New Prairie Middle School’s wrestling team was in action on Saturday, Feb. 13, at the John Young Middle School Super Dual. The Cougars defeated Elkhart Westside 97-15 in the first round and LaPorte’s Kesling Middle School 93-18 in the second round.
The third round was very exciting, pitting the two undefeated teams against one another. New Prairie was down 46-18, but faced the adversity with determination and rallied to beat Penn’s Grissom Middle School 65-46.
The championship round had the Cougars facing powerhouse Mishawaka John Young Middle School. John Young has not lost this tournament in many years, but New Prairie would not be denied its first championship of the season by beating John Young 69-39 in front of a big crowd.
The Cougars had eight individual weight-class champions: Tyler Kessler, Alex Rhinehart, Dalton Escobedo, Ian Saylor, Wade Young, Collin Grounds, Miguel Ibarra, and Derek Pflughaupt.
Three of these wrestlers not only went undefeated, but pinned all their opponents. They were Escobedo, Young and Ibarra.
