The Lakewood News

06/29/2024

06/02/2024

Donald Wells has one more shot at it next season - a spot on the state medal stand.

The Lakewood junior and school record holder in the 400-meter dash competed in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Track and Field Finals for the second season in a row Saturday at Hamilton High School.

Wells ran his second fastest 400 ever clocking in at 50.43 seconds, but that time left him in ninth place. He was seven hundredths of a second behind the last of the eight state medalists in the race.

Senior Viking Shane Raffler was 18th in the prelim’s of the 110-meter high hurdles and 13th in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

05/31/2024

It is the spring’s big championship weekend and five Lakewood Vikings have earned spots in the State Finals so far this spring. Donald Wells and Shane Raffler from the varsity boys’ track and field team will be competing at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Track and Field Finals hosted by Hamilton Saturday, June 1. Varsity tennis players Jasmine Stewart, Alivia Everitt and Abby Pickard are in Ann Arbor for as long as they can keep winning this weekend, starting today, May 31, at the MHSAA L.P. Division 4 Girls’ Tennis Finals. The Lakewood varsity baseball and softball teams are in Portland Saturday for their MHSAA Division 2 District Tournaments.

05/30/2024

And that’s a wrap on the regular season.

The Lakewood varsity softball team swept two quick lopsided ballgames with Cadillac Tuesday at Central Michigan University, and then won a pair of competitive five-inning ballgames against visiting Central Montcalm Wednesday.

There couldn’t have been a more appropriate way for the Vikings to open their final home double header than with senior catcher Lily Federau belting the first pitch she saw leading off the bottom of the first inning over the centerfield fence.

A four-year varsity starter behind the plate, Federau passed the Viking career home run record, previously nine, as a sophomore. She now has 31 varsity home runs, and she is far from the only Viking with some pop this spring. The Capital Area Activities Conference White Division co-champions now have 32 home runs as a team this season. Senior shortstop Audrey Hillard is approaching the old Lakewood home run record with eight for her career.

Hillard added to her school record for career triples Wednesday, and Federau and Hillard remain 1-2 at the top of the Vikings’ all-time extra base hit record list.

Viking head coach Brent Hilley is a little worried Portland might not want to pitch to Lily when they meet up Saturday morning in their MHSAA Division 2 District Semifinal ballgame at Portland High School, but he also knows his two, three, four and five hitters are pretty great and that the bottom of the order has been getting better all the time. He said his girls are hitting close to .400 as a team.

Federau’s leadoff home run started the Vikings on their way to an 8-4 win in game one over the Hornets. Lakewood took game two 4-2 moving its record to 21-15.

In the two games combined, Federau was 4-for-4 at the plate with five RBIs and two runs scored. The only time she didn’t hit the ball in her final home game it was because the ball hit her.

Peyton Federau, Matti Aldrich and Kendyl Steward had two hits each in game one. Those three singled to load the bases at the start of the bottom of the second inning with the Vikings trailing 2-1. The bases were still loaded with two out when Lily delivered a two-run single into left field.

Maryssa Goble singled behind Lily to load the bases back up, and Hillard cleared the bases with a three-run triple to right field. The Vikings led 6-2 at the end of the inning.

The Hornets answered with two runs in the top of the third, but 6-4 was as close as they would get.

Lily delivered another two-run single in the bottom of the third after a single by Steward, a walk to Avery Farrell and a Kerigan Schroeder single loaded the bases.

Central Montcalm had runners on base again in the fourth and the fifth, but pitcher Peyton Federau and the Viking defense avoided any issues.

Hilley was happy to be facing a Central Montcalm team capable of putting pressure on his defense and pitchers in the lead up to districts.

Peyton was charged with four runs on seven hits and two walks. She struck out one in earning the win in the circle.

Steward got the game two pitching win allowing two runs on four hits. She struck out one and didn’t walk a batter.

