Lockport played host to a dual meet against Sandburg on Friday, December 22, followed by a quad in which the Porters hosted Glenbard East, Fremd, and DeKalb on Saturday, December 23. The Porters were unable to secure a winning week, however, posting a 2-2 record over the two day span.
Friday, December 22: Home vs. Sandburg
On Thursday, December 22, Lockport hosted in-conference perennial rival for Sandburg in a dual that was expected to be a close dual, but perhaps no one expected just how much. When the matches were all said and done for the day, the dual had ended in a tie score; each team earning 36 team points. With the dual meet going to criteria, Sandburg was given the win over the Porters, due to winning 8 total matches while Lockport recorded victories at six weights.
Out of the fourteen matches in this dual meet, ten of them were either forfeits or falls, with the other four matches all being decision victories. Obviously, this means the dual could easily have swung in favor of one team over the other, as bonus points were again a key, and again the downfall for the Porters. Winning by fall for Lockport were Mike Kaminsky (106), Anthony Molton (120), Zach Reese (160), and Malik Daghash (170), while Matt Ramos (113) and Baylor Fernandes (152) each came away with a forfeit victory. Unfortunately for Lockport, those were the only wins. In the other eight matches, the Porters gave up four losses by fall, and four losses by decision, leading to the 36-36 tie, where Sandburg picked up the criteria-based victory. With two of those decision losses coming by two points apiece, it was a tough loss to swallow, and again showed the wrestlers the importance of picking up bonus points for the team, while limiting them for the other team.
Saturday, 12/23: Home Quad vs. Glenbard East, Fremd, DeKalb
After a rough loss to Sandburg on Friday night, Lockport looked to bounce back on Saturday, having three separate opportunities to do so. The Porters went 2-1 on the day, taking out Glenbard East 38-31, followed by Fremd, 54-16. In the final dual, however, earlier injuries in the day and some fantastic wrestling by DeKalb resulted in the Porters dropping their dual to DeKalb, that one by a final of 37-26.
Lockport 38, Glenbard East 31
The dual against Glenbard East, if summed up in one word, would be “odd,” from this writer’s perspective. The Porters jumped out to three victories, with Jake D’Angelo and Garrett Golob each earning decision victories at 126 and 132, while Matt Mahalik won by forfeit at 138. Glenbard East was able to get on the board at 145, as Lockport’s Chris McMurtry was unable to get to any solid offense, losing by a 14-5 major decision to GBE’s Alex Posada.
Lockport came back firing, however, picking up three more consecutive wins, beginning with a 17-0 technical fall by Baylor Fernandes at 1:45, taking only 1:20 to earn the win. At 160, Zach Reese picked up a hard fought 5-4 decision over Cole Martin, while Malik Daghash picked up a first period fall at 170, putting the Porters ahead 36-15.
Glenbard East then went on a tear of sorts, reeling off five straight victories, eclipsing Lockport in the team lead at one point. At 182, GBE’s Alec Wolff picked up a win over Lockport’s John Tomas, while Parker Pavlacka-Piel’s furious comeback efforts at 195 came up a bit short, and he fell by way of a 7-4 decision. Pins by GBE at both 220 and 285 gave GBE a 26-25 team lead heading into the final three matches of the dual, where the oddities began.
At 106, less than 0:30 into the match, Lockport’s Mike Kaminsky had gotten to GBE’s Jimmy Espinoza’s legs very quickly. In the process of bringing that leg up, however, Espinoza’s knee inadvertently caught Kaminsky square in the nose. After seeing a trickle of blood, the bout was momentarily stopped, but upon getting up, Kaminsky’s nose was pouring blood, and pretty well smashed up. I am no doctor, but it was clear from an opposite corner that the nose was broken, and Espinoza got the win by injury default. (Side note: X-Rays were in by the end of the quad, and it was a CLEAR break, he did quite a number to the nose!)
Nothing of note happened at 113, with Matt Ramos getting another forfeit on the season. At 12-, however, we had another match end in injury default; this one going longer than the first. Anthony Molton had built a solid lead over GBE’s Reece Martin as they went into the third period. Molton again had Martin on his back, and whilst hopping over, it appeared that Molton’s elbow caught Martin right above the eye, but under the bone, and cut him wide open. This was another situation where the match was called as soon as the trainers got over there, as Martin was bleeding pretty profusely. Molton won by injury default, and Lockport won the dual 38-31. Molton was also banged up in the exchange, getting caught in the chin solidly enough that it was steri-stripped for the time being, but was told he may need a stitch at the end of the day.
