KALAMAZOO — Whitehall coach Justin Zeerip, like many wrestling coaches, preaches limiting opponents from scoring “bonus points,” or getting more than three team points in a dual bout, while maximizing opportunities for his own team to do so. Friday’s quarterfinal match against Hart was one of the best examples of that strategy delivering results.
Whitehall is back in the state final four after defeating West Michigan Conference rival Hart, 45-25, on a night in which every Viking to win their bout scored bonus points for the team while limiting Hart, in several situations, to the minimum three points.
“I think that our kids did a really good job (improving) all year at limiting bonus points, and trying to get them for ourselves,” Zeerip said. “The kids did a tremendous job. I was really proud of our kids and how they fought, wrestled and battled all the way to the end.”
The Vikings, seeded No. 2, advanced to take on No. 3 seed Yale in Saturday’s semifinals.
Hart grabbed an early lead, 9-0, with two wins at the heaviest weight classes, but Whitehall had the advantage when the action shifted to the lower weights, and the Vikes wrestled accordingly. With Jordan Thies, one of Hart’s top grapplers, out with an injury, that left the road wide open for Robert Belinger, Blake Wallace and Dom Zygmuntowski to score big wins, and they did. All three won by pin to put the Vikes ahead for good.
The Pirates didn’t roll over, getting back to within as close as three points at 22-19, but the Vikes only conceded a major decision to Hart star Kole Thomas and a decision to another star, Logan Jorissen. On the other side, Cody Manzo came up with an eighth point to earn a major decision at 132 pounds, and Kolten Weiler scored a big-time pin at 150 after entering the second period of his bout scoreless.
Even Hart’s most impressive win came with something of an accomplishment by Whitehall’s Max Krukowski, who bumped up two weight classes to take on regional runner-up Halen Boos and battled him nearly to a standstill in an 8-6 defeat.
That bout made it 22-19, but after that was Weiler’s pin. Then, Colten Kyser roared to a technical fall at 157 and Liam Leeke picked up a quick pin at 165, which made victory a mathematical certainty for Whitehall.
That enabled the Vikes to get the win that most inspired cheers on the Whitehall bench. Senior Pablo Lugo went into the third period tied with Hart’s Blake Helenhouse, 1-1, but rose up to earn a pin and fire up his teammates.
“Pablo is a senior, and he's battled some injuries throughout the year,” Zeerip said. “He started wrestling in ninth grade, so it's really awesome to see him win like that. He works really hard and is a high character kid. For him to come out and have success like that and get the pin on the biggest stage, I’m very proud of him.”