Peyton doubled in a run in game two. The other three Lakewood hits were singles by Lily, Goble and Schroeder. Alison Slater had two RBIs for the Vikings …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Lakewood News …

05/18/2024

Lakewood senior Shane Raffler and junior Donny Wells raced to state qualifying times at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Track and Field Regional at Mason Friday.

Raffler ran his two fastest hurdles races ever to qualify for the state finals in the 110-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles. He placed third in a blistering final of the 110s with a time of 15.42 seconds. All eight guys in the 110-meter high hurdle final met the state qualifying mark.

In the 300-meter intermediate hurdles nine guys met the state qualifying time, including Raffler who was sixth in 41.15.

School-record holder Donnie Wells qualified for the state finals for the second year in a row in the 400-meter dash. He placed fourth in the race in 50.58. There were seven guys who met the state qualifying time in that one.

The top two finishers in every event and others, like Wells and Raffler, who meet the pre-determined state qualifying times and distances qualified for the MHSAA L.P. D2 Finals which will be held at Hamilton High School June 1.

The Lakewood boys were 11th and the Lakewood girls 14th in the 15-team standings. The Parma Western boys and Mason girls won team regional titles.

The Lakewood team also had senior Eli Jablonski a medalist in the high jump thanks to a leap of 5 feet 10 inches that put him in eighth place.

The Lakewood girls had tow top eight finishes in the field. Senior Annabelle Stank was fourth in the discus with a throw of 107-5 and sophomore Taylor Carpenter cleared 8-6 in the pole vault to place fifth.

05/17/2024

A couple of front runners have emerged in the search for a new village manager in Lake Odessa. Further discussion, and a potential decision, is slated for Monday.

Four candidates were interviewed this week for the chance to serve as Lake Odessa’s next full-time village manager.

05/16/2024

Mass layoffs coming to Herbruck's, which includes two of the company's farms in Lake Odessa.

Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch said on Wednesday it will lay off about 400 employees at three farms in Saranac and two in Lake Odessa.

05/15/2024

Interviews for the Lake Odessa village manager job kick off this evening. Here's a look at the five candidates vying for the position.

Five candidates will interview next week for the opportunity to serve as Lake Odessa’s newest village manager.

05/13/2024

Meet the 13 Lakewood seniors who earned Academic Excellence distinction for their strong high school careers.

Lakewood High School is honoring several graduating seniors with a designation of Academic Excellence distinction.

05/04/2024

There was no Mike Hilton riding in on a scissor lift to save the Vikings and Panthers from the Bees Saturday at Lakewood High School.

The Bath varsity softball team took a 12-4 win over host Lakewood and then a 20-4 win over the Delton Kellogg girls to earn the trophy at the three-team Lakewood Invitational.

The Vikings and Panthers had their moments against the blue and white Bees.

Madison Fenlong belted a two-run home run over the center field fence for the Vikings in the bottom of the fourth inning, pulling her team within 9-3 at the time in the day’s opener.

Delton Kellogg opened its ballgame with the Bees with some stellar outfield defense. Center fielder Maysse Wiessner made a diving grab rushing in to end the top of the first inning. Right fielder Emma Jeanette made a great catch rushing into the corner to record the first out int he top of the second.

But the Vikings had the ball get away from them defensively a few too many times, and the Panthers had a little too much trouble throwing strikes to keep up with the Bees’ impressive bats.

The Vikings and Panthers are currently closing the afternoon with a battle for second place.

03/05/2024

Our camera had some operator error tonight, so let's do this TV news style. Lakewood ladies win their MHSAA Division 2 District opener 48-33 over Hastings and will return to Portland Wednesday for a district semifinal against CAAC-White foe Lansing Catholic.

03/04/2024

Game time is moving to 7 p.m.

The Girls' Basketball District game tonight is scheduled for 5:30 at Portland High School

03/04/2024

Lakewood ladies’ postseason starts today. But game is moved to 7 p.m.

The Girls' Basketball District game tonight is scheduled for 5:30 at Portland High School

03/02/2024

A group of 69 teams that started the 2023-24 MHSAA varsity competitive cheer season in Division 3 didn’t get to cheer in front of the screaming, rainbow-colored wall of fans that fill the north section of McGuirk Arena on the campus of Central Michigan University at the state finals.

