By Staff
For the second year in a row, Dowagiac suffered a similar fate in its own wrestling invitational Saturday.
The Chieftains finished 3-1 at the invite, with their sole loss coming to champion Martin, who finished 4-0. At last year's invitational, Dowagiac also finished 3-1 and in second place, falling only to Martin.
Despite the loss, the Chieftains actually tied Martin at 37-37. Dowagiac then lost on the sixth tie-breaker, most match points. They lost that by only one point, 27-26.
The one loss gives Dowagiac three on the year, but the victories move the Chiefs to 9-3 this season. The loss to Martin also halted Dowagiac's six-meet winning streak after dropping its first two contests this season.
Bryon finished 2-2 at the invitational to take third place. Dowagiac's B team finished 1-3, and Comstock was winless on the day at 0-4.
Going undefeated at 4-0 for the Chieftains were Jeromy Northrop, Matt Behnke, Justi Richter and Tony Stewart. Kyle Bennett and Rob Duszynski went 2-0 for Dowagiac.
Benke, Stewart and Richter each earned 24 points for Dowagiac by recording four pins.
Six other Chieftains suffered just one loss Saturday, going 3-1 at the invitational - Elijah Caldwell, Justin Desjardin, Richie Hutchinson, Mike Kasper, Keith Prak and Shawn Rawson.
The Chieftains defeated Comstock 76-6, beat Byron 52-28 and got past its B team 72-3. Against Comstock, Dowagiac dropped just one match.
The fastest pin of the day came against Comstock, when Tony Stewart pinned his opponent at 275 pounds in 13 seconds.
On the day, Dowagiac scored 255 points, while giving up 212.