From staff reports

ST. JOSEPH – Veteran Niles coach Todd Hesson had to make several moves with his line up Wednesday night and it paid off in a 33-28 win for the Vikings over host St. Joseph.

His final move, bumping up junior Tyler Baber from 103 to 112-pounds worked to perfection as he won 8-2 over Devin Shearman to give the Vikings the victory.

“It came down to the last match,” Niles coach Todd Hesson said. “The coin toss is what really won it for us. We got the coin toss and they had to put the man on the match first at 103. Overall I thought we wrestled well.”

Niles also got wins from Gage Pearison (119), Cole Allison (125), Colin Burandt (130), Donte Stevens (135) and Robbie Legus to build a 20-0 advantage.

“Gage Pearison started us off with a technical fall,” Hesson pointed out. “Cole Allison probably had the biggest match of the night. he is always wrestling up a weight class and last night he went out and pinned the kid.”

A pair of St. Joseph wins at 145- and 152-pounds closed the gap to 20-11.

Niles picked up a major decision (15-4) at 160-pounds from Fritz Findiesen and a pin from Ryan Casey, also a freshmen, at 171-pounds to extend the lead to 30-11.

The Bears then made a run at the Vikings, winning four consecutive matches to make it 28-28 after Niles gave up a foreit at 103-pounds.

The Vikings improve to 18-9 on the season and 3-0 in the West Division with only No. 2 ranked Lakeshore remaining on the division schedule.

“I’ll take it,” Hesson said of his team’s record. “With all these young kids and the tough schedule we wrestle, I will take it.”

Niles will see even more tough competition on Saturday as it competes in the Lakeshore team tournament.

Among the teams coming to the meet are the No. 1 team in Division 1, the No. 2 team in Division 2 and the No. 1 team in Division 3.

Wrestling is scheduled to begin at noon.

Niles…33
St. Joseph…28
103: Tim Cluff (SJ) wins by forfeit
112: Tyler Baber (N) d. Devin Shearman 8-2
119: Gage Pearison (N) t.f. John Dansfield 19-2
125: Cole Allison (N) p. Ryan Ramirez 5:30
130: Colin Burandt (N) d. Chris Ketchmark 5-3
135: Donte Stevens (N) d. Cam Hunsberger 12-6
140: Robbie Legus (N) d. Mike Gould 6-3
145: Ryan Vitale (SJ) p. Dominic Ledesma :55
152: Chrys Killebrew (SJ) t.f. Rashad Harris 18-3
160: Fritz Findiesen (N) d. Rameron Stortz 15-4
171: Ryan Casey (N) p. Tim Gould 3:00
189: Alex Rutherford (SJ) p. Alec Landon 1:43
215: Andy Brown (SJ) d. James Asmus 8-2
285: Jamaal Jackson (SJ) d. Mike Gentry 6-1