The Lakewood Vikings did.

The final scores weren’t what the Lakewood ladies were hoping for, but they gave it their all at the MHSAA Division 3 Competitive Cheer Finals in Mt. Pleasant Saturday.

“Not what we were hoping for,” Lakewood senior base Emily Pilar said. “We’re kind of down, but that is what happens I guess.”

The Vikings had some tears, and so did the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep girls.

Croswell-Lexington won its second straight MHSAA Division 3 Competitive Cheer Championship outscoring Notre Dame Prep 782.52 to 782.12 at the top of the standings. Croswell-Lexington outscored Notre Dame Prep by nine tenths of a point in round three to finish fourth tenths ahead in the end. The Notre Dame Prep girls were also second to Croswel-Lexington a year ago.

The Lakewood tears came in part due to a senior-filled team not quite meeting its own expectations Saturday, and that group of eight seniors cheering together for the final time. This was the third consecutive season the Vikings closed their season at the state finals.

“There were some nerves,” Lakewood head coach Kim Martin said, “and it’s emotional when you’ve got this many seniors and it is their last time on the mat. It’s kind of an emotional day too. When you walk into a gym and you have those east side teams. You kind of just get star-struck a little bit. We’re in a tough area. Those teams have gyms in their back yard … we train at our school and that is it.”

Just over a point separated the top three teams, all from the east side of the state which once again had the top four overall at the finals. The Irish are the state runner-up behind the Croswell-Lexington girls for the second year in a row.

Grosse Ile was third with an overall score of 781.34 ahead of Armada 769.58, Paw Paw 767.546, Portland 763.74, Tri-County 756.10 and Lakewood 750.76.

Lakewood was in sixth place, ahead of Tri-County and Portland, heading into round two, but an eight-point deduction in round two for a back extension roll that didn’t quite get its extension set the Lakewood team back a bit. Lakewood head coach Kim Martin said it was a pretty excellent round two rolling to that point for her girls.

The eight point deduction dropped the Lakewood round two score to 212.18, about two points behind the Tri-County team in that round. Everyone else was over 221 in round two.

Pilar said she heard the gasp from the state finals crowd on the mat in round two and knew something hadn’t gone quite right.

“It felt like round two was going pretty well based off of the crowd and the coaches … but when I hear the crowd go ‘ooooooh’ I am like, I need to push even harder. Then, I just try to pick it up harder.”

“I love it,” Pilar said of the state finals crowd, which she has now performed in front of three times. “It gives me so much more to give. It gives me an adrenaline rush. It just gets me hyped.”

Lakewood had a round one score of 229.70 and closed out its day with a round three routine that was just a little shaky and earned a score of 308.90.

Martin said she was especially pleased with how the stunt groups topped by seniors Navaeh Newton and Nadia Martin performed once again.

“Round two was looking really good until that [failed skill]. It was probably one of our better round twos,” coach Martin said. “Still some mistakes in round one that we haven’t been able to overcome all season. Round three wasn’t as clean as it usually is. We had some balance checks. It is tough. These east side teams are just a different demon. It would have been nice to come out of here in that fifth spot, because we’re capable - like we did at regionals. It wasn’t our day.

“It wasn’t our day.”

The Croswell-Lexington Pioneers had the top round two and three scores of the day. They put up a total of 234.50 in round one, which had them in a tie for second with Grosse Ile. Notre Dame Prep threw out a score of 235.40 to start the day.

Croswell-Lexington followed up with a score of 228.42 in round two and then clinched the state championship with a score of 319.60 in round three. Notre Dame Prep, Grosse Ile and then Croswell-Lexington performed fifth, sixth and seven in round three before Portland closed out the competition.

“In my mind, watching Cros-Lex, I was like wow, it is crazy that they’re doing these things,” Pilar said. “Watching them get their awards it just felt so wholesome, like wow, they worked so hard for this and now they’re getting it. It’s really cool to see.”

