In Warsaw's first Northern Lakes Conference wrestling meet of the season, Elkhart Memorial charged into the Tiger Den and defeated the hosts 52-13 Tuesday.
The Crimson Chargers are now 6-0 overall and 1-0 in the NLC.Memorial coach Brian Seltzer noted that his roster features nine returning starters among a veteran team with five seniors and seven juniors.
A recognized wrestling power state-wide, Elkhart Memorial has doubled up all of its opponents on the scoreboard so far this year.
The young Tigers, meanwhile, managed only three varsity victories.
Senior standout Justin Brooks (119 pounds) recorded a 23-6 tech fall against Tim Wider, and then Paul Manbu (135) followed suit in another tech fall, defeating Alberto Rios 20-5.
In the final match of the evening, diminutive freshman Jarred Brooks (103) took on Michael Moore, a senior. Brooks will be often out-weighed throughout this season, but with his years of freestyle experience, he will rarely be out-finessed.
Period one of his match ended with no score. In the second stanza, Brooks allowed an intentional escape and then quickly scored a takedown to gain a 2-1 advantage. Growing in confidence, he turned up the heat in the final period, exploding for eight more points on a reversal, two takedowns, and a nearfall, to tally a 10-3 victory.
The Tigers' varsity lineup is comprised primarily of sophomores and freshmen, with just two seniors and one junior. Newly installed Warsaw head coach Justin Smith has great expectations for the program with this large pool of young athletes.
Smith is a 1999 graduate of Homestead High School, where he later served as an assistant wrestling coach four years, and then moved to coach five years at Wayne High School, including four years as the head coach.
Currently he is commuting from Fort Wayne to Warsaw, where he teaches English and heads up the Tiger wrestling program. Smith said he is very impressed with the facility at Warsaw.
"It is one of the draws that brought me here," he said. "I come from a school that had no wrestling room, where we had to roll up the mats every day. The wrestling room here is great, the facilities are great."
The new coach expressed a great deal of confidence in his assistants, Scott Hutcherson and Dan Hatch, noting that, "We conference before practice and we talk about what we want to run for the day and what needs to be done. Inside the practice room it is more of a cohesive three-way unit."
Asked about the outlook for the team, Smith said, "The entire team includes just two seniors and two juniors. Sophomores and freshmen make up at least three-fourths of the team. All the younger kids are developing, but it is about mat time right now. Overall the whole group is moving in the right direction."
The Tigers fell to 5-1 (0-1 NLC) and go on the road to Valparaiso for a super-dual Saturday at 9 am.
Warsaw's junior varsity Wrestlers will participate in an invitational at Concord Saturday.
ELKHART MEMORIAL 52, WARSAW 13
103 - Jarred Brooks (Warsaw) def. Michael Moore (Elkhart Memorial), 10-3
