Warsaw’s Brandon Estepp works over Triton’s Travis McCoy Wednesday evening in a dual at the TAC. (Photos by Mike Deak)

BOURBON – Some fans at the Triton Activity Center hadn’t even gotten their hot dogs and Cokes to their seats and the wrestlers from Triton and Warsaw were already shaking hands in the post match ceremonial.

In a varsity dual that lasted roughly 30 minutes and saw every matchup but one finish in under two minutes, Warsaw was head and shoulders the better side in a 60-12 result Wednesday night.

The Tigers started quickly, picking up a forfeit and two pins before Triton even scored a mat point. In head-to-head matchups, Warsaw allowed Triton to score just 10 points in combat.

“I thought in general our team responded pretty well,” stated Warsaw head coach Kris Hueber, whose team went 2-3 and lost two Northern Lakes Conference matches in the process at last Saturday’s Raider Invite at Northridge. “We still lack some mat experience and big match experience. There, we had some stuff catch up to us. This group isn’t afraid to work and we pressed them this week, and we knew Triton was going to come at us hard tonight.”

Warsaw started with pins from Andrew Ross, Isaiah Owens, Brock Hogenson and Liam Nolin in succession, taking just over six minutes to earn the four wins over Gage Sobieck, Gavin Butler, Breylon Wareham and Landon Lemler.

Triton’s Elijah Cox gains control of Warsaw’s Chris McAfoose.

Elijah Cox reversed Triton’s fortunes after just 35 seconds of a pin over Chris McAfoose to get the Trojans on the board. That would be it for the next five duals as Warsaw added three more pins and two forfeits, Brandon Estepp and Mario Cortes needing just over a minute to subdue Travis McCoy and Maclain Middaugh then Angel Mendez rallying from 4-3 down to Trace Schuh to score a pin with nine seconds left in the period.

“This group of kids came in here tonight prepared and did the job they were supposed to,” Hueber said.

Triton ended the night’s action with Caleb Lemler putting on a good show at heavyweight. Lemler worked a takedown on Kyler Denney and maintained control on the ground. With seconds waning in the period, Lemler found room to work and got over on Denney just enough to earn the mat slap right at the horn.

“Caleb is a big, strong kid, and you don’t have to ask him to work hard,” said Triton head coach Matt Arvesen. “He does all that stuff on his own. Each day with him at practice is great because we can just improve on things he already knows. Preparing him for a heavyweight class, the majority of the moves are things we just want to make sure he doesn’t get caught in. He’s run into a couple studs and struggled, but in some of the more evenly matched ones, he’s starting to win those frequently.”

Both teams double forfeited 106 and 113 pounds.

There were two JV matches, both going to the Tigers. At 145 pounds, Triton’s Ethan Gilbert had a pair of near falls and control of Austin Brown, but a late takedown and reversal from Brown in the final minute allowed the Tiger senior to take a 6-5 win. At heavyweight, Wyatt Klinger needed just 1:15 to get a pin for the Tigers against Mason Jackson.

“The majority of our team isn’t experienced and that showed quite a bit tonight,” said Arvesen, whose team will work again Saturday at the Rochester Invite. “I just keep telling the kids, when the whistle blows I just ask for aggressive effort. We’ll pick up technique day by day. Right now we’re just green.”

Added Hueber about Warsaw’s next action at the Al Smith Invite at the end of the month, “We scheduled this match knowing Triton was a sectional opponent and I’ve known coach Arvesen for a long time, and he’s done a very good job getting that program to where they’ve been. We’ll see some bigger names and competition at the Al Smith, but we wanted the kids to get in some quality work ahead of that tournament.”