Over the past four years, Pilar said she has really come together with her teammates and especially her stunt group this winter.

“The coaches basically base [stunt] groups off of height, so it is really random,” Pilar said. “My other base, Kara [Fedewa], her and I are complete opposites. Getting to know each other was like, ‘what’s going on.’ But we were also bases last year. Lilly [Burgess] and I, she’s my flyer, we have been best friends for a long time.

“We always see each other’s ups and downs and know how to break each other’s mood.”

03/02/2024

Finally close to full strength, Jonathan Krebs is having the postseason he has been working for all these years.

The Lakewood senior held on for a 6-5 win over Chippewa Hills' Tyler Geer in their semifinal match Friday evening at the MHSAA Individual State Finals at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. The victory puts Krebs in the Division 3 144-pound championship match this afternoon back at Ford Field.

Krebs upped his record to 39-2 on the season with his three Friday victories.

Lakewood's Joel Simon and Vincent Stamm are wrestling throughout the day today to see how high they can finish on the medal stand.

Simon is competing in the 215-pound weight class. He was bested 4-1 in the championship semifinals by Kingsford's Elizin Rouse. Stamm won two matches in the 120-pound weight class Friday, sandwiched around a quarterfinal defeat.

Lakewood's Kade Boucher had one win in the 126-pound weight class Friday and the Viking team also had Bryson Boucher competing at 138 pounds.

Krebs will face Dundee sophomore Blake Cosby in the Division 3 144-pound championship match this afternoon.

03/01/2024

And that's a wrap on the 2023-24 varsity girls' basketball regular season.

Viking seniors Cadence Poll, Alivia Everitt, Joee Harton and Audrey Hillard took their turns kissing the logo at center court in the Lakewood High School gymnasium during a time out with 8.2 seconds left in their non-conference ballgame with visiting Thornapple Kellogg Thursday.

The Lakewood varsity girls' basketball team had a lead as large as 13 points late in the third quarter trimmed down to one point with 1:53 to go in the fourth quarter. Hillard scored to bump her team's lead back to three points as the clock went under a minute and a half to play, and Poll rejected a TK three-point attempt leading to a triple by Everitt at the other end of the floor.

Lakewood held on from there for a 45-38 victory moving its season record to 11-11.

The 2023-24 Viking squad had six seniors as the four who pressed their lips to the Viking logo were joined by classmates Autumn Williams and Sydney Teff.

The Vikings have as many more ballgames together as they can win. They travel to Portland Monday to face Hastings in the opening round of their MHSAA Division 2 District Tournament. The Vikings scored six points in the final five seconds to take a one-point win over the Saxons in Hastings earlier this season. The winner of Monday's ballgame faces 19th-ranked Lansing Catholic Wednesday in the district semifinal back in Portland.

Portland and Charlotte meet in the district's other semifinal match Wednesday.

Everitt's late triple made her the Vikings' leading scorer for the night. She finished with 11 points. Poll had ten points to go with 15 rebounds and Hillard finished with ten points too. Williams had seven points and Teff two. Freshman guard Mariana Grant was the only non-senior to score for the Vikings finishing with five points.

The Vikings controlled the glass, played wisely against the Trojans' full-court pressure, and maybe most importantly to head coach Kelly Meints mostly played with composure when things got a little chippy between the two squads from time to time.

Lakewood honored its seniors a few ballgames ago, but that didn't stop pregame handshakes and high fives from turning into hugs Thursday. The ballgame started like a good senior night should, five seniors started on the floor and Teff replaced Harton after a few trips up and down the floor, and Lakewood shot out to a 13-1 lead going into the second quarter.

Thornapple Kellogg got to within 20-11 by the half, but wasn't much closer than that until junior guard Emma Geukes drilled a three-pointer half a minute into the fourth quarter. TK was within 33-28 after a steal and a lay-up from sophomore guard Tealy Cross.

