A second win this year by Dowagiac’s wrestling team over Paw Paw looked much different.

On Wednesday, the Chieftains rolled past the Redskins, 52-24, to improve to 4-4 on the year. Earlier in the season, Dowagiac edged Paw Paw, 33-30, at the Delton-Kellogg Tournament.

With three matches remaining, the Chieftains wrapped up another win over the Redskins. Aubrey Huston’s win by forfeit at 152 pounds gave Dowagiac a 40-18 lead and a Wolverine Conference match triumph.

“Matt (Lyle) won a match that he lost the first time against Paw Paw and that was a six-point swing,” said second-year Dowagiac coach Matt Alward. “I believe that (Paw Paw) had couple more voids in their lineup and we had less voids compared to the first time. We had couple of individuals (the first time) that were out of our lineup and, also being early in the season, we had a couple kids not at the weights that they needed to be at. Now, they’re down at the weights that they’re suppose to be at so the matchups were a little bit different. I think that plays a lot into the difference in the scores.”

The most competitive match came at 135 pounds with Lyle rallying past Cody Small, 6-3, to improve to 12-4. Small beat Lyle, 11-6, earlier in the year.

In Wednesday’s match, Lyle erased a 2-1 deficit entering the third period. With a 1:40 left, Lyle recorded an escape to tie the match at 2. Lyle took the lead for good at 4-2 after recording a takedown with 1:00 remaining. Lyle’s final points came on a takedown with :03 remaining. Lyle wrestled out the final :03 with a plugged bloody nose.

“I just had to score my points and do what I had to do,” said Lyle. “I wanted to beat him because he beat me earlier in the year. “I was more prepared to face him this time around.”

Lyle’s win gave the Chieftains a 31-12 lead. That lead grew to 34-12 after Ryan Barnas beat Jake Ducharme, 10-7. Barnas sealed the match after getting a takedown with :11 left to take a 10-5 lead.

At 171, Dowagiac’s Dan Crandall pinned Kolton Stevens in 4:26. Crandall led only 6-5 after three periods. Crandall improved his record to 12-6.

Dowagiac got off to a great start, getting a pin in 1:30 by 215-pounder Carl Grant over Brennan Combs.

What followed for the Chieftains was a forfeit win at 285 from Tristan Howard and a 10-2 win from Spencer Calley at 103 pounds.

Dowagiac increased its lead to 28-6 after getting forfeit wins from 119-pounder Jacob Worthington and 125-pounder Tyler Wessendorf. The Chieftains also got a forfeit win at 160 pounds from Tom Smith.

“I’m really happy team-wise how we wrestled,” Alward said. “We’re really young and as long as we have the effort we’ll be able to work on our skills and continue to get better.”

Alward praised his 145-pounder Anthony Daisy, who was pinned by Shane Chapman in 3:23.

“We bumped up Anthony Daisy against their best wrestler to fill out our lineup,” Alward said. “He went a period and a half against a kid who probably should pin him. But Anthony is a hard worker who refused to let that happen quickly. I was happy with that match even though it ended up in a losing effort. Lack of experience was the difference.”

PAW PAW…24

DOWAGIAC…52

103: Spencer Calley (D) d. Mike Payne, 10-2

112: Blake Parker (P) won by forfeit

119: Jacob Worthington (D) won by forfeit

125: Tyler Wessendorf (D) won by forfeit

130: Ricardo Garcia (P) p. Tyler Cross, 4:35

135: Matt Lyle (D) d. Cody Small, 6-3

140: Ryan Barnas (D) d. Jake Ducharme, 10-7

145: Shane Chapman (P) p. Anthony Daisy, 3:23

152: Aubrey Huston (D) won by forfeit

160: Tom Smith (D) won by forfeit

171: Dan Crandall (D) p. Kolton Stevens, 4:26

189: Nik Olinger (P) won by forfeit

215: Carl Grant (D) p. Brennan Combs, 1:30

285: Tristan Howard (D) won by forfeit

Varsity records: Dowagiac 4-4, 1-2 Wolverine