By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
If Dowagiac is going to win the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 3 Team Wrestling Regional Tournament championship it is going to have to earn it.
Unlike last week's district championship which was a foregone conclusion, this week's regional has a much stronger field.
Dowagiac (28-7) will face host Vermontville-Maple Valley (16-12) in the first round at 6 p.m., while defending regional champion Constantine (19-13) will face favorite Hamilton (36-4), also at 6.
Dowagiac has only wrestled Hamilton this season, losing 54-20.
While the Chieftains haven't wrestled Constantine or Vermontville, it has seen them at the individual district tournament this past Saturday which was hosted by Hamilton.
Dowagiac coach John Green feels his squad can get past Vermontville-Maple Valley, winning eight of the 14 matches.
Top wrestlers for Vermontville are district champions Kevin Fassett and Ben Boss at 135- and 140-pounds. Fassett finished second in his conference, while Boss was a conference champion.
Also winning conference championships for Maple Valley were Justin Cook at 125-pounds and Joey Desrochers at 130. Chris Morris also finished second in the conference and placed third on Saturday at 171-pounds. Morris also beat Rob Duszynski on Saturday, 4-0.
Raven Scurlock at 103-pounds owns a 10-4 win over Nate Cottrell, while Tyler Greenfield and Jamie Corwin at 112- and 119-pounds were second place finishers in the OK Conference Blue Division.
Green did not know who was going to come out of the other half of the bracket, but was preparing for both.
He feels Hamilton can win more matches, but Constantine could have more pins.
Dowagiac got beat at 103, 119, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 152, 171 and 215. Of those 10 wins earlier this season, eight were by pin.
Green doesn't expect that to happen again.
Top grapplers for Hamilton are district champ Danny Waldering and district runner-ups Casey Faulks and Kent Livingston.
Top wrestlers for Constantine are Jeff Holmes at 112, Andrew Williams at 125, Mike Baker at 171 and Jordan Rumsey at 215.