Lakewood's only points in the first six and a half minutes of the fourth quarter came at the free throw line. The Vikings were 6-of-8 during that stretch, which was just enough to stay in front.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Cross and TK guard Lydia Schilthroat took a 39-32 Lakewood lead down to 39-38 before Lakewood was able to stretch its lead in the end with TK's shooters once again going cold behind the arc.

Lakewood had lost four in a row heading into the ballgame including a tough 67-26 contest at East Lansing Tuesday. Ionia bested the Vikings 55-45 in Ionia last Friday, Feb. 23, to close the Capital Area Activities Conference White Division season. The Vikings finished their return to the CAAC-White with a 7-7 record finishing fourth in the conference.

Thornapple Kellogg didn't shoot the ball particularly well Thursday, and at times got too deep into the teeth of the Viking defense. Poll and Everitt did an excellent job of contesting the Trojans' at the rim without getting into foul trouble.

Cross finished with a game-high 15 points. Geukes and Schilthroat had eight points each.

While Lakewood is a senior-heavy squad, the Trojan team is still a young one. Eva Corson was the only senior to see court time for TK Thursday and she is just one of three seniors on the roster joined by classmates Katie Comeau and Brittney Roodvoets.

The Trojans close the regular season at 10-12 having dropped their last six ballgames.

TK will host a 7-14 Forest Hills Central team to start their MHSAA Division 1 District Tournament Monday …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Lakewood News …

02/24/2024

There was an extra beat or two at the end of the Lakewood Vikings' last stunt in round three Saturday at Jenison High School.

It was as if they wanted the crowd and the judges to take one last moment to think, “wow. They hit that.”

With their top competitors already having their round three routines wrapped up, it was a beat long enough that the Vikings could have just accepted the trophy in that moment.

“They knew they had to go out there and do a job. They knew they had to go out and perform. They knew that everything was close and that Paw Paw was ahead of us,” Lakewood head coach Kim Martin said. “One thing about these girls is that they step up when they need to. Today they did.”

The Lakewood varsity competitive cheer team won its first ever regional championship Saturday, passing Paw Paw and pulling away from Portland in round three. The Lakewood Vikings put up a final point total of 753.4 points.

The top four teams at the regional qualified for next Saturday's, March 2, MHSAA Division 3 Competitive Cheer Finals at Central Michigan Univerity's McGuirk Arena in Mt. Pleasant. The D3 competition at the finals is set to start at 11 a.m.

Sights were set higher than just qualifying for the state finals for the Lakewood Vikings though. They wanted that regional trophy that had eluded their program for most of the past three decades.

“The girls before this. These 28 teams before this. They paved this path, and they are just as much the reason for this as this team is,” coach Martin said.

The 2023-24 co-champs from the Capital Area Activities Conference White Division, the Portland Raiders, were second at the regional with a score of 747.66 and Paw Paw slipped from the lead to fourth place with a bit of a rough round three that left the Red Wolves with a final score of 740.30. Howard City Tri-County jumped up into that third place spot with an overall score of 743.48.

Lakewood trailed only Paw Paw after rounds one and two. Paw Paw outscored the Vikings 228.8 to 226.0 in round one and 224 to 220.6 in round two to take a 6.2-point lead into round three. Lakewood outscored the Paw Paw girls 306.8 to 287.5 in that final round.

Portland had the second-best round three score of the day at 301.9.

Lakewood senior Kylie Walkington said the coaching staff started calling this the Dream Team earlier this season, and the dream came true with an overwhelmingly experienced group of seniors and juniors on the roster boosted by some über talented underclassmen.

Walkington said she came up out of her back extension roll in round two and whipped her head around to see the Viking coaching staff going crazy behind the announcers table. It was at that moment she was sure her team was going to get the job done …

Read more in next weekend's edition of the Lakewood News ...

02/24/2024

Whatever happens Saturday, most likely another state championship for the top-ranked Dundee varsity wrestling team, Owen Prowdley left his mark on the six-time defending state champs’ 2024 tournament.

