By DON EDEN
Dowagiac Daily News

BERRIEN SPRINGS — Dowagiac faced Coloma in the opening round of the Division 3 wrestling tournament Thursday and the young Chieftains, armed with only one senior and one junior, were eliminated 47-28 by the Comets.

Adrian Martinez was one of only three winners for Dowagiac in the opening round of the Division 3 wrestling tournament against Coloma.

“Not a whole lot stuck out at me, but still have a lot to learn to try to run a good program and couldn’t be prouder of the guys that stuck with it,” noted first-year coach Matt Alward. “I enjoyed it and am proud how hard they worked every day and the improvement they made from when the season started.”
The match started at 112 and Coloma had a trio of stalwarts to begin at those smaller classes and took an 11-0 lead on a technical fall and two decisions, although Jacob Worthington at 119 got beat 9-7 on a take-down with 20 seconds left in the match after almost pinning Ty Hess earlier in the third period.
Both Dowagiac upperclassmen won the next two matches to narrow the deficit to one when junior Ryan Smit won a 13-3 major decision over Matt Thomas and senior Ben Luth felled freshman Zac Noack 11 seconds into the match with a shoulder injury.
A pair of pins and a forfeit allowed the Comets to command a 29-10 advantage before first-year wrestling sophomore Adrian Martinez of the Chiefs put Devon Romain’s shoulders to the mat for six points. Coloma then scored 18 points on two forfeits sandwiched by a pin at 189 pounds with Carl Grant earning an easy win at 215 for Dowagiac.
Freshman Ray Vega finished the team season for Dowagiac with a pin over fellow frosh Dakota Kiser-Little with 28 seconds left in the first period at the smallest weight provided.
“Coloma runs a good program and Tim (Ishmail) is a good friend that I hope for the best in the finals, but we will get where we want to be…it might take some time with a good crew coming up from junior high,” concluded Alward. “Ben (Luth) does a lot of things you like as a coach and will be missed both on and off the mat.”
The victory for the Comets meant a rematch with Lakeland Conference foe Buchanan for the district championship as the Bucks downed Berrien Springs 67-9 in the other semi-final and had little trouble taking down Coloma during both the regular and conference dual season.
“We will make some lineup changes and see if that will make a difference as we take one match at a time and at this time of the year anything can happen,” stated Coloma coach Ishmail. “We do have a lot of freshmen though, so the next couple years look very promising.”

Coloma 47, Dowagiac 28

103 — Rey Vega (D) pin Dakota Kiser-Little 1:32
112 — A.J. Tyler (C) technical fall Tyler Wessendorf 15-0
119 — Ty Hess (C) dec. Jacob Worthington 9-7
125 — Kameron Ezell (C) dec. Matt Lyle 15-9
130 — Ryan Smit (D) major dec. Matt Thomas 13-3
135 — Ben Luth (D) injury win Zac Noack
140 — Reuben Navarro (C) pin Kyle Gilson 1:07
145 — Jacob Harvey (C) pin Tim Keene 3:13
152 — Max Murray (C) won by forfeit
160 — Adrian Martinez (D) pin Devon Romain 1:41
171 — Mishon Taylor (C) won by forfeit
189 — Lucas Hettig (C) pin Ken Cremeans 1:16
215 — Carl Grant (D) won by forfeit
285 — Tristan Wright (C) won by forfeit