SYRACUSE — The Wawasee wrestling team welcomed in Northern Lakes Conference foe Goshen Tuesday evening. In years past the Warriors have failed to even keep pace with the perennially dominant Redhawks squad but this year things were much more interesting. Despite the improved Warrior effort, Goshen managed a 43-25 victory.

The home team won the first match of the night as freshman Alex Castro earned a thrilling 3-2 decision at 182 over Julio Navarro. At 195 Jeremiah Dilley had a solid start against Erik Contreras but would be disqualified in the second period for a second unnecessary  The DQ started a run of four-straight victories for the Redhawks. Goshen received a forfeit at 220, Jose Montanez was a winner by fall over Ricky Nelson at 285, as was Fernando Flores at 106 over Ricardo Romo.

Goshen continued to pick up point throughout the meet with Ricky Flores winning by fall at 120, receiving a forfeit at 126, a 14-9 decision at 145 and a major decision at 170. In total the Redhawks won eight matches while the Warriors won six.

“Early on I didn’t think we were ready to go, I thought we were taking a back seat to Goshen’s pace,” recalled Wawasee head coach Frank Bumgardner. “As the dual went on we kind of took charge a little bit and I thought we controlled it and started to wrestle the way we want to wrestle. We wrestled better than I expected tonight. I thought it was a good dual  and that we handled adversity fairly well with certain things that have happened with us since the NorthWood meet. So, it was fairly decent tonight.”

Wawasee picked up wins at 182, 113, 132, 138, 152 and 160.

Freshman Braxton Alexander earned a win at 113 with an 8-4 decision over Braxton Rodriguez. Back-to-back tech falls by Tristin Ponsler (132) and Ronny Shortt (138) helped close the gap for Wawasee. Ramon Torres, another freshman, picked up a 6-3 decision over Rene Gutierrez. Zac McKee recorded Wawasee’s final win of the night by fall over Daniel Hidalgo.

Tuesday night’s meet was a step forward for Wawasee. This year’s meet was much better than the past few, there was plenty to be happy with. But the Warriors are not aiming for “getting close” or just simply competing. There is no sign proclaiming a goal of mediocrity above the wrestling room.

“This is two dual matches in five days where it has come down to details,” Bumgardner stated. “NorthWood was better at the little details, Goshen was better at the little details. At some point you’ve got to buck up and you’ve got to fix it.

“All this stuff about how ‘we’re getting better’ and how it’s the ‘best we’ve done in years.’ At some point you’ve got to buck up and win. We’re getting there and we’re figuring out how to win. It’s good for us but now we have to take that next step and figure out how to win.”

Wawasee (10-17, 0-6) will host Elkhart Memorial in the regular season finale this Thursday.