By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
Dowagiac will send six wrestlers to Holland on Saturday to compete in the Division 3 regional tournament at Zeeland West High School.
Advancing to the regionals for the Chieftains are district champions Nate Behnke and Drew Staley, along with runners-up Terry Prowoznik and Robert Wescott.
Also participating will be Andrew Roden and Nathan Cottrell, who finished fourth and third respectively.
Behnke, a senior, is 38-11 on the season with 17 pins. Behnke faces Santino Hernandez of Forest Hills Eastern in the first round. Hernandez finished fourth last weekend at the Allendale district.
Also wrestling at 189-pounds will be Nick Miller of Spring Lake, a district champion, Brian Vanhouten of Allendale and Justin Hengst of Zeeland West.
Staley, a junior, is 42-10 on the season with 27 pins. Staley will wrestle Cory Elzinga of Zeeland West in the opening round. Elzinga was a fourth place finisher at Allendale at 215-pounds.
The other district champion in the bracket is Chance Coda of Catholic Central. Also wrestling will be Jeff Beebe of Allendale and Matt Sooy of Central Montcalm.
Prowoznik, a junior, will face the runner-up from the Allendale district in his opening round match at 152-pounds. Prowoznik is 31-18 on the year with 17 pins. He will wrestle Matt Rankins of Zeeland West.
Shawn Pitch of Hamilton and Auston Ferris of Buchanan are the two district champions at 152-pounds.
Pitch will face Trevoe Davis of Otsego, while Ferris will take on Ryan Simonson of Wyoming Park in the opening round.
Also competing will be Miles Freed of Central Montcalm and Will Hill of Albion.
Wescott, a junior, is 27-18 on the year with 10 pins. He will take on Will Riebell of Catholic Central in the first round.
The two district champions are Marco Reyna of Godwin Heights and Octavio Romero of Delton.
Also wrestling at 285-pounds on Saturday will be Matt Forward of Zeeland West, Dan LaJoie of Allendale, Robert Goodwin of South Haven and John Burger of Otsego.
Cottrell, a senior, is 29-18 on the season with 10 pins. He will face Scott Russo of West Catholic in the first round.
The district champions in the 112-pound bracket are Elijah Troost of Comstock and Luke Faultersack of Coloma.
Also competing will be Sam Corradini of Otsego, David Kissinger of Paw Paw, Anthony Reese of Hamilton and Jose Orduna of Belding.
Roden, just a freshman, has compiled a 23-17 record this season with 16 pins. He will face Nate Fix of Comstock Park in the first round at 103-pounds.
The other district champion at this weight class is John Tanner of Coloma.
Also wrestling on Saturday will be Will Jensen of Allendale, Josh Headworth of Belding, Adrian Rios of Muskegon Orchard View, Matt Loveland of Delton and Mark Loveland of Delton.
"You have to win them one at a time," Dowagiac coach John Green said. "You can't look past anybody because they are all capable people. It's important to win the first match because it gets ugly in the wrestle-backs."
Green said his team is fairly healthy and ready to go.
"The boys have been working hard. Right now everybody has a chance," he said. "We'll just have to have a good day. That's what regionals are all about. You have to step up your game and get in there."
Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.