Summary
Lockport came into this past Saturday's regional as heavy favorites, and the Porters mostly delivered on their team expectations. Lockport racked up 209.5 team points, 62.5 more than runner-up Oswego, en route to a second consecutive regional title, and fourth title since 2010. Individually, 11 individuals managed to qualify for next week's individual sectional tournament.
Lockport was led by four individual champions - Brandon Ramos at 126, Shayne Oster at 145, Trevell Timmons at 152, and Ronald Tucker at 285. Ramos won a close 1-0 decision over Oswego's Blake Huffmon to pick up his second career regional title, but his first in 3A. Oster, currently ranked 2nd, became a four-time regional champion, picking up a fall over 6th ranked Jared Ellingwood of Plainfield Central in 5:45 in the championship bout. Timmons won his title with a 5-1 decision over Clarence Golden, Jr. of Bolingbrook. Timmons, visibly frustrated throughout the match by his opponents lack of engagement, became a three time regional champ in as many years with the win. Tucker's championship, a 1-0 victory over Plainfield North's Leo Santos, gave the freshman his first regional title and pushed him to the 40-win mark on the season.
Four more Porters finished in second place. In the marquee match of the tournament, 2nd ranked Abdullah Assaf, back in competition for the first time in nearly two months, squared off in the finals at 120 pounds against top-seeded and 4th ranked Michael McGee of Plainfield East, last year's 106 pound state champion. In a back-and-forth matchup with some close calls and lots of action, McGee pulled out a 6-4 victory over Assaf. At 132, Brendan Ramsey lost by a 9-0 major decision to Oswego's Allen Swanson. At 138, Baylor Fernandes lost by a 7-0 decision to Plainfield East's Zach Krause, currently ranked 4th. At 160, Chandler Proszek came up just short of his first regional title, losing a tight 8-7 decision to Oswego's Dan Risley.
On the third place mat, Lockport found success in three of its five matches. Anthony Molton had no trouble bouncing back from a semifinal loss to Bolingbrook's Dylan Burnowski at 106 pounds, picking up a major decision in the wrestlebacks and then a 17-1 technical fall over Oswego's Sam Saravia for 3rd. Peyton Fernandes, having knocked off the two seed in his first match and losing an overtime heartbreaker to the three seed in the semifinals, also bounced back, winning by fall in 3:23 over Romeoville's Andres Jara to take 3rd at 170 pounds. Similarly, Nick Dado, at 182, took the top-seeded wrestler to double overtime in the semifinals, but came up short. Dado was also able to come back strong, picking up a 4-0 decision in the wrestlebacks, and a 3-0 decision in the third place match over Bolingbrook's Rafael Mendoza, avenging his earlier season loss at the dual meet.
Coming up just shy for the Porters were Yousif Salah and Dan Stojsavljevic, at 195 and 220, respectively. Salah dropped his first round bout to Plainfield's Thomas Gustafson, but bounced back in the semifinal wrestlebacks, scoring a 4-3 decision over the second seeded wrestler in the bracket. Salah got a rematch with Gustafson for third, and got out in front early with a solid takedown, but Gustafson reversed Salah to his back for the fall soon after. Stojsavljevic opened the tournament with a win, but dropped his semifinal match to the eventual champion, 11-0. He bounced back, winning by fall in the wrestlebacks, but came up just short in the 3rd place match, losing a tight 5-3 decision to Jose Altorre of Oswego for third.
The lone Porter not in a place match was 113 pounder, Matt Kronsbein. Kronsbein won his first match by fall in only 0:50, but lost in the semifinals by a 6-2 decision to the top seeded wrestler in the bracket. In the wrestlebacks, Kronsbein came out on the losing end of a 5-3 overtime match, falling to Oswego East's Tyler Eby.
Full tournament results, including brackets, team scores, and team results, can be found at LockportWrestling.com
Photos (Click to enlarge, use arrows to scroll)
More photos (every one taken by Coach Sealy, can be found (here)
