SSC's Mark Stawowy (left) and Machylle Porter enjoy the opening Grand March at the start of last weekend's individual state wrestling finals.
Monte Fouchey, Oscoda, Div. 3 - 4th place, 285
Aaron Smith, Mio, Div. 4 - 5th place, 135
Trevor Tyler, Roscommon, Div. 3 - 7th place, 160
Andrew Funsch, Ogemaw Heights, Div. 2 - 7th place, 130
Justin LaFlure, John Glenn, Div. 2 - 189
Kooper Martinez, John Glenn, Div. 2 - 103
Brandon Wrzesinski, John Glenn, Div. 2 - 171
Joe Baldwin, Mio, Div. 4 - 285
Dylan Jensen, Mio, Div. 4 - 112
Justin Andrick, Oscoda, Div. 3 - 171
Seth Haas, Pinconning, Div. 3 - 135
Joe Domsitz, Roscommon, Div. 3 - 152
Dustin Verbeke, Roscommon, Div. 3 - 112
Machylle Porter, Standish-Sterling, Div. 3 - 160
Brent Baker
Mark Stawowy, Standish-Sterling, Div. 3 - 215

AUBURN HILLS - Mar. 6-8, 2008 - It wasn't the best of years for Northeast Michigan wrestlers at the individual state finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills last weekend.

But Pinconning's Corey Woodruff won't be complaining.

The Pinny senior (152 pounds), who didn't become eligible to compete until the start of the second semester this year, finished off his season in dreamlike fashion by defeating four other state finals qualifiers, all by decision, to match his brothers' feat of winning an individual state title in his senior year.

Four other area wrestlers also earned state finals medals. In Division 2, Ogemaw Heights' Andrew Funsch (130) came back from a disappointing opening day to finish seventh. In Division 3, Oscoda's Monte Fouchey (285) bettered last year's sixth-place finish by taking fourth this time around; and Roscommon's Trevor Tyler (160) also came back to take seventh after losing in the first round.

Mio's Aaron Smith (135) finished fifth in Division 4.

Collectively, however, it was the roughest state finals weekend in at least a decade for area wrestlers. The North East Michigan Conference, Jack Pine Conference and the North Star League's Mio (which competes in the Straits Area Conference in wrestling) sent a total of 21 wrestlers to the finals but went a collective 3-17 on opening day (with one forfeit win), making the medal-winning task much more difficult.

Woodruff, Fouchey and Gladwin's Mike Gorman each had first-day wins.

Pinconning

Even Woodruff struggled the first day, though he came out with a 4-2 victory over Buchanon's Auston Ferris -- scoring a takedown with eight seconds left -- to keep his state title hopes alive.

But even that close call didn't match the title contest with Josh Swanson of Madison Heights Lamphere. Trailing 4-2 late in the third period, Woodruff needed a takedown with just 10 seconds to go to force overtime, then got another one 30 seconds into the extra period to win the state title.

"It was wild and crazy," said Pinny coach Wayne Purtell. "It was the last weight class and because it went overtime, it was the last match of the night.

"Corey's battle a lot of obstacles all along. It's been an up-and-down rollercoaster ride, so to finish like that was outstanding. That match was kind of like his whole career."

Woodruff scored a takedown in the first period, but got caught in a spladle in the second period for four points.

After taking an injury time out in the third period, Woodruff caught the break he needed when Swanson chose the bottom position.

"That was just perfect for us," Purtell said. "Then when Corey got him to force overtime, I had a great feeling that he could do it."

Woodruff got to the championship match by defeating Steve Foust of Brooklyn Columbia Central 7-1, Kyle Lund of Lakeview 10-9.

Two years ago, Corey's brother Kyle took the 160-pound state championship in similar fashion, winning all four matches by decision. Kyle was on hand this weekend too having served as Pinny coach Purtell's assistant this season.

"It was extremely important for them," Purtell said. "They've been talking about (winning a state title) all year, and really since they were kids.

"He had a lot of pressure on him following his brother's footsteps. I don't think a day went by when someone didn't ask him if he was going to win the state title."

It was particularly impressive considering Woodruff, who nearly dropped out of school, almost didn't wrestle at all this year.

"He saw that he would be ranked near the top of the state (if he came back)," Purtell said. "It sparked something inside him and he decided to go for it in school and wrestling.

"Hopefully he can use this experience as a building block to make things better for himself in life."

Woodruff (33-1 for the season) is Pinconning's seventh state champion, a list that includes Rob Buchalski and Scott Wieland (1983), Russ Swinson (1988), Louis Socier (2003 and 2004) and Kyle Woodruff (2006).

Seth Haas (135) dropped a 12-7 decision in his first match but came back to beat Dundee's Brad Wade in the first round of the consolation bracket before having his day end with an 8-5 loss to Coloma's Matt Kiser.

Haas finished his junior season with a 47-9 mark and 107 career victories.

Oscoda

Fouchey's dominant performance on opening day was the best of all area wrestlers as he took just 1:40 to pin Yale's Carl Billings.

After that it got a bit tougher. Fouchey edged Shelby's Felipe Salgado 2-0 to reach the semifinal round, where he was pinned by Birch Run's Earl Leach. He bounced back to reach the third-place match with a third-period pin, but was edged in his final match 3-1 by Lakewood's Ryan Steverson.

