DOWAGIAC — The Dowagiac wrestling team has been in a bit of a funk the past month.

As a result, the Chieftains, who were ranked No. 8 in Division 3, have completely dropped out of the state rankings.

Dowagiac appeared to take a step toward breaking out of that funk with a sweep of Wolverine Conference foes Sturgis and Three Rivers Wednesday night.

The Chieftains (15-7, 5-3 Wolverine) defeated the Trojans 51-19 before shutting out the Wildcats with a perfect score of 84-0.

It was the first time, as a coach, Dowagiac’s Colin Burandt has had one of his teams post a perfect score. He was part of several during his days wrestling for Niles.

But more important than the final score was how the Chieftains looked on the mat.

“I think we wrestled well over the entire night,” Burandt said. “We have been in a rut the past four or five weeks, and I think we are finally starting to get out of it. This was a good one to help build our confidence.”

When you take a closer look at the Dowagiac record, only one of the seven losses have come against a team from Division 3. The other six losses have come against teams that are up at least one division, and include the likes of ranked teams such as Lakeshore [No. 7 in Division 2], Rockford [No. 7 in Division 1] and Niles [No. 9 in Division 2].

The Chieftains have also lost to Wolverine Conference foes Plainwell and Edwardsburg, both Division 2 schools. The other loss was an upset by South Haven, also a Division 2 program.

Despite those facts, Burandt will not use that as an excuse, but a way to motivate his team.

“We schedule teams like that, so we will be ready when the state tournament begins,” he said. “We are not going to see anybody in the tournament that we have already seen. Hopefully, we have turned the corner and keep going.”

Picking up two wins on the evening for the Chieftains were Jordan Simpson (103), Tyler Huston (119), Alex McIntosh (130/135), Seth Ward (140), Braqsten Whitaker (145), Deny White (152), Mike Schlup (215) and Wyatt Bailey (285). Bailey celebrated his 17th birthday with those pair of wins and cake following the math.

Picking up single victories were Lamberto Paredes, who now has 99 career wins, Brayan Paredes, Jorge Gamino-Rivero, Dylan Anderson and Luke Staten.

The Chieftains head to Edwardsburg Wednesday, where they will wrap up Wolverine Conference dual matches against Allegan and Otsego.

Besides Lamberto Paredes, McIntosh could also record his 100th career victory.