By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
Cassopolis proved Wednesday night why its wrestling team is ranked No. 8 in Division 4. The Rangers breezed by the Bobcats 45-30 in a match that lasted a little over an hour.
Brandywine's Pat VanLeare gave the Bobcats their first pin in the first match of the night, the 119 weight class, against Ashley McCoy. VanLeare pinned McCoy 43 seconds into the second period giving Brandywine a quick 6-0 lead.
Josh Cole got the first pin for Cassopolis against Brandywine's Adam Saltsman 35 seconds into the first period of the 125 division.
Zach Deubner quickly gave the Rangers their second pin in the 130 weight class in 29 seconds in the first period against Brandywine's Lance Talraferro.
Brandywine's Jordan Bruni was able to make it to the second period of the fourth match in the 135 class, but was pinned in less than a minute by Cass's Justin Tucker.
Kyle Perry was also able to make it to the second period in the fifth match in the 140 class in an aggressive attempt to pin John McCoy. McCoy had six take-downs in the second period and pinned Perry with 42 seconds left.
Justin Price was next up for the Bobcats, but was pinned with 1:09 left in the first period of the 145 division.
Cassopolis was up 30-6 going into the seventh match. Cass's Randy Hemminger weighed in at 140 before the match, but wrestled in the 152 weight class. Michigan rules state a player cannot move up two weight classes. Hemminger was disqualified giving Brandywine six points taking the score to 30-12.
Brandywine received their second pin of the night when Adam Simons quickly pinned Cass's John Wirick 20 seconds into the match in the 171 weight class. Wirick also deducted one point from the Rangers for taking off some of his uniform before he was off the mat.
With the pin, Brandywine added another six points to their score, but were still down 18-37.
Jeremy Hechtl was also able to give Brandywine another pin in the 12th match in the 215 weight class. He pinned Josh Turnboro 13 seconds into the second period cutting Cass's lead to 12 points.
In the heavyweight division, Cass's John Grice and Brandywine's Jeremy Howell went into double overtime. Grice choose the down position and was able to escape from Howell.
In the 112 division, the last match of the night, Cass's Cordero Williams was able to pin Brandywine's Ryan Horner 20 seconds into the match giving the Rangers their 45-30 win over the Bobcats.
Brandywine is now 0-3 in the conference. Cassopolis improves to 4-1.
Cassopolis…..45
Brandywine….30
103 - Andrew Libera (B) won by forfeit. 112 - Cordero William (C) pinned Ryan Horner, 3:13. 119 - Pat VanLaere (B) pinned Ashley McCoy, 3:13. 125 - Josh Cole (C) pinned Adam Saltsman, 1:25. 130 - Zach Deubner (C) pinned Lance Taliaferro, 1:31. 135 - Justin Tucker (C) pinned Jordan Bruni, 3:50. 140 - John McCoy (C) pinned Kyle Perry, 3:18. 145 - Kenny Brown (C) pinned Justin Price, 1:49. 152 - Coulter Kane (B) DQ Randy Hemminger, 2-2. 160 - Joey Sobieski (C) dec. Joel Perry, 14-7. 171 - Josh Deubner (C) dec. Kyle Jones, 8-5. 189 - Adam Simons (B) pinned John Wirick, 0:20. 215 - Jeremy Hechtl (B) pinned Josh Turnbow, 2:13. 275 - John Cerice (C) dec. Jeremy Howell, 5-4.