Tigers take down Cavs

COLDWATER - After each team picked up wins over Delphos St. John's earlier in the day, Coldwater and Versailles met for bragging rights among the Midwest Athletic Conference wrestling schools on Saturday at the Palace.

The Cavaliers, missing several wrestlers due to illness, took a 51-16 loss to the Tigers for the second time this season and Versailles completed the day with a 2-0 record. The Tigers knocked the Cavaliers out of the state team dual tournament at Coldwater on Jan. 28.

"It's unfortunate. Hopefully we'll get over everything going into the sectionals," Coldwater coach Rob Schmidt said. "Count your blessings, we'll be better Monday and get ready."

The Cavaliers wrestled the first match of the day against St. John's. Although Coldwater voided two weight classes, the Blue Jays had to void three. St. John's won just two contested bouts against Coldwater, with Justin Siefker winning via pinfall at 145 pounds against Tyler Hemmelgarn and later Alex Haunhorst winning via 8-0 major decision over Zach Klosterman at 170 pounds.

Coldwater earned pinfall victories from Sam Muhlenkamp at 126 pounds, Jordan Obringer at 138 pounds, Nick Clune at 220 pounds and Justin Sigler at 106 pounds.

After Versailles beat St. John's 63-9 in the middle match, the Tigers and Cavaliers squared off to decide the best team in the MAC.

Andrew Meyer (132 pounds) and Jordan Obringer (138 pounds) picked up three-point decisions to make the score 6-0 Coldwater early before the Tigers took control. Corey Dieringer pinned Hemmelgarn at 145 pounds to tie the match at 6-6 and then Versailles recorded two straight wins via void to push it to 18-6. Jonathan Moorman made it 21-6 Tigers after winning 6-2 at 170 pounds. Jake Schmidt snapped Versailles' run with a 14-6 major decision at 182 pounds to cut the Cavalier deficit to 21-10. Another Cavalier void at 195 was followed by Versailles' Kyle Gigandet pinning Nick Clune at 220 pounds and then Grant Keller pinning Thomas Schwieterman at 285 pounds to make it 33-16 going up to the lighter weights. The Tigers tallied decisions from Marcus Marshal at 106 pounds and Preston Platfoot at 113 pounds to make it 39-16. Kyle Wuebker gave Versailles a pinfall win at 120 before the Cavaliers voided out at 126 to close out the match.

Still, Schmidt saw some bright spots.

"Andrew Meyer stepped in for us today. (He) was mainly JV but came in and won two for us today," Schmidt said. "That was good to see. He was the highlight overall for stepping in."

The individual state wrestling tournament gets underway this weekend as Coldwater travels to Lima Central Catholic Friday and Saturday for Division III sectional action.