The Lakewood 175-pounder, Prowdley, fought off his back in the first period against Dundee’s Cooper Buhl, evened the score of their bout at 4-4 with a take down and two nearfall points of his own in the second period, and he eventually took Buhl down and got him on his back again in the third period.

The official slapped the mat 34 seconds into the third period of their 175-pound bout in the MHSAA Division 3 Team State Quarterfinal at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo Friday afternoon. The six points Prowdley earned for his pin are the first points the Dundee Vikings have given up in their entire 2024 state tournament run.

And Prowdley wasn’t the last Lakewood Viking to stick a Dundee Viking on his back. Carter Stewart made it back-to-back pins for the Vikings by sticking Dundee’s Quinten Lephew 2:34 into their 190-pound match. Viking returning state medalist Joel Simon also scored a pin, ending his 285-pound match with Landon King 47 seconds into the second period.

Those three pins accounted for all of Lakewood’s points in a 58-18 defeat.

The Dundee Vikings, who not only have won the past six MHSAA Division 3 Team State Championship trophies but also nine of the last 11, outscored their first four opponents in the state tournament by a combined score of 321 to 0. A 79-0 win had been their closest dual of the state tournament before Friday. It took Dundee ten flights to clinch the win and its spot in Saturday’s state semifinals back in Kalamazoo.

Dundee had a dozen wrestlers at its MHSAA Division 3 Individual Regional hosted by Hazel Park last Saturday. All 12 reached the championship finals - qualifying for state finals at Ford Field next weekend. Of that dozen, seven won regional titles.

Only seven of those 12 state qualifiers took the mat against Lakewood. Those seven combined for four technical falls and three pins earning a total of 38 points.

The Lakewood Vikings are no slouches themselves. Viking head coach Tony Harmer thought it would have been justified for his team to be seeded higher than eighth at the start of the state finals. Simon is one of five Lakewood state qualifiers. He’ll be joined in Detroit next weekend by Jonathan Krebs, Bryson Boucher, Kade Boucher and Vincent Stamm.

Lakewood did what it could. The Lakewood Vikings took their lumps and hustled back to the bench to cheer on their teammates.

Dundee will face Constantine in one MHSAA Division 3 Team State Semifinal starting at noon Saturday, Feb. 24, while Clinton takes on Whitehall in the other. The D3 Team State Final is planned for 3:45 p.m.

02/15/2024

One last time.

Lakewood seniors Jonathan Krebs and Chris Webb got the choice: rest up for the matches ahead or take the mat inside the Lakewood High School gymnasium one last time?

They chose to wrestle with zeal and close out the Lakewood varsity wrestling team’s first regional championship since the 2016-17 season Wednesday evening.

Mason Livermore clinched the Vikings' regional championship with his pin of Frankenmuth's Jaden Hansen 38 seconds into the third period of their 132-pound bout in the MHSAA Division 3 Regional Final. That pin put the Vikings in front 41-13 with four weight classes yet to wrestle, and Lakewood added four more wins to eventually earn a 61-12 victory.

Lakewood will wrestle in the MHSAA Division 3 State Quarterfinals at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo Friday, Feb. 23, at 4:30 p.m. against an as yet to be determined opponent. Lakewood is the only team left in the final eight in the state that wasn't ranked among the top ten teams in D3 heading into the state tournament.

“I am excited man. I have been out here since freshman year. We have never even made it close. We got stomped by Portland every year. So, just making it past Portland [in districts] is a dream come true,” Krebs said Wednesday. “I am excited. We get to go to the state meet ... Top eight in the state is pretty darn good, especially coming into this year with a bunch of new kids. I am a senior and we're only losing two [starters] this year. We should make it to the state meet for many years to come … we have a bunch of good freshmen coming in. The team should be very solid for the next couple years. I am excited.”

Krebs and the Vikings are leaving reminders of their season on the banner in the Lakewood High School gymnasium and in the trophy case, but he is also excited to leave one on the record board at Lakewood High School. An individual district champion this season, and one of seven Vikings who qualified for this weekend's individual regionals, Krebs has managed to set a new school record for technical falls (15 or more point victories).

