolis), 5-2.

215:  1st:  Robby Lincoln (C) dec. Houston Garcia (Annapolis), 2-1.  3rd:  Adam Drucz (GC) pinned Ali Bazzi (Ford), 1:25.  5th:  Justin Shelton (NF) dec. Daven Gardiner (RU), 14-13.

285:  1st:  Ben Poirer (C) pinned Christian Colon (RU), 0:12.  3rd:  Majd Mokbel (NF) pinned Joe Lennis-Saunders (Annapolis), 3:38.  5th:  Rupert Miller (AP) pinned Quintin Ruddell (W), 1:20.