Cheerleaders, individual wrestlers head to state
                                  by Bill Mullaly

The week that wasn't. This could be how to sum up the results for the winter sports teams at Hudson High School over the past week. Three teams were still going and they all had tough weeks. By the meaning the week that wasn't refers to how the teams were hoping to do wasn't how the outcomes were. The wrestlers at the state team quarterfinals in Battle Creek were beaten by Hesperia 36-28. The cheerleaders took second at the regional falling to archrival Michigan Center by the slimmest of margins. The boy's basketball team took the one and done approach in the district tournament falling to Manchester. Here is a closer look at how the teams did as the winter sports are winding down to its exciting conclusion coming up this weekend.

Wrestlers stopped by Panthers - lose in team quarterfinals

The Addison Panthers couldn't beat Hudson but the Hesperia Panthers did. It was a classic dual match with much at stake. Hudson fell and Hesperia went on to win the state team championship beating Manchester 48-24 in the finals. Hudson wrestled tough against Hesperia and gave it all they had. The match starting with the Tigers losing three straight bouts at 135, 140 and 145 pounds. Then senior Caleb Ely got a win at 152 by a 10-8 score making it 13-3. An unbeaten Panther improved to 54-0 with a win at 160 putting Hesperia ahead 18-3. Hudson got rolling as Kyle Hillard had a pin at 171 in 3:01 and Joey Beaubien at 189 got a win by a 9-1 count gaining four points to make it 18-13. Then when Tiger Gabe Elliott won via a pin in 3:17 the Tigers now led 19-18. Another unbeaten Panther, this one now 53-0, won by a pin at heavyweight and Hesperia went ahead 24-19 and they wouldn't trail again. At 103 Hesperia gained a pin with one tick on the clock for a lead of 30-19. A loss at 112 put Hudson in serious trouble down 33-19. Kevin Vanderpool responded with a win at 119 taking a 6-5 decision cutting the deficit to 33-22. Then at 125 the match went to Hesperia as the Tigers need a fall or technical fall but suffered a tough 5-3 loss making the score 36-22. Tiger standout Derrik Mary gained a pin at 130 in 2:59 for the final scoring in the 36-28 setback. "We lost to a good team and we are a good team," said Hudson head coach Scott "Scooter" Marry. "This is disheartening for the kids and the coaches. I am still very proud of the team. This is the third year we have been here and each team that has beat us ended up first or second. So we know we have lost to very good teams."

Hudson ended the team portion of the season at 28-5. The five losses were to Hesperia (31-1) the state champion in division 4. Another was to Dundee (25-4) the runner-up in division 3, Temperance-Bedford (31-3) the runner-up in division 1, Davison (33-2) the third place team in division 1 and Eaton Rapids (35-5) the runner-up in division 2. "We had a very good year and we will be back," promised Marry, who now will get ready to see if his team can produce a state champion or two or more this weekend at the individual state finals.

Headed to State

Hudson will send nine individuals led by returning state champion sophomore Derrik Marry at 130 pounds and he takes a record of 51-6 into the meet. At 103 will be freshman Dakota Kelley 44-11. At 112 will be sophomore Zeb Hilyard who is 52-6. At 119 will be junior Kevin Vanderpool at 42-16. Senior Taylor Smith who was a runner-up last year will wrestle at 125 with a mark of 42-13. Senior Eric Wolf at 135 will go into meet with a mark of 37-22. Senior Kyle Hillard at 171 will take a record of 50-9 to the Palace of Auburn Hills today (Thursday). At 189 will be junior Gabe Elliott with a record of 50-5 and junior Joey Beaubien at 285 will take a mark of 39-16 into the state meet. Good Luck to this nine who we know will do just fine! The individual finals are Thursday-Saturday at the Palace.    

EVEN THOUGH the Hudson Wrestlers lost to Hesperia in the quarterfinal round, there was some great wrestling last weekend. In the above 171 pound match,  Kyle Hillard vs Jake Whelan - Hillard has Whelan by the head and leg and is controlling him to end up winning the match with a pin in 3:01.
                                         Photo by Larry Jose         

At the state meet, Caleb Ely faced Hesperia's Mike Hamilton  in the 152 lb. class -- Ely ended winning the match by a 10-8 decision. 

