The Warsaw Community High School wrestling team got its season started by hosting the state's top-ranked team for Saturday's Warsaw Tiger Wrestling Classic.
The No. 1 Crown Point Bulldogs dominated Saturday's tournament, going 5-0 with lopsided wins over DeKalb (45-13), Warsaw (64-9), Triton (76-3), Kokomo (61-3) and Eastside (72-9).On the day, the Bulldogs, who have seven top 10 individual wrestlers, had eight class champions.
While bringing in a team with two defending state champions in 140-pound Jason Tsirtsis (125 pounds in 2009, 130 pounds in 2010) and Eric Roach (145 pounds in 2010) may be tough to defeat, the squad does present some good things for an opposing team.
"We want to face good competition to let the kids see what they're going to face down the road," Warsaw coach Justin Smith said. "We just happened to get Crown Point. It's not a team we sought out. They volunteered to come here, and we're glad to have them. They're a very quality team."
Warsaw finished the tournament going 2-3, getting wins over Eastside (52-21) and Triton (60-12), but losing to Crown Point (64-9), DeKalb (54-24) and Kokomo (49-23).
"We're still really young," Smith said. "I think we could have beaten Kokomo, but we have a lot of young kids and they don't know how to stay off their backs yet. The two wins we did have were good wins. This tournament allows us to take notes and learn things we can work on in the room."
Warsaw's Ross Hoover shared Outstanding Wrestler honors with DeKalb's Tommy Poytner, going 5-0 in the 189-pound class, posting four pins in the process.
"He has some things to work on, but it's good to come out with a 5-0 record as a senior, beating (Crown Point's Matt Langbeha) and beating (Triton's Brock Vermillion)," Smith said. "That was good for him."
Hoover's win over Vermillion was the Triton Trojan's lone setback, as he finished the day 4-1 with two pins and a technical fall.
"Brock wrestled really well," Triton coach Sam Davis said. "(Ross) Hoover is really tough. They wrestled really tight matches last year too. That was a real good weight class here today."
Wrestling in only seven of the possible 14 weight classes, the Trojans aren't going to win too many matches, but tournaments like Saturday's can help individuals get better.
"This year, we had about two or three guys that could really use this step up in competition," Davis said. "We like to come over here. It's a nicely-run tournament. This year, we just happen to be a bit younger than normal."
The Warsaw Tigers are also young, and will need to compete without the state's No. 4 112-pound wrestler, as junior Jarred Brooks serves a suspension that will keep him sidelined until mid-December.
"He will make an impact on the team scores," Smith said about Brooks. "Luis Cervantes stepped in there and wrestled tough. As a freshman wrestling varsity, that's all we can ask."
In the Trojans' opening match of the season, their coach was also proud to see some of the more inexperienced guys perform well.
"We were really pleased with guys like D.J. Riffle, because today's the first day he was ever on a mat," Davis said about his 125-pounder. "It's a big undertaking to start out in high school. As they get used to it, they'll come around."
Triton opens its Northern State Conference schedule Tuesday at John Glenn and Warsaw's next match won't be until Nov. 30 at home against Elkhart Memorial in its Northern Lakes Conference opener.
TEAM RECORDS - CROWN POINT 5-0, DEKALB 4-1, KOKOMO 3-2, WARSAW 2-3, EASTSIDE 1-4, TRITON 0-5
