By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
In a match against a quality squad the youth and inexperience of the Dowagiac varsity wrestling team showed through Thursday night.
A hungrier and much more experienced Battle Creek Lakeview edged host Dowagiac, 38-30, in a Big 16 Conference non-divisional match.
The Chieftains had four freshmen in the line up against Lakeview and five sophomores.
The Chieftains kept the match close throughout and with the battle wagging back and forth with pins, neither team was able to gain a comfortable lead.
Dowagiac's Austin Lawrence really got the crowd in a fever pitch as he and Jason Mitchell were locked in a scoring frenzy.
With the match tied at 12-12, Lawrence was able to gain the upper hand of Mitchell and ultimately pinned him in 4:46.
Lakeview…38
Dowagiac…30
103: Mark Harris p. Nathan Cottrell, :29
112: Darr Phillips p. Charles Bagwell, 1:46
119: Kyle Labrecque p. Ryan Dutoi, 1:20
125: Justin Burke p. Jason Krukowski, 2:38
130: Austin Lawrence p. Matt Funk, 4:46
135: Jason Mitchell d. Mike Kasper, 17-5
140: Tom Burrill d. Justin Dejardin, 7-1
145: Bryan Thomas d. Jeromy Northrop, 13-7
152: Nathan Alvarez d. Ken Scott, 11-2
160: Kyle Bennett won by forfeit
171: Cory Pessetti d. Rob Duszynski, 5-0
189: Aaron Gilles d. Jim Kehrer, 3-1
215: Matt Behnke p. Rupert Davenport, :41
275: Michael Johnson p. Groff Longbons, :45