Cardinals Clip Tigers

At Michigan Center it was quite a division 4 regional final battle as the Cardinal cheerleaders edged Hudson by the smallest of margins. Hudson took second but will still advance to the state meet on Saturday at the Delta Plex in Grand Rapids. Hudson lost 708.940 to 708,464. Next, was Adrian-Madison with 628. Hudson had rounds of 206, 214.964 and 287.500 to get its 708.464, while Michigan Center had rounds of 209, 211.440 and 288.500 to get its 708. 940. It was a narrow victory perhaps due to the large home crowd that cheered on the Cardinals and perhaps they influenced the judges. We will never know but it was a bittersweet runner-up finish for the Lady Tigers. Hudson will get another chance to beat Michigan Center and its other key rival P-W also known as Pewamo-Westphalia. Both of those teams will be there but not Breckenridge as they didn't get out of its tough regional. Four Tigers made all-region on Saturday as Sammy Flores, Sydney Barnhart, Jenna Borck and Nicole Smith were all honored. Good Luck on Saturday to the entire competitive cheer team!

Boys bow out

Hudson played its lone game in the class C district last Wednesday at Jonesville and fell to Manchester 51-39 in hoop action. It was the Dutch on top 15-11 after one period and at halftime it was Manchester up 20-17. After three periods it was 33-23 and the Dutch went on to the win. "We didn't come ready to play and I'm not sure why and it was a disappointing way to end the season," said Hudson head coach Wayne Perry. "We just didn't take advantage of the opportunity to beat a team we very well could have."

The Tigers were led by Blake Woodward with 10 points and Jeremy Busscher added nine. Josh Shepard had six points, while Taylor Milligan and Garrett Schoonover both had five points. Nathan Burlew scored three and Brandon Hephner added one point. Hudson ends the season at 5-16.

Two Bowlers Compete

At the individual state bowling tournament Hudson had Troy Murphy and Alycia Butler competing. Butler tied for 29th with a final score of 1005 with six rounds of 160-185-169-151-174 and 166. Murphy tied for 49th with a final score of 1054 with games of 157, 180, 224, 148, 179 and 166. That finishes the club bowling season for Hudson.

One more week for the nine wrestlers and the competitive cheerleading team and we here at the P-G wish them well. Good Luck to both squads!

Myway Team State Championships

Hudson Middle School placed second at the Myway team state championships and now has earned the chance to compete in Wisconsin at the National Duals. Sunday the tigers wrestled in Battle Creek at the Kellog Arena.  Hudson first squared off aganist a very tough Springport team the tigers came out on top with a score of 54-15.  Next up for the young wrestlers was Holt whos (varisty won a state title on Saturday) were also defeated 46-22.  Shelby defeated Hudson 51-24.  Hudson than wrestled Lowell,  Hudson was trailing  by three it was 27-24 Lowell. Hudson needed a pin Jake Morgan was the last match wrestling HWT for the tigers only giving up about 40 plus pounds, we needed a pin and thats just what happened Jake pinned his apponent and the tigers now had a chance for a true 2nd place.  Hartland was next, tigers defeated them 42-29 Cody Cleveland defated his foe from hartland which sealed the deal for the tigers.  By placing 2nd the tigers next stop will be Wisconsin for the National Duals.  Luke Sparaponi and Cole Weaver went undefeated on the day while Devan Marry, Joel Varney, James Herron, Burke Hart, all went 4-1.  Jake Morgan went 3-2 0n the day.  Members of the Middle School team are Josh Cox, J.D. Waters, Brian Parkhurst, Devan Marry, Cole Weaver, Joel Varney, James Herron, Burke Hart, Arron Bachelor, Ahron Gunn, Luke Sparaponi, Dustin Mattison, Cody Cleveland coaches Dan Scholl, John Mattison, Steve Deline and manger Tucker Scholl. 

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