PAW PAW — It’s always a tough conference opener when you have to face Allegan and South Haven.

But that’s exactly what the Dowagiac wrestling team did Wednesday night in its Wolverine Conference opener. The Chieftains were swept, but put in a solid effort in the process.

Dowagiac fell to the Tigers 72-12 and to the Rams 42-28. The Chieftains actually won more matches than they lost against South Haven, but gave up too many pins.

“To be honest, I thought we wrestled well,” Dowagiac coach Matt Alward said. “We knew what we were going into against Allegan. They overpowered us, but we wrestled hard.

“Against South Haven we won more matches than we lost, but with a lot of freshmen and sophomores in the lineup we gave up too many pins.”

Picking up two wins for the Chieftains were Tyler Westendorf at 112 and Jacob Worthington mat 119, who is undefeated on the season.