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Sunday May 5, 2024
MAT WINNER: Gladstone Wrestlers Pin Escanaba

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Escanaba's Tom Benoit, Gladstone's Drew Hansen, and Coach Jeff Brazeau.

ESCANABA---The Gladstone High School wrestling team fell behind early on the scoreboard but used their depth to beat the Escanaba Eskymos, 51-30, Wednesday night in Escanaba. The Eskymos led, 24-0, after the first four matches, but then the Braves took control from there.

"It was a good win," Gladstome Coach Jeff Brazeau said. "We had some good matches in there, with Drew (Hansen) and Cade (Escanaba's Krueger). The kids came out and wrestled tough, though. We had a few guys out sick, and Austin (Solis) is still healing up, so, yeah, it was a good win."

Indeed, the marquee match-up of the night was the 132-pound match between Gladstone's Drew Hansen and Escanaba's Cade Krueger. Hansen is ranked third in the state in his weight class in Division Three after a third place finish at the MHSAA State Finals last spring. Krueger is arguably Escanaba's best wrestler, after also competing in the state finals in 2023.

Wednesday's match saw Krueger constantly back-peddle toward the edge of the circle, and it kept him in the match. Hansen pulled out a 3-1 decision in the only match of the evening that was not decided by a pin, and one of a handful that went past one period.

"When you wrestle the edge of the mat and he keeps going out of bounds as soon as you're about to get a takedown, it gets annoying and it wears on you," Hansen said. "But I guess I came out winning, so, it's alright. But he's trained all summer and he's gotten better, and he fought tough the whole match, so it was good."

A big win for Escanaba came from its big man, Tom Benoit. The heavyweight faced Gladstone's Josh Racine, who he had lost to by one point at a tournament in Munising in December. But this time, Benoit came up with the win, getting the pin early in the second period. Benoit was emphatic in his celebration after the pin, letting out some frustrations from earlier this season.

"I've been having a rough time with wrestling recently," Benoit said. "I haven't been wrestling my best, so any win is a good one. He ended up on bottom after the period, and when I was on top, I just saw the leg, so I grabbed it."

"I got him a little bit loose, so I went in for that 'half' (half-Nelson). I held his arm, put his shoulder blades to the mat, and it felt good."

The two teams will meet again next Monday night in a dual meet in Gladstone.

RESULTS: GLADSTONE 51, ESCANABA 30
ESC 6-0: 144---Eli Gardner (Esc) pinned Ryder Forvilly (Glad), 0:33
ESC 12-0: 150---Cannon Arnt (Esc) pinned Deegan Miron (Glad), 0:47
ESC 18-0: 157---Dusty Skerbeck (Esc) pinned Mason Wells (Glad), 1:08
ESC 24-0: 165---Kaleb Gagne (Esc) pinned Max Wilson (Glad), 0:22
GLAD 6-24: 175---Trevor Thorbahn (Glad) wins on forfeit
GLAD 12-24: 190---Owen Maftonen (Glad) pinned Aubree Coasdell (Esc), 0:09
GLAD 18-24: 215---Jack Savard (Glad) pinned Hunter Portillo (Esc), 2:41
ESC 30-18: Hvy---Tom Benoit (Esc) pinned Josh Racine (Glad), 2:21
GLAD 24-30: 106---Drew Balovski (Glad) wins on forfeit
GLAD 30-30: 113---Aidan Spriks (Glad) pinned Chase Boyer (Esc), 1:07
GLAD 36-30: 120---Nate Beauchamp (Glad) pinned Mario Sauto (Esc), 2:56
GLAD 42-30: 126---Conner Britton (Glad) pinned Linnea Britton (Esc), 3:40
GLAD 45-30: 132---Drew Hansen (Glad) def. Cade Krueger (Esc), 3-1 dec.
GLAD 51-30: 138---Logan Ayotte (Glad) pinned Lucas DeGrand (Esc), 0:40









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