By By STEVE MORRISON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – In the middle of a season that started out with a 1-4 record, Brandywine High School's wrestling team will be heading into the holiday break with an 11-5 record after defeating White Pigeon 56-18 and the Hartford 58-18 Wednesday at home.
Despite the large victories, the night did not start out well for the Bobcats. White Pigeon's Chris Mann pinned Justin Batman (125) and Matt Canen followed with a pin of Brandywine's Nathan Balint (130).
The Bobcats clawed back, beginning with Ralph Sater's tenacious 8-7 decision over Thomas Urie in the 135-pound weight class.
The 'Cats then unloaded on the Chiefs with 30 unanswered points, pins by Ben Gerber, Chase Molica, Robert Basker, and heavyweight Danny Eaglebarger leading the rally. Three forfeits by the visitors turned the contest into a Brandywine rout.
In Brandywine's second encounter of the evening against Hartford, Baliant led the Bobcats by solidly defeating the Indians' Mark Efrins, 10-2.
Sater pinned Kyle Helgren with eight seconds left in his match. That battle took practically a half of an hour, due to two injury timeouts when Helgren suffered from cuts.
Gerber defeated Tyler Fuller 8-4 and Warren Watson put a strangle-hold on the visitors' Cody Blockston to put the Bobcats ahead, 19-0.
After that initial charge, the outcome was with little doubt as the Bobcats swept the carpet with four straight forfeits, before Adam Earls (119) and Batman closed out the win with pins of their adversaries.
Brandywine head coach Rex Pomranka was elated with the finish.
"Ralph Sater is 16-0 and Joel Perry, at 189, has over 100 victories. He hurt his ankle in the first match, so there was no sense of pushing it. Two good wins. We're going into break, getting ready for the conference. It's a great start," he said.
Brandywine will return to the mat on Jan. 5, 2008 when it competes in the Berrien County Meet.
Brandywine…56
White Pigeon…18
103: Arthur Morris (B) wins by forfeit
112: Adam Earls (B) wins by forfeit
119: Bryan Fisher (B) t.f. Alex Conley (WP), 18-2
125: Chris Mann (WP) p. Justin Batman (B), 3:36
130: Matt Canen (WP) p. Nathan Balint (B), 3:27
135: Ralph Sater (B) d.Thomas Urie (WP), 8-7
140: Ben Gerber (B) p. Tony Gilbert (WP), 1:59
145: Warren Watson (B) d. Ryan Kenneck (WP), 6-4
152: Chase Molica (B) p. Daniel Kershner (WP), 3:11
160: Aaron Clifford (B) wins by forfeit
171: Robert Basker (B) p. Dylan Poley (WP), :10
189: Joel Perry (B) d. Jordan Morris (WP), 8-7
215: Matt Saunders (WP) p. A.J. Shell (B), 1:22
285: Danny Eaglebarger (B) p. Matt Schmidtendorff (WP), 1:07
Brandywine..58
Hartford…18
103: Arthur Morris (B) wins by forfeit
112: Bryan Fisher (B), wins by forfeit
119: Adam Earls (B) p. Brock Ellery (H), 1:31
125: Justin Batman (B) p. Brant Kochar (H), 1:07
130: Nathan Balint (B d. Mark Efrins (H), 10-2
135: Ralph Sater (B) p. Kyle Helgren (H), 5:15
140: Ben Gerber (B) d. Tyler Fuller (H), 8-4
145: Warren Watson (B) p. Cody Blockston (H), 3:46
152: Andrew Carpenter (H) p. Chase Molica (B), 3:28
160: Aaron Clifford (B) d. Austin Snedden (H), 5-1
171: Coty Marcoux (H) p. Robert Basker (B), 4:45
189: George Allen (H) wins by forfeit
215: A.J. Shell (B) wins by forfeit
285: Danny Eaglebarger (B) wins by forfeit