By SCOTT NOVAK

Dowagiac Daily News

Two of southwest Michigan’s perennial wrestling powerhouses square off Wednesday night in their season openers.

Buchanan won eight matches on its way to a 47-25 win over host Dowagiac.

The Chieftains are coming off a losing season and were soundly defeated by the Bucks last year in their season opener.

Dowagiac coach John Green was hoping to split the 14 matches with Buchanan, but felt his squad gave a good effort and is looking forward to seeing it progress.

“We had eight starters in the line up who were in their first varsity wrestling match,” Green said. “Some of them haven’t even wrestled in three years. I am really excited about our chances.”

Veteran Buchanan coach Frank Mucha was equally pleased with his squad, but knows there is more work yet to be done.

“It was a nice opener,” he said. “Dowagiac’s got a nice little team. It was a good way to start the season. We got a lot of matches. We had a lot of JV matches. We have a lot of things we need to work on in the practice room that was obvious.”

The match opened with a forfeit at 130-pounds for Dowagiac to the Bucks’ Justin Fuller.
After Ben Luth scored a major decision (9-1) over Buchanan’s Alex Dermas at 135-pounds to make it 6-4, the Bucks picked up another pin at 140-pounds with Jeff Mucha to take a 12-4 lead.

Dowagiac made it 12-7 with a decision by Kasey Proshwitz over T.J. Miller (6-5) at 145-pounds.

The Chieftains would not win again until 285-pounds.

The Bucks’ Adam Byrdak, Gage Hutchenson, John Kuntz, Jacob Ferris and Mack Green all picked up wins as Buchanan increased its advantage to 37-7.

Hutchenson, Kuntz and Ferris all won by way of a pin.

Dowagiac senior Sinjin Ownby stopped the bleeding at 285-pounds and he did it in a hurry.
Ownby tossed the Bucks’ Dusten Craig and pinned him in just 20 seconds.

The Chieftains got back-to-back wins as Jacob Worthington pinned Zach Pierce in 30 seconds.

The two-match win streak ended at 112-pounds as Taylor Glavin pinned Spencer Calley in 3:12.

Dowagiac and Buchanan split the final two matches.

Andrew Roden was a winner by pin at 119 and the Bucks’ Andy Ketchum scored a major decision victory at 125.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday at team tournaments.
Dowagiac will travel to Vicksburg, while Buchanan head make the short trip over to Niles.

Buchanan…47
Dowagiac…25
103 – Jacob Worthington (D) p. Zach Pierce :30
112 – Taylor Glavin (B) p. Spencer Calley 3:12
119 – Andrew Roden (D) p. Alex Eger 3:15
125 – Andy Ketchum (B) d. Ryan Smit 13-5
130 – Justin Fuller (B) wins by forfeit
135 – Ben Luth (D) Alex Dermas 9-1
140 – Jeff Mucha (B) p. Brandon Pompey 1:17
145 – Kasey Proshwitz (D) d. T.J. Miller 6-5
152 – Adam Byrdak (B) d. Logan Pellow 16-3
160 – Gage Hutchenson (B) p. John Davis 1:25
171 – John Kuntz (B) p. Shane Filley :58
189 – Jacob Ferris (B) p. Logan Polomcak 2:46
215 – Mack Green (B) d. Anthony Nelson 1-0
285 – Sinjin Ownby (D) p. Dusten Craig :20