Mikey Edwards takes down Wawasee’s Vaxier Ortiz during their match at 170 Thursday night. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

NAPPANEE — The NorthWood wrestling team sent its seniors out in style Thursday night at The Pit. The Panthers welcomed in Wawasee for a Northern Lakes Conference dual and enjoyed a 38-31 win over the Warriors on senior night.

The win became all about bonus points for the host Panthers. Wawasee and NorthWood each won seven bouts, but the Panthers had five pins and two major decisions to help boost their score and get the win.

Following on opening win by Wawasee’s Geremia Brooks, a pin in the second period at 132, NorthWood would reel off five straight wins. The first of those wins came from Brock Lechlitner, the senior earned a win by fall in the first 57 seconds of his match with Logan Baugh at 138.

Lechlitner’s win was followed up by a 10-2 major decsions by Jake Chupp over Evan Gregory. Garrett Griffin, another Panther senior, earned a pin in the first period over Raymon Torres at 152 to put the home squad up 16-6. Jake Lone followed that up with a pin at 160 over Wawasee’s Jeremiah Ponsler.

Mikey Edwards, yet another NorthWood senior, put his team up 28-6 win a fall at 170. Edwards had a huge cheer block present at the match and his pin in the second over Xavier Ortiz was by far the loudest moment of the evening.

The NorthWood winning streak was interrupted by Wawasee ‘s Luke Hensley. Hensley, a freshman, earned his first varsity win with a pin of Paul Kinney in the second period of the 182-pound bout.

“We got him in there tonight due to the circumstances with guys being out,” began Wawasee head coach Frank Bumgardner on Hensley’s appearance in the Wawasee lineup. “Give him credit, he took advantage. He’s a freshman, it’s his second year wrestling. He wrestled hard and he’s getting better everyday.”

Michael Leonard enjoyed his final match at The Pit, picking up a 12-4 major decision over Damien Rodriguez at 195. The 195 slot was one of four varsity spots where Wawasee was missing its usual wrestler as the Warriors were battling injuries.

While Wawasee was without four of its usual wrestlers in its varsity lineup due to various injuries or medical issues, when the final score flashed on the board, there were no excuses made by Bumgardner.

“Tonight we didn’t wrestle well at all,” Bumgardner stated. “Whatever the circumstances, it makes no difference. Christmas break, four guys out, it makes no difference. We didn’t come to wrestle. We just didn’t. They were more aggressive. They wrestled harder. They wrestled with more passion than us. We just didn’t wrestle.”

Wawasee faced a 32-12 hole before the wins started piling up Jeremiah Dilley picked up an 11-3 major decision at 220 over Andrew Miller. That was followed by a pin at 285 by Cannon Yates over Rickey Nelson, that would prove to be NorthWood’s final win on the night.

At 106 Jonas Bailey received forfeit for the Warriors. Ricardo Romo earned a 7-5 decision at 113 over Cameron Jones, followed by a 3-2 win by Garrett Stuckman over Austin Bingham at 120. The evening closed out with, arguably, its most exciting match. Braxton Alexander picked up an overtime win at the expense of Hunter Warren at 126. Alexander and Warren went into the extra period tied 4-4 but a take-down and near-fall gave Alexander the 9-4 victory.

The match win secured a 4-3 conference record for the Panthers and sent their senior out of The Pit victorious one last time.

“Seniors, last time around in The Pit, that’s a neat experience,” expressed NorthWood head coach Damon Hummel. “Brock at 138 wrestled well tonight. He’s a four-year varsity kid. Garrett Griffen, a two-time semi-state qualifier, at 152. He’s done a phenomenal job all four years and he’s just a few away from his 100th win and that’s pretty big. Mikey Edwards, second-year wrestler, he had a phenomenal night. He had a nice cheer block tonight with that ‘I wanna be like Mike’ poster. Mike’s had a little bit of a sore wheel this year with his ankle but he’s really done well for us. Michael Leonard, another two-time semi-state guy for us, he’s just a real solid wrestler for us. Then Andrew at 220 had a great night but just took one at the end.

“Tonight’s win is big. They (Wawasee) are unbelievably improved. They’ve done a great job this year to kind of turn it all around. It was fun to watch them wrestle and to finally watch us compete. If we didn’t forfeit one of those then I think it would not have been as close, hopefully, but overall tonight was a good match. It was a fun match, a good win for our seniors and something to build on for next year.”

NorthWood and Wawasee will see each other at the NLC tournament later this month at Northridge. Wawasee is now 20-7 overall and 3-3 in the NLC. The Warriors will travel to Memorial next Thursday.