Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - Like so many contests between Warsaw and Wawasee before - no matter the sport - Thursday evening's wrestling match was intense and down to the wire.
Trailing 9-0 after the first two matches, the Tigers later used pins by brothers Matt and Chris Elvidge to get things going en route to a 43-33 win over their Kosciusko County rivals.
"Those matches got us going," said ninth-year Warsaw coach Tony Boley. "Matt has lost two matches all year and Chris is undefeated on the season. It's always fun (when Warsaw and Wawasee play). It's always tough, in any sport."
The match started with the heavyweight contest, which Wawasee senior Jay Riley won over Tiger sophomore Nate Wilson.
Warrior freshman Chase Davis then defeated Warsaw sophomore Johnny Mattson in the 103-pound match, followed by a win by Tiger freshman Kent Nielsen, who won by forfeit at 112 pounds to cut Wawasee's lead to 9-6.
After the 119- and 125-pound matches, the first of which was a pin by Wawasee senior Josh Lozano and the other a forfeit win by Tiger junior Andrew Lauster, Warsaw got the momentum it needed from the Elvidge brothers.
"They got us going," Boley said of the Elvidge brothers, whose wins at 130 and 135 pounds gave the Tigers a 24-15 advantage en route to their first Northern Lakes Conference win of the year.
Matt Elvidge, a freshman, pinned Warrior sophomore Pierce Abbott in 55 seconds.
Chris Elvidge, a senior, pinned Wawasee freshman Kacee Krauter in 1:01.
Thanks to a forfeit, Wawasee cut Warsaw's lead to three, 24-21, after the 140-pound match, but Tiger freshman Andy Keener made up for the lost points by pinning freshman Ethan Jessie in 5:18.
After winning the 171-pound match by technical fall, Warsaw held a 39-27 advantage with two matches remaining.
Boley shook up the line up a little, putting freshman Evan Readle in to wrestle Wawasee junior Rob McKibben at 189 pounds and moving junior Joel Perry up a class to battle Ryan Thornburgh at 215 pounds.
McKibben pinned Readle in 1:41, cutting Warsaw's lead to 39-33, but Perry defeated Thornburgh with a major decision by a 15-1 score to give Warsaw the team win.
"Our normal (215-pound) wrestler, Mike Locke, hurt his knee," said Boley. "We were going to have to wrestle (freshman) Kyle O'Brien. I thought this was a stronger combination. I put Evan (Readle), who is strong and a good wrestler, at 189 and moved Joel (Perry) up. I thought that was best."
In the end, it all worked out for the Tigers, who improved to 10-3 overall and 1-2 in the NLC. Wawasee fell to ?-? overall and ?-?.
Warsaw is in action again Saturday in the Penn Invitational, while Wawasee hosts its own invitational.
