Ford, Sablich, Goetz and Lewis headed for Auburn Hills

                Led by undefeated captain and regional champion Eric Ford, who is two wins shy of the school record for victories, four Royals will make the trip to the Palace of Auburn Hills when the tournament begins a week from Wednesday.

                Joining Ford (171 pounds), are sophomore Chase Lewis (112), senior Christian Sablich (215) and and junior Dalton Goetz. Regional qualifiers Christian Davis (285) and Mitch Winkelman (145) saw their seasons at the Addison regional.

                In the regional final, Ford was rematched against his district finals opponent, Dylan Radabaugh, of Grass Lake. Ford built an early 4-0 lead and held on to win the regional. Ford finished seventh at the tournament last year. He is ranked first in his divisional weight class by www.michigangrappler.com. This will be Ford’s third trip to the Palace. Ford began the day by pinning Quincy’s Eric Hemker at 1:40. In the semifinal, he pinned Rob Stamats of Clinton in 3:20.

                Chase Lewis placed second in the 112-pound division. He lost by injury default in the final. Lewis pinned Jonesville’s Nick Ballinger at 3:40 to open the day. He injured his shoulder in a tough 7-6 decision over Addison’s Andrew Scoby in the semifinal. The decision was made to hold him out instead of risking further injury in the final against Manchester’s Ryan Abrigo, who defeated Lewis in the district final last week. Lewis placed second in the regional last year and went on to the state championship match in the 103-pound weight class last season.

                Junior Dalton Goetz came in as a low seed, having finished fourth at the Blissfield District. Goetz upset Addison’s Bradon Goethais, who had been the district champion at Bronson, by a 4-1 decisions. Goetz then faced Clinton’s Drew Porter in the semifinal. Goetz wrestled well but gave up a late reversal to lose 3-1. In the blood match, Goetz faced Quincy’s Shane Kozlowski. It wasn’t Goetz’s best effort, but he came away with a 6-5 victory. He lost his consolation final matchup to Grass Lake’s John Vuocolo by a 5-4 score to place fourth in the region.

                Senior Christian Sablich finished fourth in the 215-pound division. He was pinned by Addison’s Evan Schroeder to open the day. He staved off elimination with a pin of Homer’s Tyler Prater at 2:52. In the blood match, Sablich faced Clinton rival, Stephen Cooley. The two entered the match each having beat each other once this season. It was a close match until the end, when Sablich scored a take down and then pinned Cooley at 5:58 to earn a spot in the state finals. Sablich lost to Schroeder by a 6-2 decision in the consolation final.

                Sophomore Christian Davis was pinned by Union City’s Michael York in the first round of action. He battled hard to keep his season alive with a 7-3 win over Quincy’s Cody Harrell. But Davis lost his blood match round by pin at 1:40.

                Junior Mitch Winkelman came to the regional with a tough road ahead of him. Five of the state’s top 10 wrestlers were in the region. And only four could move on to the Palace. Winkelman lost to Union City’s Jacob Williams by a 5-1 decision in the opening round. He wrestled tough against Sand Creek’s A.J. Constable, but he lost by an 11-3 decision, giving up points late in the contest.

                According to the MHSAA website, the individual pairings will be announced Tuesday morning.