Tecumseh wrestling beats Adrian, Bedford

Tecumseh varsity wrestling coach George Lesko said how proud he was of his athletes on Wednesday, Jan. 21, noting that it was the first time the Indians beat Bedford’s Kicking Mules at home.It was only the third time in Tecumseh’s wrestling program’s history that the Indians defeated the Kicking Mules.Tecumseh faced both Adrian and Bedford in the quad meet and won both contests, thumping the Maples 71-4 and soundly beating the Kicking Mules 45-27. It was the second straight year the Indians beat Bedford in a Southeastern Conference quad meet.“We’re still missing two kids. We had to bump [weight classes] around with Bedford. Historically they are a legendary tradition in wrestling,” said coach Lesko. “They’re getting some guys healthy too. They had two guys tonight who hadn’t wrestled this year. But, coach [Kevin] Vogel has an amazing program. You can’t ever take those guys lightly. A couple of those matches could have gone either way.”Bedford and Tecumseh traded wins with the Mules recording a pin at 112-pounds and Tecumseh following suit with a pin at 119-pounds to even the score at 6-6.The Indians went on to take a 24-6 lead with a void at 119-pounds (Robbie Hunter), a win by pin at 125 pounds (Drew Marten), decisions at 130 (Wyatt Cadmus) and 135 (Gabe Bechtol) and a pin at 140 (Tyler Maclachlan).Bedford won by pin at 145 pounds and the Mules pulled within three points at 27-24 with pins in three out of the next four matches (145, 152, 171). Tecumseh won by pin at 160 pounds (Kyle Humphries).Tecumseh senior Kody McCrate turned his match around to pin Gabe Earton at 189 pounds and Bedford decided to lose by void at 215 pounds (Landon Pelham) and the Indians held a nine-point (39-24) advantage with only two matches remaining.“I’m really proud of the kids,” said Lesko. “Like Kody [McCrate] finishing big matches today that could have went either way and he finished with falls.“Landon [Pelham] brings a certain amount of confidence to our team. Just being there. The kids know that he can wrestle and that changes a lot of things in our swagger.” Bedford’s heavyweight, Tim Stevens, followed with a 2-1 overtime decision over Tecumseh senior Nate Brady for its final points of the contest. The Kicking Mules again voided at 103 pounds (Kenny Thornton) to end with a loss.“It’s only the third time in over 30 years that we beat them,” said Lesko. “We’ve never beat them at home. This is the first time. And we’ve never beat them back-to-back. We beat them last year at their place and this year now.”The match against Adrian to open the evening was a blowout. The Maples’ Robert Standlick won 13-2 over Gabe Bechtol at 135 pounds for their only points against Tecumseh.Winning for the Indians were Kenny Thornton (103, void), Mike Turner (112, void), Drew Marten (119, pin over Dom Rodriquez), Wyatt Cadmus (125, void), Adam Shelby (130, dec. over Tylor Tenniswood), Tyler Maclachlan (135, void), Josh Marcum (145, pin over Zach Sperry), Bryan Tripp (160, dec. over Enrique Cesarez), Luke Vandenberg (171, pin over Andrew Muck), McCrate (189, pin over Gabe Rincon), Pelham (215, pin over Blake Thompson), and Nate Brady (285, dec. over Isiah Espinoza).Tecumseh placed second behind Division 1’s Hartland at the Lake Fenton Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 24.Tecumseh beat Macomb Dakota 39 -26, Grand Blanc 45-33, Marysville 47-22, and Lake Fenton 47-27 and lost 44-27 against Hartland.Going undefeated at 5-0 for the Indians were Marten (119), McCrate (189) and Brady (285).Coach Lesko feels the Indians had a wake up call with its loss against Livonia Franklin last weekend in the Indians home tournament.“I was telling the kids, we’ll look back at loosing to Livonia Franklin Saturday as something that was a blessing in disguise,” said Lesko. “It helped turn the corner for us.”