PORTAGE — It was close, but the Niles wrestling team captured its fourth consecutive SMAC wrestling tournament championship at Portage Central Saturday.

The Vikings had four individual champions and three runners-up as they amassed 248 points.

Lakeshore, which finished with five individual champions, was second with 233.5 points. Battle Creek Lakeview finished third (182) and Mattawan fourth (139.5).

Winning individual championships for the Vikings were Andrew Flick at 125 pounds, Brenden Hall at 140 pounds, Mitchell Findeisen at 145 pounds and Davin Smith at 160 pounds.

Runners-up were Ryan Franco at 112, Cade Stephenson at 119 and Brian Soto at 285.

Finishing third for Niles were Robert Glover at 152, Dayton Smith at 171 and Cody Glick at 215. Placing fourth was Jamison Zimmerman at 103 and Dawson Bruckner at 189.

Niles will now set its sights on reclaiming the Division 2 team district championship as it heads to Edwardsburg Wednesday.

The Vikings will face St. Joseph at 5:30 p.m., while Lakeshore will face the host Eddies at 5:30.

The championship match is set for 10 minutes after the completion of the last semifinal.

 

BCS Athletic Conference

Bronson dominated the BCS tournament hosted by Brandywine Saturday.

The Vikings had five individual champions and three runners-up as they finished with 263 points to easily outdistance Mendon, which finished with 220.5 points.

Buchanan finished fourth (120.5), Brandywine sixth (101) and Cassopolis eighth (48).

Brandywine’s lone championship came at 189 pounds where senior Sam Burge outlasted Bronson’s Cole Houtz in sudden-victory.

Burge trailed Houtz 3-2 with 15 seconds left when the Bronson wrestler was hit with a penalty point for stalling to deadlock the match and send it into overtime.

Another penalty point in sudden-victory and Burge was the conference champion.

Burger was the Bobcats’ only competitor in the championship round.

Kaci Lintz finished third at 135 pounds.

Neither Buchanan nor Cassopolis had a wrestler reach the championship round.

Jacob Graham finished third at 160 pounds for the Bucks, while Dylan Green and Cross Borsa were third at 140 and 152 respectively for the Rangers.

A complete box score was unavailable at press time.

Brandywine and Cassopolis will now compete in the Division 4 team district at Eau Claire Thursday beginning at 6 p.m.

The Bobcats and Rangers face each other in the opening round with the winner advancing to face either River Valley or the host Beavers in the championship match, which begins 10 minutes after the completion of the last semifinal.

Buchanan heads to Dowagiac where it will face Constantine in the semifinal match at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Host Dowagiac will face the winner of that match for the championship 10 minutes after the semifinal is completed.

 

SMAC CONFERENCE MEET

At Portage

Team scores

Niles 248, Lakeshore 233.5, B.C. Lakeview 182, Mattawan 139.5, Portage Central 125.5, Portage Northern 107, Gull Lake 72, St. Joseph 37, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix 35, B.C. Central 30, Kalamazoo Central 24

 

Championship round

103: Riley Bettich (Lakeshore) m.d. over Jacob White (Battle Creek Lakeview) 13-2; 112: Shane Williams (Lakeshore) d. Ryan Franco (Niles) 4-0; 119: Bryce Brust (Battle Creek Lakeview) m.d. over Cade Stephenson (Niles) 13-0; 125: Andrew Flick (Niles) d. Garrett Stace (Portage Central) 10-9; 130: Tony Williams (Lakeshore) m.d. over Peter Deaton (Mattawan) 16-2; 135: Dante Latora (Portage Central) p. Erik Taylor (Lakeshore) 4:08; 140: Brenden Hall (Niles) p. Hunter Bucks (Lakeshore) 5:16; 145: Mitch Findeisen (Niles) p. Antonio Postell (Battle Creek Central) 2:56; 152: Mason Evans (Battle Creek Lakeview) d. Cody Carlisle (Lakeshore) 3-2; 160: Davin Simpson (Niles) d. Nick Prowse (Portage Northern) 10-8; 171: Matthew Heaps (Portage Northern) t.f. over John Howe (Gull Lake) 21-4; 189: Cam Pietrzykowski (Portage Northern) d. Stephen Moody (Battle Creek Lakeview) 9-6; 215: Isaac Weir (Lakeshore) d. Dominick Wilson (Portage Central) 5-1; 285: Tyler Hill (Lakeshore) p. Brian Soto (Niles) 1:54.

 

Consolation round

103: Cameron Sanderson (Mattawan) p. Jamison Zimmerman (Niles) 4:00; 112: Armando Callejas (Battle Creek Lakeview) d. Isaac Myer (St. Joseph) 3-0; 119: Trey Lovelace (Portage Central) d. Logan Melvin (Mattawan) 2-0; 125: Sawn Patr Thang (Battle Creek Lakeview) d. Garrett Mohney (Mattawan) 11-4; 130: Chase Seeley (Battle Creek Lakeview) m.d. over Nolan Rowland (Gull Lake) 10-1; 135: Daniel Rodriguez (Gull Lake) d. Andrew Ropp (Mattawan) 15-12; 140: Jack Walter (Mattawan) p. Mitchell Derhammer (Portage Northern) :32; 145: Tyson Ford (Mattawan) d. Robert Dente (Lakeshore), injury default; 152: Robert Glover (Niles) d. Carter Hall (St. Joseph) 6-2 OT; 160: Alec Austin (Lakeshore) p. Zach Kelly (Mattawan) 3:02; 171: Dayton Smith (Niles) p. Zach Johnson (Battle Creek Lakeview) 3:54; 189: Logan Birchmeier (Gull Lake) p. Dawson Bruckner (Niles) 4:51; 215: Cody Glick (Niles) d. Jordan Loss (Battle Creek Lakeview) 3-0; 285: Noah Gross (Kalamazoo Central) p. Aiden Booton (Battle Creek Lakeview) 3:28.