By By ERIKA PICKLES and SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The Niles varsity wrestling team was taken down by perennial powerhouse Lakeshore Wednesday night in a Big 16 Conference West Division showdown.
The match boiled down to just a couple of bouts according to Niles coach Todd Hesson.
"The key was the matches at three, 25 and 89," Niles coach Todd Hesson said. "We had to win at least two of them. We lost close matches at three and 89. But the kids wrestled well. Lakeshore just wrestled better."
Hesson noted that Gage Pearison at 112-pounds and Marcus Bricker at 119-pounds performed well.
"Gage and Marcus both wrestled great matches," he said. "Ben (Brandstatter) beat a good wrestler and so did Kenyon (Ellison)."
The Vikings also picked up wins at 130-pounds where Cody Durham pinned Michael Gard in 3:09 and Terrence Eppenger edged Josh Florian 6-4 at 152-pounds.
"We will get another shot at them at the Big 16 tournament next week," Hesson said.
The Vikings will not be back in action until Friday, Dec. 28 when they travel to Battle Creek for the league tournament.
Lakeshore…36
Niles…25
103: Brett Glaske (L) d. Adam Young 11-6
112: Gage Pearison (N) d. Zak Miston 7-3
119: Marcus Bricker (N) d. Zach Schoenbach 4-3
125: Aaron Belanger (L) d. Colin Latislaw 8-0
130: Cody Durham (N) p. Tyler Dragomer 0:56
135: Nick Humes (L) p. Michael Gard 3:09
140: Mike Davis (L) d. Eric Dulcet 6-2
145: Tyler Humes (L) p. Matt Bricker 1:48
152: Terrence Eppenger (N) d. Josh Florian 6-4
160: Ben Brandstatter (N) d. Mike Humes 16-6
171: Tim Newman (L) d. Kenneth Eppenger 16-0
189: Zak Kretchman (L) d. Eric Long 3-0
215: Joe Spear (L) p. Casey Wirick 1:36
285: Kenyon Ellison (N) p. Kyle Burke 3:08