Sports
Utica Eisenhower Wrestler Refuses to Lose; He'll Go for State Title Today
'I just thought: There's no way I'm going to let him score on me,' says Charlie Myers after OT victory, who will wrestle for a state title against Detroit Catholic Central's Drew Garcia Saturday evening.
AUBURN HILLS – Every point matters when you wrestle Utica Eisenhower junior Charlie Myers.
Two weeks ago, Myers battled Rochester senior Cody DeVoe in the finals (171 pounds) at the L’Anse Creuse regional. Their match went into the fourth tie-breaker period, where Myers escaped to neutral to win the decision 3-2.
Myers needed similar heroics on Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills to advance to the championship round.
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He went into the third period with Clarkston junior Chris Calvano tied 1-1. The two spent six minutes in an absolute defensive battle.
“He was a strong boy,” Myers said. “He was a strong boy, I tried to grab his legs and immediately it was like bam; I couldn’t grab his thigh or anything. He powered it back.”
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In overtime, Myers was more aggressive.
“I just thought I can’t loss this match,” he said. “I just thought there’s no way I’m going to let him score on me.”
Myers hit a takedown less than 30 seconds into the overtime period; much to the chagrin of the large Clarkston fan base in the crowd.
After the match, Eagles coach David Drath grabbed Myers and said, “way to man up their kiddo.”
On Saturday, Myers will have to do it all over again in the finals against Detroit Catholic Central sophomore Drew Garcia. Garcia goes into the finals with a 45-3 record on the year.
Eisenhower's other state finals wrestler, Connor McDill at the 103 weight class, came back to beat Justin Schofield of Rochester Adams on Friday to stay alive in the consolation round. He'll wrestle Kyle Gillies of Westland John Glenn early Saturday.
Macomb Dakota Wrestler Falls Short
Jake Johnson was a takedown away from the finals on Friday night. He wrestled Detroit Catholic Central sophomore Malik Amine in the 135-pound semifinals. Amine won on a 3-1 decision to send Johnson to the consolation bracket.
The Macomb Dakota sophomore had a long day. In the quarterfinals, he won a really close match on a 6-5 decision over Brother Rice junior Andrew Napieraj.
