Bobcats sting Bees, Mustangs

Published 9:40 pm Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Brandywine’s Charlie Rodriguez goes for a pin against River Valley. The Bobcats made short work of the Mustangs and New Buffalo-Bridgman Wednesday night. (Leader photo/KELLY SWEENEY)

A full six minutes was rarely needed by the Brandywine wrestling at its own quad meet Wednesday.

The Bobcats recorded 16 pins and won 10 matches by forfeit in posting convincing Senior Night wins over River Valley (75-3) and New Buffalo-Bridgman (84-0).

In other action at the meet, Cassopolis beat New Buffalo-Bridgman, 48-18 and fell to River Valley, 54-18.

“We’ve still got little things to work on, like finishing off our pins,” said Brandywine coach Rex Pomranka, whose team improved to 19-4 in dual matches. “It was a good night for our seniors. It’s a good group of kids.”

Chanc Ravish (140), Jeff Cornell (125) and Michael Lewark (189) are the lone Bobcat seniors.

Ravish picked up two forfeit wins in improving to 29-1, while Cornell and Lewark each had two pins. For his career, Ravish owns a 172-28 record.

“The downside is that my senior Chanc Ravish had no matches,” Pomranka said. “His parents didn’t get to see him wrestling. But, that’s part of wrestling. He’ll get plenty of match time this weekend at Quincy.”

Against River Valley, Matt Fralick (152), Vinny Sallee (160), Charlie Rodriguez (215), Cory Katterheinrich (285), Brandon Earles (130), Paul Lochmondy (135) and Kenny Laurita (145) also picked up pints.

The best match at the meet took place at 112 pounds where River Valley’s Matt Varner edged Brandywine’s Chance Eberly, 4-2, in overtime. Varner tied the match at two with :05 left in the third period after getting a reversal. Varner won the match with :23 left in overtime after recording a takedown.

“They were just in better shape than us,” Pomranka said about that match. “We beat them earlier in the year in the match so (River Valley) wanted the match a little bit more. We’ve just got to get the back points when we have the opportunity to get back points. That was the difference in the match. That match could have gone either way, but it gives us something to work on.”

Other Bobcat pins against New Buffalo-Bridgman came from Rodriguez, Katterheinrich, Victor Moranchel (119), Lochmondy and Laurita.

“We’re fine-tuning every week and trying to get ready for the end of the season, which is the real season,” Pomranka said.

Cassopolis got pins from Khalil Brown (125), Kyle Backus (135), Tymari Brown (215) and Mike Dussel (285) against New Buffalo-Bridgman.

Brown and Dussel also picked up pins against River Valley.

“Overall tonight I thought we were a little more aggressive on our feet,” said Cassopolis coach Josh Rinehart. “We’ve been waiting for our guys to take what we’ve done during practice into matches. I saw guys shooting more tonight, which was a bonus. We’re getting more aggressive and I was pleased to see that.

“Mike (Dussel) is a first-year senior wrestler, who’s an extremely smart kid.  He picks up stuff fast and each week he gets better and better. Tymari just got back on Monday. He had been out for three weeks (personal reasons) and he looked good tonight. Tymari is a big, strong, athletic kid. I’m excited to have him. Those two wins tonight will help Tymari going forward.”