By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
ST. JOSEPH - Visiting Dowagiac erased the memory of its first loss to St. Joseph in 11 years last season with a resounding 49-24 Big 16 Conference West Division victory.
The Chieftain grapplers turned the Bears' world upside down Thursday night as it raced out to a 37-0 lead en route to the victory.
Dowagiac, 2-2 in the West Division with Niles and Lakeshore coming up the next two weeks, fell to St. Joseph for the first time in 11 years last season in a classic high school wrestling match.
The Chieftains and Bears tied at 30-30 last season, however, the Bears won eight matches compared to six for the Chieftains, giving St. Joseph the upper hand in the tiebreaker.
There would be no tie this season as Dowagiac rolled up a huge lead in a match that started at the 140-pound weight class.
Mike Kasper got the Chieftains off on the right foot as he scored an 11-2 victory over Justin Randall for a four-point major decision.
Dowagiac extended its lead to 10-0 when Jeromy Northrop pinned Dustin Phelan in 5:19 at 145-pounds.
The Chieftains really got on a roll with wins at 152, 160, 171, 189 and 215.
Four of those five wins came via the pin fall. The other was a hard-fought 8-4 victory by Elijah Caldwell over Mark Lockwood at 160-pounds.
Justin Desjardin pinned Erich Koch at 152-pounds (3:56), Kyle Bennett pinned Tyler Flora at 171-pounds (1:24), Shawn Rawson pinned Kevin Owens at 189-pounds (4:10) and Matt Behnke pinned Scott Neuenshwander at 215-pounds (1:54).
St. Joseph finally stopped the bleeding with a 5-3 decision at 275-pounds as Logan Klug edged Tony Stewart.
St. Joseph earned back-to-back victories with a win at 103-pounds by Pranav Shah over Justin Richter.
Needing six points to seal the victory, Nathan Cottrell finished off the Bears at 112-pounds with his stick of Sid Kumar in 2:57.
Dowagiac would enjoy one more victory as Richie Hutchinson pinned Matt Ghidotti in 3:29 at 119-pounds.
St. Joseph recorded wins at 125-, 130- and 135-pounds to make the final score a little bit more respectable.
Dowagiac returns to action on Saturday as it competes in the Coloma Invitational. Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.
Dowagiac…49
St. Joseph…24
103: Pranav Shah (ST) p. Justin Richter, 5:14
112: Nathan Cottrell (D) p. Sid Kumar, 2:57
119: Richie Hutchinson (D) p. Matt Ghidotti, 3:29
125: Dave Rolek (ST) p. Nathan Long, 1:41
130: Bryan Ammenson (ST) d. Terry Prowoznik, 11-4
135: Kurt Walter (ST) p. Keith Prak, 3:23
140: Mike Kasper (D) d. Justin Randall, 11-2
145: Jeromy Northrop (D) Dustin Phelan, 5:19
152: Justin Desjardin (D) p. Eric Koch, 3:56
160: Elijah Caldwell (D) d. Mark Lockwood, 8-4
171: Kyle Bennett (D) p. Tyler Flora, 1:24
189: Shawn Rawson (D) p. Kevin Owens, 4:10
215: Matt Behnke (D) p. Scott Neuenshwander, 1:54
275: Logan Klug (ST) d. Tony Stewart, 5-3