Preview: Week of 11/20/2016
Week 3 will bring us our first competition of the season - five duals over the course of the week.
Tuesday, November 22: Oster vs. Oster. Lockport, ranked 20th nationally by InterMat, opens the season at home against Yorkville High School. Jake Oster, second-oldest of the Oster children, is in his first year as head coach at Yorkville following several years working as an assistant. It's rather fitting that he'll begin his career squaring off against his former high school, coaching against his older brother, Head Coach Josh Oster, and younger brother Jameson, assistant coach. The dual is slated to begin at 5:30pm in the East Campus Gym.
Wednesday, November 23: Lockport travels out to West Aurora High School on Wednesday. Please note, wrestling is scheduled to begin at 4:30pm for this dual!
Saturday, November 26: The annual quad with Minooka, Belleville West, and, most notably, Mt. Carmel, will be taking place at Minooka this year, with wrestling slated to begin at 9am. While we do not know the order of the duals, keep an eye on the twitter (@LTHSwrestling) for any updates. The dual against Mt. Carmel is the most anticipated early season dual in the entire state. It marks former standout Alex Tsirtis's first challenge as he takes over as head coach at Mt. Carmel. While Lockport is ranked 20th in the nation by InterMat, Mt. Carmel is unranked. That said, Illinois Best Weekly has Mt. Carmel ranked #1 in 3A to start the season, with Lockport at #4. Mt. Carmel, back in 3A after a successful season in 2A, returns eight starters from last year, seven of whom have been state qualifiers at some point in their high school career. Lockport graduated only one senior, and returns 5 state qualifiers - as well as two non-qualifiers who were All-Americans this summer. This should be one heck of a dual.
Coach Williams is HOF Bound! On Tuesday, Joe Williams, long time head coach of the Porters, will be inducted into the Lockport Hall of Fame. Aside from coaching multiple state placewinners and champions, Coach Williams instilled a deep sense of passion for the sport and the school in his wrestlers - one of many reasons so many moved on to compete at a higher level, and so many have returned to coach here at Lockport (if not somewhere else). Congratulations to Coach Williams!
Team Preview: Look for a team preview to be posted tomorrow breaking down our possible/likely starters, as well as a handful of our notable backups. We're a deep team, so there are a lot of people to cover. Fun fact: Our IHSA Regional lineup from last season was never the starting lineup for any other event during the entire season.
Week 2 Recap
The main event of this week was Maroon and White Night, taking place this past Wednesday night. The annual intrasquad dual is one of many factors that goes into deciding who will be the starters for the season, at least at this point in time. Note that it is not the factor, there are many others that are just as impactful. That said, it gives us a chance to put on a bit of a show for the fans, and to have our wrestlers get those first-dual nerves out of the way. Here are the results. Apologies for the lack of specifics, such as some of the scores... technology betrayed us this week.
220: Yousif Salah (W) FALL Dan Stojsavljevic (M); [White 6, Maroon 0]
285: Ronald Tucker, Jr. (W) FALL Brandon Baker (M); [White 12, Maroon 0]
106: Matt Ramos (W) MAJOR DEC Mike Kaminsky (M); [White 16, Maroon 0]
113: Anthony Molton (W) FALL Sal Farbo (M); [White 22, Maroon 0]
120: James Pierandozzi (M) DEC Jake D'Angelo (W) [White 22, Maroon 3]
126: Garret Golob (W) DEC Angelo Lee (M); [White 25, Maroon 3]
132: Brendan Ramsey (W) FALL Chris McMurtry (M); [White 31, Maroon 3]
138: Brandon Ramos (W) FALL Matt Mahalik (M); [White 37, Maroon 3]
145: Baylor Fernandes (M) FALL Austin Kolada (W); [White 37, Maroon 9]
152: Zach Reese (M) MAJOR DEC John Pacetti (W); [White 37, Maroon 13]
160: Trevell Timmons (M) FALL Malik Daghash (W); [White 37, Maroon 19]
170: Nick Dado (W) DEC Payton Fernandes (M); [White 40, Maroon 19]
182: Bo Hamlin (M) FALL Lucas Maurella (W); [White 40, Maroon 25]
195: Jack Mladic (W) DEC Chris Walus (M); [White 43, Maroon 25]
Alumni Recap
Shayne Oster (Northwestern University): Shayne had continued success this week, though he tasted defeat for the first time in his collegiate career - a fall coming at the hands of some guy from Penn State named Zain Retherford... That happened at the Keystone Classic, where Oster posted came up one win shy of placing, posting a 2-2 record on the day. Oster's two wins came by fall and major decision, whereas his other loss was a tight one - a 9-7 decision. Oster tied the match at 7-7 after being down by 6, but cut his opponent with 30 seconds left. The escape point and riding time point gave his opponent the 9-7 victory.
