Bolingbrook beats L-Way Central, Lockport

[curt herron]

By Curt Herron
Illinois Matmen

It's been quite some time since Bolingbrook last defeated Lincoln-Way Central and Lockport during the same season.

And in many of the recent meetings, the Raiders didn't stand much of a chance since they didn't even have full lineups.

But 2010-11 is clearly a different story at the Brook, and that fact was demonstrated clearly over this past weekend.

Coach Rob Kichka's Raiders not only beat the Porters on Friday but then followed that with a victory over the Knights.

Not too bad, considering that Lockport was ranked 12th in Class 3A while Lincoln-Way Central was the 24th-ranked team.

The Porters were affected by the absence of two of their best, Jameson Oster and Shaun'Qae McMurtry, in Friday's 35-29 meet in Bolingbrook.

But the same could not be said of Saturday's 34-16 victory over the Knights in the opening round of Lincoln-Way Central's 12-team Duals.

Bolingbrook won nine matches and recorded some big triumphs over a Knight squad that later fell 30-24 to sixth-ranked Hinsdale Central.

That win over the hosts kicked off a 3-0 showing in the event for the Raiders, who also beat Glenbard East 55-20 and Proviso East 66-3.

"I think wrestling over the Christmas break helped us," Kichka said. "We're in pretty good shape at the right time. I think we've finally got our lineup organized and that's helping us.

"We had a big conference win last night over Lockport and then beating Lincoln-Way Central today and adding two more wins are great for us. Those wins are great confidence for the kids.

"We had been struggling in the middle of our lineup but in the last couple of days those guys stepped up and won close matches. Hopefully we can take this into the next couple of weeks."

Going 3-0 on the day for the Brook were Jordan Laster, Frankie Campos, Lazarick Mahomes, Alfredo Najera, Malik Snapp, Taylor Baird and Chris James.

Meanwhile, Gene Evans, Antonio Govea, Edgar Perez and Sean Raymundo all turned in 2-1 performances in Saturday's competition.

In their three meets on Saturday, the Raiders went 30-10, winning 11 matches against Proviso, 10 against Glenbard and nine against the hosts.

"I thought we did good today," Campos said. "Everybody wrestled really tough and smart. We had a full lineup and I thought we wrestled the best that we have all year as a team.

"This is a big boost for us because we beat two teams that we really haven't contended with.So now that we beat them, we have more confidence that we can beat other good teams."

In the meet with the Knights, Laster beat Tyler Price 6-1 at 103 and Snapp claimed a 5-4 win over Tom Gross at 171 in two key matches.

Campos (119) and James (285) each recorded falls while Mahomes edged Mick Korte 2-0 at 130 and Raymundo won 4-2 at 215 over Joe Lyman.

Baird (189) added a major decision, Arturo Vasquez (140) and Najera (135) won decisions and Andrew Collins (112) suffered a 3-1 defeat.

Against Glenbard East, Campos, Evans (125), Najera, Govea (145), Perez (152), Baird and James all recorded falls.

Snapp won his match by technical fall while Laster and Mahomes both collected major decisions for the Raiders.

Bolingbrook collected 10 pins in its victory over Proviso East, which helped it close out its day with 19 falls.

Campos and James each finished with three falls while Evans, Najera, Govea and Perez each contributed two pins.

"I'm pretty happy with how the team and also how I have been doing," Baird said. "We were missing a lot of guys but we have pretty much everybody back so we've been doing good.

"It feels really good to beat Lockport and Lincoln-Way since we haven't beaten them in awhile. Today we performed as a team and people were trying to get every point they could."

In Friday's win over Lockport, the Porters led 26-24 with three matches left but the Raiders won the next two to wrap things up.

Campos got a forfeit win at 119 and Evans followed with a pin over Tony Rossi before Emeric Williams edged Mahomes 7-5 in the finale.

Najera opened the meet with a fall in 1:02, Vasquez fell 14-1 to Chris Tragos in the next match and Govea won 9-2 over Tim Radcliffe.

Perez followed with a 13-6 win over Dillon McCarthy at 152, Dan Korabik beat Alex Theoharis 8-5 and Eric Dietz pinned Snapp in 2:39.

After top-ranked 189-pounder Brad Johnson recorded a fall to give the Porters a 16-15 lead, Baird pinned Luis Montoya in 5:29.

Shaquille McMurtry pinned James in the heavyweight match but Laster responded with a 5-1 win over Brian Rossi in the following match.

The Porters took a 26-24 lead after Dan Radcliffe won 8-0 over Max Crider but the Raiders got a forfeit and a pin to seal the victory.

Bolingbrook travels to Homewood-Flossmoor on Friday before taking part in Lockport's Mega Duals on the following day.