He earned the 11th technical fall of his senior season in the regional final, taking down and turning over Frankenmuth's Kaden Miller time and again on his way to an 18-2 victory late in the second period of their 150-pound match. He was tied for the record with ten coming into the night.

“I told Harmer, I'm going to go out there and tech him. I want that record,” Krebs, who is now 33-2 overall this season, said.

Webb, the other senior in action Wednesday for Lakewood, wrestled to a 5-2 win over Frankenmuth's Griffin Klontz in the 157-pound bout to end the night.

Frankenmuth defeated Corunna 41-28 in its regional semifinal match while the Vikings were scoring a 35-27 win over Saginaw Swan Valley.

Lakewood head coach Tony Harmer said he did his best to make sure his guys weren't taking a Swan Valley team they beat by 33 points back in December lightly. The Vikings all knew they dropped a dual to Portland during the regular season and then rallied to beat the Raiders in the state tournament this season …

Read a lot more in this weekend’s edition of the Lakewood News …

02/08/2024

He did it once, twice and then a third time.

On the third time, Lakewood junior 215-pounder Bryan Aguilera finished the job. He turned Portland's Barrett Spitzley onto his back once in each period of their bout in the MHSAA Division 3 Team District Final at Portland High School Wednesday.

Aguilera pinned Spitzley with 40 seconds left in the third period of their match clinching the Lakewood varsity wrestling team its first district championship since 2019.

Portland had beaten the Vikings in districts each of the past three seasons, bested the Vikings in their Capital Area Activities Conference White Division dual last month, and finished well ahead of them Saturday at the massive CAAC Championship Tournament in Mason – where both teams were a bit shorthanded.

Aguilera's pin put the Vikings in front 42-20 with two matches to go and the Vikings forfeited the 285-pound and 106-pound matches to the Raiders to finish with a 42-32 victory.

Lakewood head coach Tony Harmer was sure the coin flip going his team's way could have helped make the difference when the two teams met for what turned into a 42-36 Portland win in their conference dual back at Lakewood High School in January.

This time the Vikings felt like they were in control from the start even with Portland's Landon Lanz opening the match by pinning Lakewood's Eric Bartlett 4:33 into the 113-pound match. Bartlett put up a good fight before he fell, and then things started falling the Vikings' way.

Lakewood shot to a 24-0 advantage with consecutive pins from Vincent Stamm at 120 pounds, Kade Boucher at 126, Hudson Goethals at 132 and Mason Livermore at 138. Getting Goethals in to face Portland's George Burgoyne was one of the key differences between the regular season meeting and the Vikings' district championship win.

Lakewood would also get pins in the dual from Bryson Boucher at 150 pounds and Calder Villanueva at 175 pounds before Aguilera put on the finishing touch.

With the two forfeits at the end though, both teams won seven weight classes, meaning even the defeats were key to making the difference on the scoreboard.

Jonathan Krebs put up a good fight bumped up against Portland's Landon Guilford who took a 3-1 win in their 157-pound match. That wasn't necessarily a spot the Vikings were looking to just hold serve, but a few other guys really did their job in defeats.

Even though he clearly really wanted to push for a victory in the end, the Viking corner convinced Lydon Rogers to play things safe in a 4-2 loss to Portland's Liam Spitzley in the 144-pound match. Spitzley had a 4-0 lead going into the third period and a reversal by Rogers kept him in good position.

In the 165-pound match, Lakewood's Chris Webb managed to fight off a pin in the final minute against the Raiders' Brad Meyers who took a 12-4 major decision with his late three nearfall points. At 190 pounds, the Vikings' Levi Frizzell did an outstanding job of keeping Portland's Bryce Fullet from turning him over in what went in the books as a 12-3 Raider major decision.

The Vikings pulled out the win without even sending their returning state medalist Joel Simon to the mat. He’ll look to do his thing, along with his teammates, as they compete in their MHSAA Division 3 Individual District Tournament Saturday at Montrose High School …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Lakewood News …