The two wrestling programss that squared off Wednesday night knew each other very well. Not just in Northern Lakes Conference means, but many of them spar all summer, go to the same camps, see each other much more than just a couple one-offs. It showed on the mats, but the score indicated a slightly different story as Mishawaka soared past Wawasee, 54-18, at the Hardwood Teepee.

The win moved Mishawaka to 7-0 to repeat as NLC regular season champions, Wawasee once again on the outside looking in at 6-1 for the second straight season.

“I thought Mishawaka wrestled a very good match, they were just a little more consistent than we were,” said Wawasee head coach Frank Bumgardner. “Their mindset, their approach and their attack rate, they were more consistent. We were kinda riding their waves instead of dictating our pace. Kudos to them, they were more consistent than we were and we need to get a little better in that mindset.”

It seemed that if there was any momentum to be gained, Mishawaka just found the edge it needed in some of the marquee matchups.

At 152, a pair of state-ranked contenders met up in Beau Brabender of Mishawaka and Hunter Miller of Wawasee. Nearly everything Miller tried to run on offense was countered by Brabender, who led 5-0 after two periods. Despite a little rush by Miller late in the third, Brabender also scored a takedown and escape to keep his distance for an 8-4 victory.

At 170, same story as Wawasee’s Gavin Malone couldn’t find any cracks in Isaac Valdez’s armor in a 4-1 decision for the Mishawaka star. Both of the 170s are expected to make a state run in a month.

In a pair of swing matches on paper, Mikey Robles opened the night at 138 with a first-period pin of Logan Stuckman and Josh Kite got a second-round pin on Cam Senter in another match at 113 Wawasee thought it might be able to score points.

“They took advantage of some of our downturns, and it mattered,” Bumgardner said. “We might get a takedown, but they got the escape, took us down and got near falls. Those started adding up very quickly.”

The Warriors did get some good showings from several individuals, as Bumgardner pointed out. Ethan Rodriguez wrestled a technically sound match at 145, beating Chris Peacock 8-3. Cam Zimmerman took down Trey Dunning in under 30 seconds and worked him over for a 182 pin, and Kaleb Salazar took a 10-0 lead on Brody Blevins before putting him away at 5:23 in the 106 match. Even at 220, with Donnie Blair wrestling up a class from his normal 195, he took what he was given and wrestled through some adversity in the match to win, 12-7, over Zander Paden.

Mishawaka now claims the driver’s seat ahead of Saturday’s NLC Championships at Goshen, where anything short of a total meltdown will give the Cavemen the outright title. Wawasee will enter the tourney needing to win and get some help if it wants to share. But the opportunity to still fight for a title is on the table for Bumgardner.

“Bottom line, we had a great turnout tonight, great senior night and we celebrated,” Bumgardner said. “But we still have an opportunity here to win a title. It’s out there. But we are going to have to step up in some areas that Mishawaka was just better at tonight. Can we get that accomplished in two days time? That’ll be determined in practice the next two days, and what mindset our kids carry into NLCs this weekend.”

Action at Goshen begins at 9 a.m. The brackets will be revealed either late Thursday night or Friday morning following the NLC coaches meeting Thursday night.

Mishawaka 54, Wawasee 18

138 – Mikey Robles (Mish) pin Logan Stuckman 1:45  6-0
145 – Ethan Rodriguez (Waw) dec Chris Peacock 8-3  6-3
152 – Beau Brabender (Mish) dec Hunter Miller 8-4  9-3
160 – Courtney Rider (Mish) pin Carson Nine 2:56  15-3
170 – Isaac Valdez (Mish) dec Gavin Malone 4-1  18-3
182 – Cam Zimmerman (Waw) pin Trey Dunning :49  18-9
195 – Christian Chavez (Mish) pin Derek Morrison :25  24-9
220 – Donnie Blair (Waw) dec Zander Paden 12-7  24-12
285 – Trevor Wendt (Mish) pin Eleazar Vazquez 5:23  30-12
106 – Kaleb Salazar (Waw) pin Brody Blevins 3:49  30-18
113 – Josh Kite (Mish) pin Cam Senter 3:33  36-18
120 – Gunnar Sandefur (Mish) pin Luke Stuckman 1:42  42-18
126 – Will Mason (Mish) pin Zeke Spore 1:22  48-18
132 – Zar Walker (Mish) pin Titus Taylor 2:57  54-18

JV Matches
106 – Dalton Yoder (Waw) pin Anderson Cannon 5:13
138 – Dom Brown (Waw) pin Dominic Decloede 1:39
152 – Drew Ginter (Mish) pin Benji Brace 2:29
160 – Alex Dibble (Waw) pin Gunner Eby 5:07
170 – Conner Powell (Mish) pin Will Hoy :51