By Kristin Sharp
A complete team effort led the Yorkville wrestling squad back to a regional championship.
The Foxes edged out Marmion 211-196.5 at last Saturday’s Class 2A LaSalle-Peru Regional to clinch Yorkville’s fifth championship in six years. Montini won the 2011 title over Marmion and Yorkville.
“Going into the final round, we were up by four,” Yorkville head coach Joe Fornell said. “Marmion had three more finalists than we did, but we made up for that with bonus points all day. Going into the final round, every match we won, we won by a pin except for one match. We scored something like 46 bonus points that day, so that carried us through.
“We won some big matches out of Jacob Hurt, and Tyler Wilkinson pinning for third place was huge for us to get those points,” Fornell said.
Host LaSalle-Peru finished a distant third with 144 points while Pontiac was fourth with 123 points in the nine-team regional.
Yorkville will now advance to the Sycamore Dual Team Sectional on Feb. 21 against Washington, winner of its own regional championship.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” Fornell said. “They did everything we asked of them and they wrestled hard. You could tell they just kept pushing harder and harder. That’s a credit to them stepping up and getting the job done.”
In addition to Yorkville’s overall team finish, the Foxes had five individual regional champions and will advance 10 wrestlers into the Sterling Sectional, which begins Friday and resumes Saturday.
The top three individuals in each weight class will advance to Assembly Hall in Champaign for the state finals Feb. 16-18.
“Our sectional is going to be tough,” Fornell said. “We just want to focus individually right now. It’s the time of year when you can be a little bit selfish. We don’t have a team score to focus on right now. We’re going to see what we need to do to qualify.”
Yorkville’s first regional championship of the day came in the 132-pound weight class as Hurt, a senior, won a 10-9 decision over Morris’ Justin Barkley in the finals. Previously, Hurt (20-17) pinned LaSalle-Peru’s Jake Nolan and pinned Pontiac’s Eric Demattia in the semifinals.
“He’s real thrilled about it, and so are we,” Fornell said. “He’s really coming on at the end of the year and working really hard. He’s a great kid. He’s a great student. He comes from a wonderful family. We couldn’t be more happy for him. He might be the sleeper in the sectional.”
Senior Connor Bass improved to 31-4 with his regional title at 145. He pinned Wheaton St. Francis in 4:27 to start the bracket and pinned Morris’ Cody Decker in the semifinals at the 1:00 mark to meet Marmion’s Ryan Riggs in the finals. Bass won an 11-3 major decision over Riggs.
Senior Clayton Bass (34-5) also clinched a regional title, defeating Marmion’s Sam Kellett by a 4-2 decision for the 152-pound championship. He pinned Ottawa’s Kyle Damyen in 1:58 and pinned Glenbard South’s Frank Fagiano in just 56 seconds in the semifinals.
“Connor and Clayton both wrestled really well,” Fornell said. “The Marmion kids are tough. They’re well-coached and they don’t back down. They both had Marmion wrestlers in the finals and they were able to keep it close. Hat’s off to them; they’re a wonderful program. Connor and Clayton keep their matches under control all the time.”
Senior Steve Pozeg enjoyed a regional title at 170 to improve to 28-4 this season. He pinned LaSalle-Peru’s Ryan Galletti in the semifinals to meet Streator’s Ryan Sedlock in the finals. Pozeg pinned Sedlock in 5:05 for the win.
“Steven scored the most points for us all day. He was able to max out at 24 points so we were happy to see that,” Pozeg said. “He’s in the mind frame now that he can dominate people and he’s starting to expect a lot out of himself.”
Senior Seth Gonzealez made his way into the 285-pound finals where he won a 10-4 decision over Pontiac senior Quinn Bullard to clinch the championship and improve to 33-4 overall. Gonzealez opened with a pin against Wheaton St. Francis in 2:20, and pinned Ottawa in 2:57 in the semifinals.
“He’s worked hard and he’s a great kid,” Fornell said. “He wrestled a good wrestler from Pontiac in the finals and he dominated the match. He’s getting a lot of confidence and peaking at the right time.”
Yorkville freshman Brody Sharp placed third at 106 to advance to sectionals. He lost his semifinal match to eventual champion Jordan Lind of Pontiac, but pinned Wheaton St. Francis in 19 seconds in the wrestlebacks and won an 8-0 major decision over LaSalle-Peru in the finals.
Sophomore Gunnar Hjorth lost to Morris by major decision in the 113-pound semifinals, but battled back by pinning Wheaton St. Francis in 3:11, and pinned LaSalle-Peru’s Blake Billig in 3:12 in the finals to advance to sectionals.
At 138, junior Brennan Sharp placed second overall to improve to 18-18. He pinned LaSalle-Peru’s Alec Freschi at the 5:30 mark of his semifinal match, but lost by tech fall (19-4) to Marmion senior Angelo SIlvestro.
At 160, Wilkinson, a sophomore, lost his second-round bout to eventual champion Alex Friedman of Pontiac, but won an 8-3 decision over Marmion in the wrestlebacks and ended his day by pinning Morris’ Ben Cryder in 4:31 to finish third and advance to sectionals.
Junior Bobby Schillinger also enjoyed a third-place finish at 182. He lost his first bout to Morris’ Nik Countryman in the semifinals, but pinned Glenbard South’s Steven O’Rourke in 3:22 and won a 6-0 decision over LaSalle-Peru’s Ryan Marlett in the finals.
Yorkville senior Brock Diehl placed fourth at 126, dropping an 8-2 decision to Glenbard South’s Jon Aloff in the finals to finish 2-2 on the day while senior Dan Scott also finished fourth at 195. He finished 1-2 after an 8-5 loss to Ottawa’s Alex Fuentes in the finals.