Lockport 54, Fremd 16
The second quad of the day featured Lockport taking on an up and coming Fremd squad. In a more run-of-the-mill dual, Lockport came out firing and picked up a solid 54-16 win. The dual started on a great note, as Anthony Crapia gave Lockport a win by tech fall over Jack Riemer, the younger brother of Fremd’s Cole Reimer (who picked up a fall over McMurtry at 145). Baylor Fernandez scored a major decision over a tough RJ Cortez at 152, and the 160 match of Reese v. Kemp will get its own little blurb here. Also coming away with wins for Lockport in the dual by pinfall were Malik Daghash (170), Parker Pavlacka-Piel (195), and Anthony Molton (120), while John Tomas (182), Brandon Baker (285), and Matt Ramos (113) each had wins by forfeit. Jake Lukaczyk scored a 2-0 decision at 126 to close the dual out.
Without a doubt, the marquee matchup of this dual, if not of the entire day, came at 160, where Lockport’s Zach Reese squared off against Fremd’s Adam Kemp. The two have met twice in high school, with Reese picking up a controlling victory last year, and Kemp edging out Reese at Barrington earlier this season. In the rubber match, it was an exciting battle throughout – one without much scoring but some great action. Kemp, son of former Olympian Lee Kemp, came out and secured a takedown in the first period to go up 2-0. Neither wrestler scored in the second, but in the third, Reese managed to tie it up, earning an escape and a stall call on Kemp. Knotted at 2-2, the wrestlers went to overtime, where they went scoreless through the first overtime as well as each of the 0:30 second and third overtimes. Headed into ultimate tie-breaker, Kemp chose to go down, by virtue of having scored first. He came close twice, but was unable to escape from Reese, and by virtue of that 0:30 second ride out, Reese came away on top. It was, objectively, an amazing match for fans.
DeKalb 37, Lockport 26
Unfortunately for the Porters, they were unable to complete the sweep on the day, falling to DeKalb by a score of 37-26 in the final dual of the day. The first match of the dual featured Lockport’s Matt Kronsbein making his season debut, picking up a 6-4 win at 138. Matt Mahalik took the mat at 145, but a late takedown gave Dekalb’s Tucker Ikens the 8-6 win there. Lockport picked up victories in the next two matches, however, with Baylor Fernandes picking up another fall on the season at 152 and Zach Reese scoring a 7-2 win over Christian Komitas, his third win on the day over yet another very solid opponent.
DeKalb, however, stopped the Porters’ momentum and went on a four-match winning streak, picking up a major decision at 170, followed by wins by pinfall at 182, 195, and 220. Heading into the 286 bout, DeKalb held a 25-12 lead, having taken the lead after 182, never to give it up again. Brandon Baker scored a 1-0 win for the Porters in a defensive battle at 285, but Ben Aranda picked up a pinfall over Ryan Oster at 106 to extend DeKalb’s lead. Even after a technical fall by Matt Ramos at 113 and yet another fall by Anthony Molton at 120, Lockport trailed 31-26 heading into the two final matches.
The Porters knew the odds against them were steep – wins at both weights would win the dual, but at 126, the state’s top-ranked Fabian Lopez took the mat for DeKalb, meaning Jake D’Angelo would need to pull a major upset to keep Lockport’s hopes alive. Lopez and his fast-paced attack proved to be too much, however, as he notched a major decision win, sealing the dual. DeKalb was hit for an unsportsmanlike penalty, costing them a team point, but still held a 34-26 lead with one match to go, keeping it out of reach for the Porters. Even without a team victory on the line, Anthony Crapia squared off against Josh Lindemann in another fantastic bout, but ultimately came up just a bit short, falling by way of a 5-3 decision.
