HART — The joy and excitement flowed freely Wednesday night as the Hart Pirates defended their home mat and won a seventh consecutive regional title, with smiles making clear that winning hasn’t remotely gotten old.
The No. 7-ranked Pirates defeated Gladwin 50-25 in the championship match - it might have been closer had the Flying G’s not forfeited the final two bouts once the issue was decided - after routing Shepherd 71-12 in the semifinals.
Hart fans brought the energy to the championship match, which took place with all the lights but the one over the mat turned off to heighten the atmosphere. It helped that sophomore Jordan Thies gave them something to cheer about right away.
Thies bumped up from 106 pounds to take on Gladwin’s Kolten Greaves, who entered the night with a 49-3 record, in the first bout of the finals. After trailing the entire match, Thies suddenly turned the tables in the second period, taking Greaves down and scoring a pin that lit up the crowd.
“That kid is the No. 3 or No. 4 kid in the state...and Jordan got a pin,” Hart coach Rocky Smith said. “They’re probably thinking they’re getting six (points) there, and we turn that around. It’s a 12-point swing in a dual that’s a lot closer than that final score.”
Gladwin won the next two bouts to go ahead 12-6, but Pirate stars Aiden Schaner, Kole Thomas and Caden VanGelderen did their jobs, racking up 16 team points between them to put the Pirates back on top. They never trailed again.
A pin by Halen Boos and a 14-5 major decision by Haegan Hansen had the Pirates in great position, up 32-18, but senior Blake Helenhouse delivered essentially the clinching win by scoring a pin at 165. It was a special moment for Helenhouse, who, according to Smith, is wrestling with torn ligaments for which he has a corrective surgery scheduled, but wanted to see this season through first.
“It’s unbelievable for me,” Helenhouse said. “Last year, I don’t even think I had more than 10 varsity matches. It was my first year wrestling. This year, I came in and expected to do great things. I just came out and showed up. I have to thank Rocky. He helped me stick to it. I’ve just got to thank my team for sticking with me.”
Hart’s win over Shepherd was all but assured before the match began, as the Bluejays could only fill eight weight classes. Thomas, VanGelderen, Hansen, and Abdel Lopez each won by pin, and Halen Boos scored a technical fall.
Veteran leadership has been a hallmark of the Pirate program the past several years, and certainly that’s no less the case this year. Seniors like Lopez, Halen Boos, Logan Jorissen and Adrian Lara lead the team, but also experienced juniors like Hansen, VanGelderen and Kole Thomas. With injuries and illness to battle in addition to their opponents, Pirate wrestlers demonstrated their willingness to bounce around the lineup to benefit the team.
“It takes all 23 of them to win something like this,” Smith said. “Just a total team effort and all of our kids believing in what we’re doing.”
The culture, Smith said, comes from everyone in the program, with the coaches at all levels on the same page and the tradition of success passed down from one group of wrestlers to the next.
It’s a culture Hart will be employing another couple of weeks, with 11 regional qualifiers set to wrestle Saturday and then a quarterfinal match the following Friday. Each of Hart’s previous six regional championship wins have been their last of those team seasons, and the Pirates are hungry to finally wrestle on the final Saturday. Focus, they believe, will get them there.
“Making sure everybody’s on weight, and focusing on our technique, and making sure that we’re there and just sticking together,” Thies said. “As long as everyone sticks together, I think we can do it.”