Oster was also involved in a wild match on Friday in the Northwestern Dual against Bloomsburg, picking up a 5-4 victory in overtime. The match ended 4-4 in regulation, but originally, the clock had exactly 1:00 of riding time for the Bloomsburg wrestler, giving him a 5-4 victory over Oster. Northwestern challenged the clock timing, and the refs saw that the riding time clock did not stop immediately on a late Oster escape, and rolled one second off the riding time, resulting in his opponent earning no point, and the match would continue. The wrestlers went into overtime, where Bloomsburg was hit for a second stalling call, giving Oster a 5-4 decision.
Brad Johnson (University of Oklahoma): Brad posted a 2-0 record on the week for the Sooners. In Oklahoma's loss to Michigan, on Friday Johnson's 6-4 win in sudden victory was one of only three bright spots for Oklahoma. Sunday, Oklahoma took on North Dakota State University, where Johnson won by a 6-2 decision over Cordell Eaton in the closing bout of Oklahoma's 25-14 dual meet victory.
Shaun'Qae McMurtry (Northern Illinois University): McMurtry had a bit of a rough week, going 1-2 at the Michigan State Open and not placing. McMurtry's two defeats came by 5-2 and 7-2 scores. His victory was a rollercoaster match that ended with a 9-4 victory for McMurtry after one full round of overtime.
Tyler Johnson (North Carolina State University): Tyler's official collegiate career did not start out on the high note we had all hoped for, as he took a 4-2 loss to Makenna Cook of UNC Pembroke in the Wolfpack Duals on Saturday. Johnson bounced back, however, and earned himself a 4th place finish at the Wolfpack Open, posting a 3-2 record on the day. Johnson dropped his semifinal match to redshirting teammate and former All-American Pete Renda by a 4-1 decision, then his 3rd place match to teammate Malik McDonald by a 7-0 score. It's worth noting that one of Johnson's three wins came over Wisconsin's Eric Peissig, who now has the dubious honor of losing to both of the Johnson brothers in back to back weekends.
Vince Dietz (St. Cloud State University): Dietz started his campaign off on a great foot this season, taking first place with a 3-0 record at the Finn Grinaker Open at 197 pounds. Dietz picked up a technical fall, a fall, and then a 7-2 victory over a teammate in the finals to claim the title.
Dan Radcliffe (Central College): Radcliffe had a good week overall, putting up a 3-2 record. Radcliffe dropped a close decision in Central's 20-12 win over Coe College this past Thursday. On Saturday, at the Auggie-Adidas Open, Dan dropped his opening match by a 9-8 score, but battled back with three straight wins to pick up the Consolation Bracket Championship and end the week on a high note.
Eddie Ginnan (Central College): Ginnan struggled this week, going 0-2 at the Auggie-Adidas Open, finishing without placing.
Chris Murino (Central College): Murino, the third member of our trio of Central College wrestlers, took 6th at the Auggie-Adidas Open, posting a 1-2 record on the weekend. After losing by fall, Murino picked up a decision victory to put himself in the 5th place match, where he fell in overtime for the second time in two weeks, giving him the sixth place finish.
Luis Montoya (Elmhurst University): Montoya, back on the mats after missing last season, put up a 1-0 record this week, earning a technical fall in Elmhurst's 39-3 win over Trine. Apologies for missing out on Montoya's results from last week, where he dropped his match in Elmhurst's 35-12 win over Wheaton College.