It was a closer dual than it seems, but the Porters gave up too many wins by pinfall to their opponents to have a chance. Furthermore, and this is pure speculation on my part writing this, the earlier injury to Kaminski took away some of the lineup shifting that could have led to some better matchups. Kaminsky would have been a favorite over Aranda at 106, and if the Porters bumped from there, we would have been treated to a Fabian v. Molton matchup at 126 that would have effectively decided the dual. A fan/writer can dream! (That said, Molton’s busted chin also made that less likely, for the record)
Box Scores
12/22: Sandburg 36, Lockport 36
145: Tyler Villa CS dec. Chris McMurtry LKPT, 6-4 / 0-3
152: Baylor Fernandes LKPT forfeit CS / 6-3
160: Zach Reese LKPT fall Abdulrahaman Aljazara CS, 1:41 / 12-3
170: Malik Daghash LKPT fall John Pappas CS, 3:11 / 18-3
182: Mike Bosco CS fall John Tomas LKPT, 1:12 / 18-9
195: Alex Hirschfield CS fall Parker Pavlacka-Piel LKPT, 1:31 / 18-17
220: Nate Goodman CS fall Jake Rosin LKPT, 1:41 / 18-23
285: Joe Boyce CS dec. Brandon Baker LKPT, 2-1 / 18-26
106: Mike Kaminsky LKPT fall Dominic Ianantone CS, 2:58 / 24-26
113: Matt Ramos LKPT forfeit CS / 30-26
120: Anthony Molton LKPT fall Jimmy Ferguson CS, 3:16 / 36-30
126: Sam Wojcik CS fall Jake D’Angelo LKPT, 0:32 / 36-30
132: Zach Bateman CS dec. Anthony Crapia LKPT, 8-3 / 36-33
138: Chris Panfil CS dec. Matt Mahalik LKPT, 7-4 / 36-36
Sandburg wins the dual on the criteria of matches won, holding an 8-6 edge in that category
12/23: Lockport 38, Glenbard East 31
126: Jake D`Angelo LKPT dec. Tyler Salvino GBE, 8-6 / 3-0
132: Garrett Golob LKPT dec. Nick Guthrie GBE, 5-2 / 6-0
138: Matt Mahalik LKPT forfeit GBE / 12-0
145: Alex Posada GBE major dec. Chris McMurtry LKPT, 14-5 / 12-4
152: Baylor Fernandes LKPT tech. fall Alec Schulze GBE, 17-0; 1:20 / 17-4
160: Zach Reese LKPT dec. Cole Martin GBE, 5-4 / 20-4
170: Malik Daghash LKPT fall Jake Netchin GBE, 1:56 / 26-4
182: Alec Wolff GBE fall John Tomas LKPT, 1:22 / 26-10
195: Ben Pham GBE dec. Parker Pavlacka-Piel LKPT. 7-4 / 26-13
220: Jesus Lopez GBE fall Jake Rosin LKPT, 2:31 / 26-19
285: James McNicholas GBE fall Brandon Baker LKPT, 2:55 / 26-25
106: Jimmy Espinoza GBE inj. def. Mike Kaminski LKPT, 0:16 (roughly) / 26-31
113: Matt Ramos LKPT forfeit GBE / 32-31
120: Anthony Molton LKPT inj. def. Reece Martin GBE, 3rd period / 38-31
12/23: Lockport 54, Fremd 16
132: Anthony Crapia LKPT tech. fall Jack Riemer FRMD, 16-1 / 5-0
138: Matt Mahalik LKPT dec. Michael Mondus FRMD, 7-4 / 8-0
145: Cole Reimer FRMD fall Chris McMurtry LKPT, 5:08 / 8-6
152: Baylor Fernandes LKPT major. dec. RJ Cortez FRMD, 11-2 / 12-6
160: Zach Reese LKPT dec. Adam Kemp FRMD, 3-2 SV / 15-6
170: Malik Daghash LKPT fall Matt Walker FRMD, 0:26 / 21-6
182: John Tomas LKPT forfeit FRMD / 27-6
195: Parker Pavlacka-Piel LKPT fall Brandon Manual FRMD, 3:31 / 27-6
220: Brian Morell FRMD major dec. Jake Rosin LKPT, 11-0 / 33-10
285: Brandon Baker LKPT forfeit FRMD / 39 - 10
106: Leo Joger FRMD fall Ryan Oster LKPT, 2:25 / 45-10
113: Matt Ramos LKPT forfeit FRMD / 45-16
120: Anthony Molton LKPT over Kevin Chistiansen FRMD, 0:46 / 51-16
126: Jake Lukaszczyk LKPT dec Kevin Valladeres FRMD, 2-0 / 54-16
12/23: DeKalb 37, Lockport 26
138: Matt Kronsbein LKPT dec. Michael Clayton DKLB, 6-4 / 3-0
145: Tucker Ikens DKLB dec. Matt Mahalik LKPT, 8-6 / 3-3
152: Baylor Fernandes LKPT fall Austin Johnson DKLB, 3:37 / 9-3
160: Zach Reese LKPT dec. Christian Kumitas DKLB, 7-2 / 12-3
170: Cobe Schmerbach DKLB major dec. Malik Daghash LKPT, 12-5 / 12-7
182: Logan Roach DKLB fall John Tomas LKPT / 12-13
195: Blah Danaweih DKLB over Parker Pavlacka-Piel LKPT, 1:18, 12-19
220: Christian Coupa DKLB fall Jake Rosin LKPT, 5:32 / 12-25
285: Brandon Baker LKPT dec. George Colbert DKLB, 1-0 / 15-25
106: Ben Aranda DKLB fall Ryan Oster LKPT, 0:50 / 15-31
113: Matt Ramos LKPT tech. fall Blake McGee DKLB, 18-2, 2:58 / 20-31
120: Anthony Molton LKPT fall Blake Hanson DKLB 1:31 / 26-31
126: Fabian Lopez DKLB major dec. Jake D`Angelo LKPT, 15-4 /26-35, then 26-34
DeKalb penalized -1 team point for unsportsmanlike conduct
132: Josh Lindensen DKLB dec Anthony Crapia LKPT, 5-3, 37-26