Constantine’s four-year reign as Kalamazoo Valley Association wrestling champion is over, but the Falcons turned in some impressive performances en route to a second-place finish at Saturday’s league tournament.
File photo: Taylor Reiff
Schoolcraft, which defeated Constantine in last week’s dual meet, finished the conference slate strong with 234 total points in the championship to win outright. Constantine tallied 168 points, followed by Battle Creek Pennfield (127).
Taylor Reiff stormed through the 140-pound bracket for his first KVA crown. The junior defeated Delton-Kellogg’s Bobby Bottom 16-1 for a technical fall. Senior Andres Montoya, ranked No. 7 in Division 4 at 140 pounds by MichiganGrappler.com, won a title at 145 pounds for the Falcons. He pinned Delton’s Cam Hudson in 1:31 to move to 34-0.
Both Reiff and Montoya competed at 140 pounds last season, with Montoya claiming a league championship.
“Today we all had said that we had to go out and wrestle tough, especially after a loss we weren’t too happy with [vs. Schoolcraft],” said Reiff, who is now 33-4 this season. “We were all set on giving it our all in our matches to make up for the loss against Schoolcraft and we wrestled our best. Even though we didn’t win the tournament overall, we wrestled very well individually.”
The win underscores Montoya’s belief that he’s on track to do something special this postseason.
“Well it just a great feeling to know that all the hard work I have put in is paying off,” he said. “Since last year when I took first I knew I wanted to win another KVA title.
Jeremiah Schrock (125), Nick West (152) and Andy Waterman (171) each placed second for Constantine.
“After winning four straight KVA titles, it’s a little disappointing coming in second this year,” Falcons coach Steve Wilson said. “But I was very happy with the way the kids wrestled today. The kids worked hard and won some matched against kids that they had lost to earlier in the year; their effort and determination was outstanding from start to finish. Schoolcraft has a very good team this year and we congratulate them on their championship.”
Team Results
1. Schoolcraft 234
2. Constantine 168
3. Battle Creek Pennfield 127
4. Delton 110
5. Vermontville Maple Valley 78
6. Parchment 55
7. Olivet 20
Individual results
119 Cody Scarberry 3rd
125 Jeremiah Schrock 2nd
135 Matt Foura 3rd
140 Taylor Reiff 1st
145 Andres Montoya 1st
152 Nick West 2nd
160 Andy Waterman 2nd
171 Daniel Waterman 3rd
189 Randy Waterman 3rd
215 Alex Miller 3rd