By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
What a difference a week makes.
Dowagiac senior Jeromy Northrop was not feeling well last weekend at the Division 3 District Tournament and ended up suffering his second loss of the season to Coloma's Jeremy Ashley in the finals at Comstock High School.
Feeling much better this week, Northrop avenged the loss with a 9-4 decision to capture the regional championship at 145-pounds.
Dowagiac also got a runner-up finish at 171-pounds from senior Kyle Bennett.
Northrop and Bennett are the lone Chieftain grapplers out of the seven that qualified for the regional tournament to advance to the state finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills, March 10-12.
Northrop reached the finals with a 15-0 technical fall over Shelby's Andy Rodriquez in the opening round.
In the semifinals, Northrop pinned Otsego's Mike Corradini in 1:37.
Bennett reached the finals with a 13-5 major decision over Shelby's Rob Near in the opening round.
Bennett then pinned Coopersville's Dustin Ryke in the semifinals in 3:51.
In the finals, Bennett was decisioned by Otsego's Mike Kronke, 7-2.
Also competing on Saturday, but not advancing for the Chieftains were Nathan Cottrell, Richie Hutchinson, Jason Krukowski, Justin Desjardin and Matt Behnke.
Also qualifying for the state finals in Division 3 were Buchanan's Todd Taylor at 103-pounds, Nick Wheetley at 119-pounds and Jim Connors at 189-pounds.
Taylor lost to Brandon Richter of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern, 10-8, in the consolation finals to finish fourth.
Wheetley was pinned by Dave Otten of Allendale in 2:12 of the consolation finals to also finish fourth.
Connors lost to Matt McHugh of Coopersville, 8-6, in the consolation finals to finish fourth.
Competing on Saturday for the Bucks but not advancing were Travis Reith, David Medlin and Ryan Carrigan.
Division 4
Cassopolis advanced four out of six wrestlers to the Division 4 state finals in two weeks.
Moving on for the Rangers were Zach Deubner at 130-pounds, Justin Tucker at 135-pounds, Kenny Brown at 145-pounds and Randy Hemminger, also at 145-pounds.
Brown finished second at 145-pounds as he lost to Kyle Judy of Homer in the championship match, 13-7.
Brown reached the finals with a win over Tony Baldwin of Athens, 11-3, in the opening round. Brown pinned Kipp Christlieb of Bronson in the semifinals in 2:35.
Hemminger finished third at 145-pounds as he pinned Josh Reed of Martin in the first round in 5:07 and then lost to Judy in the semifinals, 12-6.
In the consolation semifinals, Hemminger edged Baldwin, 5-4.
Hemminger received an injury default victory from Christlieb in the consolation finals.
Deubner lost to Ryan Gump of Bronson in the consolation finals, 16-2, to finish fourth.
Tucker defeated rival Mike Stein of River Valley, 7-5, in the consolation finals to finish third.
Also competing on Saturday, but not advancing for the Rangers were John McCoy and Joey Sobieski.
Brandywine's Adam Simons also reached the Palace as he finished fourth at 189-pounds.
Simons was pinned in the consolation finals by Chris Darrow of Martin in 1:57.
Also competing on Saturday for the Bobcats but not advancing were Lance Taliaferro and Joel Perry.
Division 2
Niles did not advance any of its grapplers to the state meet this weekend.
Competing on Saturday were Jake Glueckert, Mason Stephenson, Robert Cinninger and Josh Henry.
The finals were begin on Thursday, March 10 with the Grand March.