By By DAN WEISS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- A pair of disqualifications at 145 pounds and 152 pounds turned what was already an emotional contest into an incredibly intense meeting between the Niles and Lakeshore varsity wrestling teams Thursday night at Niles High School.
With just one match to go, the host Vikings trailed 34-31 and still had a legitimate chance to knock off the Lancers for the first time in at least 20 years.
Lakeshore, however, made sure its streak remained intact as Matt Whitman beat Dan Lawson 8-2 at 160 pounds to give the Lancers a 37-31 victory.
The Viking wrestlers exceeded coach Bob Galvin's expectations, who was pleased with his team's effort despite the loss.
The first disqualification came at 145 pounds when Niles' Kyle Isabel was ejected by the official. Isabel was penalized a point for unsportsmanlike conduct and before the official restarted the match Isabel was ejected for making an unacceptable comment.
In the very next match, Lakeshore's Will Whitehead was disqualified after elbowing Niles' Robert Cinninger in the back of the head.
The match started at 171 pounds where Niles was counting on a victory. Lakeshore's Andy Gebhard, however, beat Josh Henry 12-6 to give the Lancers a quick 3-0 lead.
Niles rebounded quickly from that setback, however, and rattled off 19 straight points.
Jarrod Collins beat Lakeshore's Adam Miller by major decision at 189 pounds. James Edwards pinned Zach Puplis in the first period of the 215-pound match and Dustin Sullivan pinned Brandon Brown in the third period of the heavyweight match.
Matt Poehlman finished off the Niles run with a 7-4 decision over Kyle Hammermeister at 103 pounds.
Lakeshore won the 112- and 119-pound matches to shave the lead to 19-13.
Mason Stephenson regained some momentum for the Vikings with a pin of Drew Wilke in the second period of the 125-pound match.
Lakeshore won the next three matches, including Chad Newman's pin of Rodney Leneway at 140-pounds, to take a 34-25 lead before Whitehead was disqualified at 152 pounds.
The Vikings, now 11-2 overall and 0-1 in the Big-16 West Division, will wrestle at the Eau Claire Invitational on Saturday.
Lakeshore….37
Niles………….31
103: Matt Poehlman (N) beat Kyle Hammermeister 7-4; 112: Justin Agens (L) beat Bryce Flannery by technical fall; 119: Chris Forrester (L) beat Derek Purcell by technical fall; 125: Mason Stephenson (N) pinned Drew Welke 3:05; 130: Nathan Broehm (L) pinned George Nelson 2:43; 135: Aaron Bradley (L) beat Charles Nelson 4-1; 140: Chad Newman (L) pinned Rodney Leneway 5:26; 145: Ryan Kolbert (L) beat Kyle Isabel by disqualification; 152: Robert Cinninger (N) beat Will Whitehead by disqualification; 160: Matt Whitman (L) beat Dan lawson 8-2; 171: Andy Gebhard (L) beat Josh Henry 12-6; 189: Jarrod Collins (N) beat Adam Miller 11-3 (major decision); 215: James Edwards (N) pinned Zach Puplis 1:43; 275: Dustin Sullivan (N) pinned Brandon Brown 4:38