Frustrating Day Two For Brother Rice Wrestlers at State Finals

AUBURN HILLS – Day two of the individual state wrestling finals wasn’t what Brother Rice had hoped for.

In front of a packed crowd on Friday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills, two Warriors wrestlers lost semifinals match.

Brother Rice senior Thomas Giradot was so distraught after his match (145 pounds) he almost threw up.

Giradot battled back in the final 10 seconds of his match against Portage Central sophomore Dominic Latora with a takedown to tie the match 3-3. Overtime looked inevitable as the two competitors locked up after the takedown; except it wasn’t.

The referee called Giradot for a technical violation and awarded Latora a point as time expired. Giradot didn’t see or hear the call.

“He definitely thought he was going to take it into overtime,” Warriors coach James Scott Moseley said.

When he saw the scoreboard read 4-3, he collapsed to the ground over a garbage can.

“Tommy fought hard, he deserves to be there with the best,” Moseley said. “He’s a nonstop athletes who gives 110 percent all the time, every time.”

Giradot drops down to the consolation bracket where he’ll wrestle Saturday morning.

Teammate Shon Powell is also headed down to the consolation bracket (160 pounds). He lost his semifinal match on a 3-1 decision to Grand Blanc senior Christian O’Guinn.

O’Guinn did a nice job of preventing Brother Rice’s sophomore from a takedown in their match. Powell’s attempts were easily fended off and he grew frustrated as time ticked down.

A takedown early in the first round was enough for O’Guinn to advance to the finals.

The Warriors' third state qualifier Andrew Napieraj (135 pound) will have to watch his teammates compete Saturday from the stands. The junior lost both of his matches on Friday and was eliminated. A close 8-7 decision to Noah Cantara ended his tournament run.