KENDALLVILLE - The last match of the day ended, and Shaun Belin sought out Jamie Salazar.

When Belin found him at the edge of the wrestling mat, he threw himself into the heavyweight's big arms, slapped him on the back and said, "Jamie...Jamie."

Few words were needed then, and even fewer during the five hours before that. From 10 a.m. to about 3 p.m., Belin and Salazar and fellow Wawasee wrestlers let their moves on the mat speak for themselves.

Central Noble, DeKalb, East Noble, West Noble and Westview - the other teams that grappled in Saturday's East Noble Sectional - got the message, delivered with the subtlety of a Dennis Rodman kick to the groin.

These Wawasee wrestlers are good. No, make that more than good. Down right dominating.

Yep, that's what they were Saturday, from the time 103-pound livewire Chet Wortinger started the work on the mats until Salazar finished it.

All told, Warrior wrestlers won championships in 11 of the 14 weight classes. Eleven individual sectional champions are the most head coach Scott DeHart has had at Wawasee. The Warrior team racked up 280 points. Westview was second, but not in the ballpark, with 138.

Wawasee has won six sectional team titles in a row.

The wrestling coaches sat in folding chairs at the edge of the mat. DeHart had to leave his chair only two times, because he had to watch only two consolation matches. The rest of the time, he sat in the chair next to the championship mat.

"I grew roots," he cracked. "They told me I had to move. I told them I didn't want to."

One of the biggest wins of the day belonged to Salazar.

Salazar battled Westview's Kevin Gall. Gall boasted a 35-4 record. Salazar? He's a sophomore with a 14-11 record.

He was also a winner. He knocked off Gall 2-1.

Gall took the early 1-0 lead, but Salazar quickly tied him. They stayed locked at 1-1 until Salazar went ahead 2-1 with 41 seconds left.

The Wawasee Warrior fans, the largest and loudest group of supporters that day, lended Salazar a hand down the stretch. Basketball players talk about loud fans being the sixth man, how they can give a team an extra boost.

The Wawasee fans were Salazar's sixth man.

They kept the noise up from the time Salazar got the lead, capping it off with a "6...5...4...3...2...1" countdown to end the match and end Wawasee's successful day.

"That was a great win," DeHart said. "We'd been working hard with him. He did what he had to do. He didn't get out of position, which we'd been talking about all year.

"It finally paid off. He's just a sophomore, and he played basketball last year. He's a year or two behind some of these kids. That kid he beat is a great kid."

Wawasee's Wortinger, Travis Coy (112), Jacen Hendricks (119), Kevin Carr (125), Darrell Carr (135) and Jesse Leonard (189) pinned their opponents in the championship round.

Ryan Johnson (130), Rob Burke (160) and Salazar (275) won their championship matches by decision. Jason Carr (145) and Belin (152) won by major decision.

Burke's match, like Salazar's, drew loud cheers. He fell behind 5-1 but won 13-11.

The only downer for the Warriors was losing John Merchant. Merchant was the top seed in the 140 weight class, and he probably would have given Wawasee 12 champions rather than 11. But he dislocated his elbow Friday and could not wrestle. That forced freshman J.D. Lane into his place, and he lost in the consolation match.

Tom Bryan (215), who had won three matches for the Warriors this season, won his consolation match. Jeremy Walls (171) was the lone Warrior who competed in the championship round and didn't win, losing a 15-4 decision.

When DeHart said he had trouble picking out one or two wrestlers who stood out, he meant it.

"Salazar wrestled a great match," DeHart said. "Jesse Leonard's a sectional champ. Rob Burke. That was a scrappy win. He was down, what, four points? He gets three takedowns, and we win. Makes it look easy.

"You can go up and down our lineup. Travis Coy. It was nice to see Tom Bryan get a win. That was a big, big win for him.

"I tell you what, it was everybody."

Wawasee's 11 champions and Walls, who was runnerup, move on to the regional.

"From the beginning of the year, we expect three things," DeHart said. "We expect to go six minutes from the time we step on the mats. We expect to wrestle the other team hard. We expect to win."

As expected, Wawasee did those things Saturday.

EAST NOBLE SECTIONAL

Regional qualifiers in parentheses

1. Wawasee 280 (12), 2. Westview 138 (5), 3. East Noble 134 (4), 4. DeKalb 106.5 (5), 5. West Noble 82 (1), 6. Central Noble 26 (1)

Championship matches - results, individual records

103 - Chet Wortinger (WAW, 25-5) pinned Kevin Rouch (EN, 16-6)

112 - Travis Coy (WAW, 19-11) pinned Joe Lortie (CN, 22-11)

119 - Jacen Hendricks (WAW, 12-8) pinned Pat Flanagan (DK, 9-18)

125 - Kevin Carr (WAW, 30-1) pinned Matt Dice (EN, 7-9)

130 - Ryan Johnson (WAW, 16-5) def. Jarod Miller (WV, 28-10) 7-5

135 - Darrell Carr (WAW, 29-1) pinned Ronald Krider (WN, 7-6)

140 - Luke Oeding (EN, 6-6) def. Brian Miller (WV, 10-16)

145 - Jason Carr (WAW, 29-2) def. Steve DeWitt (DK, 15-11) 16-0, major decision

152 - Shaun Belin (WAW), 30-1) def. Ming Ling (DK, 15-11) 16-1, major decison

160 - Rob Burke (WAW, 16-6) def. Adam Harrell (DK, 20-8) 13-11

171 - Ryan Lutter (EN, 10-11) def. Jeremy Walls (WAW, 9-8) 15-4

189 - Jesse Leonard (WAW, 13-16) pinned Josh Tackett (WV, 15-20)

215 - Jamie Wood (WV, 31-8) pinned Willis Armstrong (DK, 7-10)

275 - Jamie Salazar (WAW, 15-11) def. Kevin Gall (WV, 35-5) 2-1

Other Wawasee results

Consolation matches

140 - Kevin Replogle (WN, 14-11) def. J.D. Lane (WAW, record not available)

215 - Tom Bryan (WAW, 4-14) def. Martin Fahlsing (EN, 4-15) [[In-content Ad]]