Bulldogs on the road to Apollo Conference Championship

By Fred Kroner

Mahomet-Seymour’s wrestling team moved one step closer to an Apollo Conference championship on Tuesday (Jan. 17) by winning two league meets at Effingham.

The Bulldogs thumped the host Flaming Hearts, 77-3, and followed up with a 57-18 triumph over Mattoon.

For the two meets, M-S was victorious in 23 of 28 matches. The Bulldogs corralled 12 pins (10 in the first period), was awarded nine forfeit wins and also had one win by technical fall and one by decision.

In all, 18 squad members had at least one varsity bout.

Bulldogs who were 2-0 with two pins were Justus Vrona (120 pounds) and Camden Harms (285 pounds). All four of their combined pins took less than 71 seconds.

Vrona had a 51-second fall and Harms – who has won eight straight non-forfeited matches by pin – secured a pin in 54 seconds for his quickest fall.

The other Bulldog who was 2-0 in contested matches was  Colton Crowley (220 pounds), who had a 47-second pin to go with a 4-3 decision.

Bulldogs who were 2-0, but received one forfeit, were Caden Hatton (113 pounds), Reese Wilson (126 pounds) and Cale Hillard (170 pounds).

Colton McClure (106 pounds) was the recipient of two forfeit wins.

Two Bulldogs recorded pins in their lone match of the night: Brennan Houser (182 pounds, a pin in 65 seconds) and Mateo Casillas (195 pounds, a pin in 56 seconds).

Other M-S athletes with one win were Camden Heinold (132 pounds, a 15-0 technical fall win), Jackson Golden (138 pounds, a forfeit win), Kaleb Roberts (145 pounds, a forfeit win), Gage Decker (152 pounds, a pin in 5:21), A.J. Demos (160 pounds, a forfeit win), Hayden Hart (182 pounds, a forfeit win) and Noah Frank (195 pounds, a forfeit win).

M-S returns to action on Thursday (Jan. 19) at Pontiac in a meet that also includes Champaign Central.

In another development, M-S’ final regular-season home dual meets, originally scheduled for Tuesday (Jan. 24), have been shifted to Friday (Jan. 27).

The Bulldogs will take on Mount Zion and Taylorville with hopes of clinching the undisputed Apollo Conference team crown.

Individually, seven M-S athletes are currently 4-0 against Apollo opponents and two others have 3-0 league marks.

The 4-0 grapplers are McClure, Hatton, Vrona, Wilson, Hillard, Crowley and Harms.

The 3-0 grapplers are Houser and Casillas.

Two other Bulldogs have fashioned 2-1 records against their conference opponents: Donovan Lewis (138 pounds) and Tallen Pawlak (145 pounds).

The Jan. 27 matches will be the final ones for the team before the Class 2A regional meet at M-S on Saturday (Feb. 4).