KALAMAZOO — If the Dowagiac wrestling team was going to upset No. 2-seeded Dundee in the Division 3 state quarterfinals, it was going to have to have everything go perfectly.

Unfortunately for the No. 7-seeded Chieftains, that did not happen.

Dundee used a string of victories in the middle weights to roll to a 60-9 win over Dowagiac on its way to a second straight state championship.

Dundee edged No. 1 seed Richmond 26-25 in the title match at Wings Stadium Saturday afternoon. It was the sixth state championship in the last 12 years. Dundee has also finished second six times.

“We knew right when we got to the middleweights, they were really, really good,” said Dowagiac coach Colin Burandt. “We voided a couple of weight classes to get a couple of better matchups. But it didn’t help. They’re a phenomenal team with phenomenal kids. They deserved it. They only graduated a few kids from last year so we knew they were going to come in and be really good. In my eyes, they’re the favorite to win this.”

Dowagiac started off on a good foot with Wyatt Bailey picking up a forfeit victory in the opening 285-pound weight class.

The Chieftains’ next win would not come until Dylan Elmore defeated Logan Sanders 8-4 at 119 pounds. The final Dowagiac win came at 130 pounds when Alex McIntosh defeated Austin Jaworski 5-1.

After McIntosh’s victory, Dundee won the final nine bouts, four by pin, two by forfeit and one by disqualification.

“We needed to win the closest matches that we knew we could really fight for and catch a couple of their good guys,” Burandt said.

Dowagiac’s Michael Schlup was disqualified in his 215-pound match when he head-butted Dundee’s Dennis Root and then shoved an official before walking off the mat.

His disqualification cost the Chieftains three team points.
Dowagiac was making its second consecutive trip to the team state finals and Burandt said that this is another step in the right direction for the program.

“That was a hard-fought match against a really great team,” Burandt said. “Other than the end, that was a phenomenal dual and our kids should not hang their heads.”

DUNDEE 61, DOWAGIAC 9

285 — Wyatt Bailey (D) won by forfeit; 103: Casey Swiderski (Dun) t.f. over Jordan Simpson 20-4; 112: Austin Fietz (Dun) t.f. over Tyler Huston 20-5; 119: Dylan Elmore (D) d. Logan Sander 8-4; 125: Alex McIntosh (D) d. Austin Jaworski 5-1; 130: Tyler Swiderski (Dun) p. Korey Kinyon 1:17; 135: Jonathon White (Dun) p. Seth Ward 1:21; 140: Christian Killion (Dun) won by forfeit; 145: Caleb Fairchild (Dun) p. Deny White :29; 152: Grant Ott (Dun) p. Nick Turnbow 4:18; 160: Stoney Buell (Dun) won by forfeit; 171: McAllister McAvoy (Dun) d. Lamberto Paredes 10-8; 189: Jaxon Guinn (Dun) p. Luke Staten :59; 215: Dennis Root (Dun) d. Michael Schlup DQ

* Dowagiac lost three team points for DQ