Michael Pena looks to his coaches during his match against Ronnie Longbrake (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – The Wawasee wrestling team found itself over-matched by one of the premier teams in the Northern Lakes Conference when Elkhart Memorial came to town on Thursday night.

The Warriors fell into a big hole early and never had a chance to climb out as the visiting Chargers would take home a 61-12 victory over Wawasee.

The Chargers were able to build a big lead before Wawasee could even get on the board. Eugene Moody-Neukom gave Memeorial a 6-0 lead by receiving a forfeit for the 113-pound class then Marcus Mejia upped the Charger lead to 9-0 with a 6-3 decision over Wawaee’s Tristin Ponsler at 120.

At 126 Marcos Mejia, of Wawasee, fought hard to start his match against Tony Vaughn but Vaughn took victory with a pin late in the second period. The points kept piling up against the Warriors and Memorial’s superiority was reinforced in the 132 and 138-pound classes as well. Blade Corpe (132) and Phillip Mathiak (138) secured back-to-back major decisions for the Chargers to extend the lead to 29-0.

Wawasee finally found itself on the scoreboard thanks to senior Michael Pena. The Warrior senior, wrestling his final match in the Hardwood Tee Pee, controlled his 145-pound competitor, Ronnie Longbrake, for the majority of the match and finally pinned the Charger sophomore in the third period.

Though Pena’s victory was a nice change of pace in the meet for Wawasee, the Warriors continued to struggle after the senior’s win. Memorial’s Chris Morris pinned Wawasee’s Zach Ford at 152 while Nick Ritchie earned a tech fall at 160 for the Chargers. Stephen Possell had his opportunities for Wawasee at 170 but was ultimately outmatched by Jon Osoria who claimed an 8-2 decision.

Tieshawn Johnson of Memorial remained undefeated on the season by claiming a forfeit at 195. Wawasee found itself another six points with Andy Holdeman’s performance in the 220-pound battle.

Holdeman came out strong and confident for his match and was able to overpower Memorial’s Alex Richards. After getting a take-down on Richards, Holdeman wasted little time in getting the pin in the first period.

Holdeman’s performance was well-received by Wawasee head coach Paul Meyer.

“Andy’s performance was one of the higher points of tonight’s meet,” said Meyer. “His situation was one we were actually concerned with before the meet. Originally we had him slated at 195 against Tieshawn Johnson but we realized he had a more favorable match-up at 220. Things went our way and we were able to make the change and get Andy into a better situation and he did well for us there.”

Memorial closed out the night with two more forfeit victories in the 285 and 106-pound classes.

Meyer knew Thursday’s meet would be rough so he focused on the intangibles of his wrestlers, instead of the scoreboard as much as possible.

“I saw a lot of heart of there tonight,” started Meyer. “I really thought our guys were mentally tougher tonight. We had a little more confidence and we were not as afraid to go up against bigger, stronger guys tonight. That is the biggest obstacle for us right now, gaining more confidence. Success breeds success, we just need to get that idea going in our kid’s heads.”

Meyer will hope his team can find that success this weekend at the Western Duals. Wawasee (2-18, 0-6) will travel to Western High School in Russiaville for the annual invitational with competition starting at 9 a.m.