Brandywine rolled past Cassopolis, 51-21, to claim its ninth straight team wrestling district title on Thursday.

The Bobcats, which improved to 9-11, advance to face the Gobles District winner next Wednesday at 6 p.m. in a Division IV regional semifinal match at Bangor High School.

“You’re nervous for every district,” said Brandywine wrestling coach Rex Pomranka. “People were coming up asking me questions and I said, ‘don’t bug me today’. A lot of things were running through my head, like making sure guys make weight. It’s always stressful even though you’re the favorite coming in. I don’t treat it like that. I treat it like we’re the underdog because anything can happen.”

Five straight wins from 215 pounds to 119 gave the Bobcats a commanding 36-9 lead. Cory Katterheinrich (285) and Jesse Lochmondy (112) claimed pins for Brandywine during that stretch.

“We’re just getting everybody healthy,” Pomranka said. We’ve got a losing record, but we’ve lost two quads and one team tournament. That’s nine dual meets we’ve lost because of the weather this year.”

Brandywine took a 39-15 lead and clinched the district title after getting a 7-4 win from Jacob Juhasz over Dillon Richey at 130 pounds.

“That kid I love,” Pomranka said about Juhasz. “He gives 110-percent and busts his butt. He just keeps digging in and finds ways to win. He’s done that for all four years.”

Cassopolis got wins from A.J. Green (171), C.J. Backus (189), Khalil Brown (125) and Lorin Best (135).

“We’ve got some inexperienced wrestlers who wrestled guys who have experience,” said Cassopolis coach Josh Rinehart. “We’ve got eight or nine sophomores. We scored more against (Brandywine) tonight than we did during the regular season. Our focus now is Saturday and getting individuals through (at districts).”

 

Division 3 Wrestling

At Brandywine 

Championship Match

Cassopolis — 21

Brandywine — 51

103: Michael Kachur (B) won by forfeit; 112: Jesse Lochmondy (B) p. Colin Kelley, 1:01; 119: Kaci Lintz (B) d. Peter Fiala, 7-0; 125: Khalil Brown (C) p. Ryan Buchar, 2:23; 130: Jacob Juhasz (B) d. Dillon Richey, 7-4; 135: Lorin Best (C) won by forfeit; 140: Paul Lochmondy (B) p. Kyle Backus, :34; 145: Brandon Earles (B) p. Dan Deubner, :21; 152: Sam Burge (B) p. Alex Scott, 1:40; 160: Vincent Sallee (B) won by forfeit; 171: A.J. Green (C) d. Cordell Davis, 4-1; 189: C.J. Backus (C) won by forfeit; 215: Charlie Rodriguez (B) d. Tymari Brown, 4-3; 285: Cory Katterheinrich (B) p. Reece West, 1:19

 

 Semifinals

Cassopolis — 40

River Valley — 39

103: Derek Werner (R) won by forfeit; 112: Matt Varner (R) p. Colin Kelley, 1:56; 119: Peter Fiala (C) won by forfeit; 125: Khalil Brown (C) won by forfeit; 130: Lorin Best (C) won by forfeit; 135: Andrew Doepker (R) p. Dillon Richey, 2:35; 140: Kyle Backus (C) won by forfeit; 145: Kyle Doepker (R) d. Dan Deubner, 11-5; 152: Jon Alden (R) p. Alex Scott, :40; 160: Hunter Liberty (R) won by forfeit; 171: A.J. Green (C) p. Chris Payne, 3:02; 189: Tymari Brown (C) d. Remy Flores, 14-8; 215: Ramzy Flores (R) p. C.J. Backus, :40; 285: Reece West (C) p. Jeff Vergot, 3:04