NorthWood’s Alex Walker gains control for two points against Goshen’s Mitch Daniels Tuesday night. InkFreeNews photo by Mike Deak

By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews

NAPPANEE – It was just a well-earned decision. But a win from Alex Walker seemed to pick up NorthWood as the Panthers would go on to beat rival Goshen, 39-33, Tuesday night in Northern Lakes Conference wrestling in The Pit.

Walker clung to a 4-1 lead in the third period over Mitch Daniels, but working out of a hold into a reversal, Walker claimed a five-point lead and held on for the three points for the Panthers. Although NorthWood was still down 18-9 on the scoreboard, they were about to rise.

“Once we got into the top end, we did really well,” said NorthWood head coach Nate Andrews. “I thought the 170 pounder, Alex Walker, had the swing match for us. He did what we asked him to do, maintained control of his match and got us some big points.”

Trey Tobias took the mat next for the Panthers and performed in total control. Tobias held an 11-3 edge on Marcus Castanela before getting the roll up at 20 seconds of the second period. Another pin at 1:20 of the second period by Joas Miller at 195 over Braxton Burns became another visual example of NorthWood’s turn of fortunes.

Miller, who is in his first year of wrestling after playing football for Andrews in the fall, had over a half dozen tosses of Burns in the first period despite getting just two points as he maintained the offensive. Reversing out of the hold of Burns on the restart of the second period, Miller worked a quick takedown and pin that again set a tone for what was to come.

“Joas is a really good kid who came into our program for the first time,” Andrews said. “He really developed himself as an athlete. Once football was over, he said he wanted to give it a try. He said, ‘It’ll be good for me. It’ll be good for a bunch of guys who want and need me to be out there.’ It says a lot about him to come out without any experience. I am really, really proud of him.”

Isaac Benjamin added a third straight pin for the Panthers at 2:31 over Alberto Sanchez in the 220 card, and Blake Herr’s forfeit at 285 put the Panthers up 33-18 and well on their way. Connor Ratcliff also had a 17-second pin earlier in the meet in the 152-pound card.

The RedHawks closed with a pin from Cole Hinkel and 5-0 decision by Nolan Castaneda, and a forfeit for each side closed out the remainder of what became a closer match on the scoreboard than on the mat. Goshen opened the meet with a pin from Sebastian Sidorowicz, two decisions from Zander Moles and Eddy Flores, and a rare disqualification win by Rayhan Romo over Kyvel Eicher.

Eicher led at one point 9-3 and in total control, but was called for a pair of locked hands penalties. Referee Roger Griffith made a third call of locked hands on Eicher as the third period opened, and as Eicher was trying to nail down a pin with 28.5 seconds to go, Griffith stopped play for a fourth time for Eichel’s locked hands in one of the more rare six points a team can earn.

“You always walk out of a match against Goshen worn out, they always want to get the Panthers each and every time,” Andrews said. “We were limping a little bit coming into tonight and had to plug in some JV kids in some spots. It was nice to find a way to win a match when things didn’t go our way in spots.”

NorthWood moves to 3-2 in the NLC with the win Tuesday night, Goshen drops to 0-2.