Teammate Justin Andrick (171), a first-time qualifier, was edged in two tough matches: 5-3 by David Bittinger of Lake Fenton and 2-1 by Reed City's Nick Long.

Ogemaw Heights

Funsch had hoped for a satisfying comeback from last year's tournament, when he had to withdraw with the flu. This time he had to bounce back from getting pinned in his first-round match, but earned a pair of hard-fought decisions -- 4-2 over Hastings' Alec Wilcox and 7-6 over Zach Baum of Lowell -- to clinch a spot in the medal round.

"I think Andrew was a little disappointed with his (opening-round loss)," said Ogemaw coach Darryl Keeton. "He was winning 7-4 when he got caught in a head and arm throw.

"He came back on Friday and wrestled well to get in the medal round."

A 5-2 defeat to Cory Gray of Spring Lake sent Funsch to the seventh-place match, where he defeated Ethan Bogaert of Hazel Park 4-2.

"His match (against Gray) was a difficult match against a strong opponent," Keeton said. "I am sure he would have liked to finish a little further up the ladder but I'm sure placing at the state level and picking up his 150th win in only his junior year took away a little of the sting.

"We look forward to him getting back again next season, and I expect things will be a little different."

Standish-Sterling

The Panthers' Machylle Porter (160) and Mark Stawowy (215) were stopped short of the medal rounds, though SSC coach Jim Hergott did his best to make sure his wrestlers appreciated the moment.

"When they were each finished wrestling for the year I asked them to stop matside and do two things: appreciate how far they'd gotten in the tournament, and stand up and look around at what they had accomplished by looking at the crowd.

"There were 100 kids from their division and 400 statewide who would love to be in their position."

Porter definitely had a tough draw, facing tournament veteran Mike Curby, who was also a recent second-place finisher at a national-level Greco-Roman wrestling tournament.

Porter trailed 2-1 through most of the first period, but Curby's takedown as time expired "seemed to take a little out of him," Hergott said. Curby went on to a 17-1 technical fall victory.

Porter had his day end with a 7-3 loss to Jordan Parsons of Berrien Springs.

"Machylle wrestled well through the whole match," Hergott said. "He couldn't gain an advantage, which is sometimes all you need at this level."

Stawowy's opening match came in a 2 vs. 3 seed bout that on paper looked to be close ... and was. Stawowy lost 6-2, then came back and pinned his second-round opponent just 1:35 into the match.

"He wrestled very aggressive and 'mad,'" Hergott said. "In his third match I told Mark to make sure he left everything on the mat so that whatever happened he could be proud of making it this far.

"He wrestled for all he was worth but lost 4-3."

Still, it was a bit tough for the Panthers to see one wrestler Stawowy had defeated at the district level, Tyler Millerov of Caro, finish sixth while Stawowy was left without hardware.

"One wonders as a coach what more you can do to get kids over that hump," Hergott said. "We have taken kids every years since I started coaching high school and only Scott Kimball has placed. But as I talked with some of the other coaches I realized many others were in the same boat."

The weekend ended on a high note, though, as Hergott had a surprise reunion with his own high school coach, Kent Roberts, who was on hand as part of the MHSAA's Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Roberts, with a winning percentage of over .900 coaching wrestling and track.

"I looked at Mark and yelled, 'That's my coach!'" Hergott said. The two rushed to the Palace floor from the stands, where Roberts immediately recognized Hergott.

"He turned and said he'd just been thinking about me," Hergott said. "I introduced Mark as a wrestler I was coaching; Mark told him I talked about him all the time. I was flying about 10 feet high.

"I hope what happens is, like my coach, I leave lasting memories with these young men. I am so happy that Mark got to meet my coach so that he can tell the rest of the kids (what I said about him) was true."

John Glenn

The Bobcats led NEMC schools with three state qualifiers, but couldn't advance any of them to the medal round.

Most surprising was Brandon Wrzesinski (171), who entered the tournament as an unbeaten regional champion. Wrzesinski's win streak was snapped with a 12-9 loss to Tim Newman of Stevensville-Lakeshore. He won his next match with a pin, but was edged out of the tournament with a 3-2 loss to Trenton's Max Sall.

Justin LaFlure (189) lost his opening match 10-6 and was pinned in his second-round match; Kooper Martinez (103) dropped a major decision in his opener and was also pinned in his final match of the weekend.

Roscommon

Trevor Tyler was the only one of three Bucks to earn state finals medals, but even he wasn't pleased with the results.

Tyler (160) started slowly against Perry's Levi Davis, falling behind by as much as 12-3 before losing 15-10 and falling out of state title contention.

Tyler came back to win two of his next three matches and earned a rematch with Davis in the seventh-place match, defeating Davis in his second attempt 8-4.

Jon Domsitz (152) lost a 3-1 overtime heartbreaker to Bernie VandePol in his first-round match, staved off elimination with a 6-5 win over Maple Valley's Tory Roberts and was eliminated by Williamston's Aaron Risch.

Dustin Verbeke (112) lost both his matches in his first state finals appearance.