Lake Fenton Wins First Regional Wrestling Title

SAGINAW - Connor Brancheau is riding the wave of excitement after winning a crucial match Wednesday to help land the Lake Fenton wrestling team a spot in the state quarterfinals.

The senior said he felt extreme exhaustion following two excruciating matches after cutting weight all week. But that was countered by the joy of the Blue Devils first wrestling regional title.

Brancheau won a crucial match for No. 3 ranked Lake Fenton as the team defeated No. 5 Birch Run 41-34 in the regional finals Wednesday at Carrollton High.

“It feels awesome,” Brancheau said. “I’ve never been a district champ, now I’m a regional champ, it feels great.”

The senior wasn’t feeling so great earlier in the night. Brancheau, ranked No. 1 at 160 pounds in Division 3, cut weight all week to be able to wrestle at 152.

He suffered a gut-wrenching 5-4 final-second loss in Lake Fenton’s 55-17 regional semifinal win against Saginaw Swan Valley.

“I was very disappointed,” he said. “I had beaten him earlier in the year.”

Brancheau (49-3) received his shot at redemption, however, against Birch Run’s Caleb Slavik (51-4) at 152 pounds in the finals with the Blue Devils looking for momentum. The senior once again had to fight with every ounce of energy he had, but took down Slavik with less than 12 seconds left in the match to gain a 4-3 advantage.

“I had one move left in my arsenal and I was going to give it a shot,” Brancheau said. “I shucked him, got around and got my two.”

Brancheau was then able to hold down Slavik for the final 11 seconds to get the win, helping the Blue Devils to the regional championship.

“He cut a lot of weight and it showed,” said Lake Fenton coach Vance Corcoran. “He dug deep in his heart and you won’t find a person with a bigger heart than Connor Brancheau.”

Lake Fenton led 19-6 at that point and led 31-6 before the Panthers won four of the next five matches to cut the lead to 35-28. It took only 48 seconds in the second to last match at 119 pounds to secure the regional championship, however, as No. 1 ranked Todd Melick, a junior, quickly earned the pin, putting the match out of reach for Birch Run. The Blue Devils then voided at 125 pounds to complete the victory.

“We’ve had so much fun this year,” said Melick, who had two wins on the night. “More fun than I’ve ever had in high school. To win it with these guys is the best.”

Buddy Poyner (130, 135), Zach Corcoran (135, 140), Justin Melick (145), Christian O’Guinn (152, 160), Drew Morris (171) and James Demember (103) each earned two victories.

“We are all like brothers,” Senior Zach Corcoran said. “We have a lot of confidence in our guys. We know they are going to step up when they need to.”

The win set a school record for victories in season for Lake Fenton (26-5). The team moves on the state quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 25 at Battle Creek's Kellogg Arena. The Michigan High School Athletic Association will announce quarterfinal matchups on Sunday. Birch Run finished the season 35-2.

“We’ve been working on this all year and its finally coming together,” Todd Melick said.