By Staff
NILES -- If you weren't here Wednesday night to witness the Dowagiac-Niles Big 16 Conference West Division wrestling match you missed something special.
A large crowd gathered in the Niles gym and watched two teams battle tooth-and-nail for a victory.
When all was said and done, the Vikings came away with a 33-28 win that was much closer than that.
Whenever Dowagiac and Niles get together emotions usually run pretty high and Wednesday night was no exception.
However, there were no incidents and everyone despite being pretty "jacked up" for the match, let cooler head prevail.
Dowagiac made a few changes since it lost a 36-35 decision to Niles at the Big 16 Conference Tournament back in January.
Niles has had a few changes as well and both coaching squads were working overtime to figure out how to beat each other.
It all came down to a freshman for Dowagiac and a senior for the Vikings.
Senior George Nelson got the better of Dowagiac's freshman Mike Kasper, scoring a takedown with four seconds remaing.
Nelson was trailing 2-1 at the time and Dowagiac's faithful could feel the upset as the seconds ticked away.
But it was not meant to be this year. Dowagiac has a lot less experience than does Niles.
The Chieftains had three freshmen and three sophomores in the line up.
Dowagiac has asked a lot of its underclassmen this season and for the most part they have responded.
Each and every week the Chieftains have appeared to improve. That is important because the state tournament is just a couple of weeks away.
Dowagiac still has some tough matches ahead of it. And, it still must compete in the Big 16 Conferencer individual tournament a week from Saturday.
Dowagiac will be hosting the Division 3 District Wrestling Tournament this year and looks to be the favorite.
Should the Chieftains win the tournament, then they would have to compete in a very tough regional which includes Hamilton, which has already defeated the Chieftains, and Constantine.
Dowagiac needs to enjoy its weekend off and set its sights on finishing this season strong.
There are still plenty of challenges ahead of the Chieftains. They have the ability and the resolve to meet most of them.
Let's get behind the Chieftains as they head down the home stretch of yet another successful season.