Wednesday night’s meet marked the first part of “The Road to States” for the Ramblers. It was the 2015 Team Districts and 2 wins would help them advance to regionals. They made the Regional Finals last year and lost in heartbreaking fashion to a solid Dakota team. This year they were hoping to easily win Districts and verse Anchor Bay in the Regional Finals, but they first had to beat Chippewa Valley in the District Semi Finals.

That is exactly what they did against the Big Reds. While Fraser is very solid from top to bottom, their first few heavyweights were unable to win their matches as the meet began. Losses by upperclassmen Marcus Keys, Jared Roberts, and Dean Snider helped to give Chippewa a 21-0 lead. Freshmen Chris Hackney, who wrestles in the 215lb weight class, was able to get Fraser their first points by winning a tough 4-2 match. Then senior wrestler Mike Kroepel pinned his opponent to cut Chippewa’s lead to 21-9. A couple forfeits and a win by Jalen King would put the Ramblers ahead by a score of 24-21. Pins by freshmen Jalen Smith (125lb) and senior Nic Hollifield (130lb) helped the Ramblers to score 36 straight points and take a 36-21 lead going into the final 2 matches. The Fraser Ramblers had just punched their ticket to the District Finals.

Instead of forfeiting both matches, they decided to let their final two wrestles take a crack at their opponents. Both Fraser wrestlers lost and the Ramblers finished with a score of 36-27. Their next test was a rematch against the Dakota Cougars to advance to Regionals.

The Cougars advanced by not only beating Roseville 48-24, but by scoring the last 30 points after being down 24-18 to the Panthers. With a very heavy group of upperclassmen wrestlers, the Cougars were experienced and versatile, so when some wrestlers were forced to bump up in weight classes their coaches weren’t too worried.

Dakota coach Ed Skowneski said after the match against Fraser, “We had four backups in our lineup tonight and every one of them came through. We told them if everyone goes out and wrestles six full minutes, it’ll go in our favor.”

Then it was time for the Division 1 District Finals- The Fraser Ramblers vs the Dakota Cougars. Freshmen Reed Mahar, who usually wrestles 135lbs was bumped up for this meet at 152lbs. He pinned his opponent in the first round of the match; then, Marcus Keys lost his match. Dakota was now up 10-0.

After starting off the season on a hot streak, Marcus Keys has since cooled down these past few weeks, losing most of his matches. Jared Roberts (171lb) and Dean Snider (189lb) were able to redeem themselves from their losses to Chippewa by pinning each of their opponents to bring Fraser to a 12-10 lead. Elijah Tucker (215lb) was subbed in for Chris Hackney because coach Kevin Julien thought Tucker was more experienced for this match up. That might have been a bad idea as Tucker was pinned by Dakota’s Antonio Balbani (#2 in the state at 215lbs) in the first round. Balbani is also the winner of the Macomb County Player Of The Year Award for football and will be attending Western Michigan in the fall on a football scholarship.

The meet would stay close as a pin by Fraser’s Mike Kroepel put the Ramblers back on top. Nate Hollifield added a 3 point win, his second win of the night. This was a night of pinning as Dakota would get back-to-back pins to take a 7 point lead with just 5 matches to go. Freshmen Jalen Smith has been a big part of Fraser’s success this year and has been very consistent at 120lbs. He has been able to get countless pins against experienced opponents in his first season and was able to capture one tonight against Dakota. His pin would put the Ramblers down by just 1 point, 28-27.

Nic Hollifield is ranked #10 in the state by Michigan Grappler and for good reason: he rarely loses, and his next match would be no different as he won. Fraser added 3 more points courtesy of sophomore Danny Pfeffer. Up 33-28 with two matches to go, all Fraser had to do was get a win in one of the matches.

They did not as Dakota’s final two wrestler got points by way of a win and a pinfall. Fraser lost 37-33 on a pin in the final match of the meet. This ended the team’s hopes of making Regionals.

It was a hard fought match between these two schools, who have been battling each other the past few years. This District win helped Dakota capture their 3rd straight Division 1 District Title, while the Ramblers team season has come to an end.

Though they lost their chance to go to regionals, Fraser has a few wrestlers that are looking to advance past Districts this weekend at Anchor Bay. Fraser finished 23-5 on the season as a team and won the MAC Blue Divison Championship as well as the MAC Blue/Gold/Silver Title.

Come out Saturday at Anchor Bay at 9am to watch some of the best wrestlers Fraser has to offer. Jared Roberts, Danny Pfeffer, the Hollifield brothers (Nic & Nate), and a few others, will try to win at Districts and continue their quest to become State champions. The Road to States continues.