CAPAC — The Capac wrestling team made sure that it would hoist the first-place trophy when all was said and done, accomplishing the feat with a 42-39 victory over Memphis last Wednesday at a Division 4 district hosted by Rochester Lutheran Northwest.
It marked the fourth time in six years Capac has moved on to regional action.
Capac’s Adam Kramer works for a fall against Memphis in district action.
With the outcome, Capac (18-9) continues their postseason path Wednesday, February 15 with a regional at home where it will square off versus Riverview Gabriel Richard at 6 p.m. The other semifinal, which gets underway at the same time, pits Madison Heights Bishop Foley against Manchester.
“The kids wrestled extremely well,” Capac Coach Jacob Nemecek said. “We set the goal at the beginning of the year to bring the district championship back to Capac and the kids worked hard for it all year,” he noted.
“We had five key wrestlers out of the lineup and the team stepped it up and got it done.”
In the title match, Derek Mason and Adam Kramer led Capac with wins by pin. Mason took 16 seconds to down 138-pound foe Gregory Jones and Kramer required 3:55 to defeat Kingston Noteboom at 144 pounds.
Cierra Helzer (106), Luca Longo (112), Tyler McKenney (126), John Schoen (157) and Blake Phillips (215) added victories by void to Capac’s cause.
Earlier that evening, Capac registered a 54-24 semifinal triumph against Rochester Lutheran Northwest.
A group consisting of Cierra Helzer, McKenney, Jeff Helzer, Mason, Everett King and Phillips paced Capac with wins by pin. Helzer needed 3:19 to beat 106-pound counterpart Julian Deschner; McKenney took 2:48 to best Noah Toth at 120 pounds; Jeff Helzer required 37 seconds to stop 132-pound adversary Carter Lee; Mason needed 3:11 to defeat Judah Winkelman at 144 pounds; King took 54 seconds to turn back 165-pound adversary Nate Cummings; and Phillips required 1:12 to beat Conner Lee at 190 pounds.
Capac also received victories by void courtesy of Seth Turner (138) and Schoen (157).
Kevin Kissane has been covering high school sports for the Tri-City Times since 1985. When not standing on a field or court with his camera and notepad, he enjoys golf, travel and family. Kevin is a 1980 graduate of Capac High School, and is also a grad of St. Clair Community College and earned a degree in journalism from Central Michigan University.
