Bulldogs win Neuqua Valley Invitational
By Fred Kroner
Competing short-handed due to illness, the Mahomet-Seymour wrestling team still managed to capture a first-place finish on Saturday (Dec. 3) in the 12-school Neuqua Valley Invitational.
The Bulldogs amassed 211 points. Runner-up Gurnee Warren had 184 points.
Eight M-S wrestlers advanced into championship matches and four were victorious.
Claiming victories were Caden Hatton (113 pounds), Tallen Pawlak (145 pounds), Brennan Houser (182 pounds) and Mateo Casillas (195 pounds).
The Bulldogs had two entries in the 145-pound weight class and Pawlak defeated M-S teammate Donovan Lewis in the finals by pin in 3 minutes and 38 seconds.
Lewis had pinned two opponents to reach the title bout. Pawlak had one other pin for the day.
Hatton allowed just one point in his two bouts, posting 8-1 and 9-0 victories.
Houser registered first-period pins in all three of his matches. Casillas crafted two pins to reach the finals, where he was triumphant, 13-0.
Casillas earned the team’s quickest pin of the day, 54 seconds in the quarterfinals. The second fastest fall was by Pawlak, also in the quarterfinals, in 67 seconds.
The Bulldogs’ other runner-up finishers, besides Lewis, were Nick Demos (160 pounds), Colton Crowley (220 pounds) and Camden Harms (285 pounds).
Harms recorded two pins for the day. Crowley and Demos each finished with one pin.
Cale Hillard took third at 170 pounds after collecting two pins.
Teammates who placed fourth were Colton McClure (106 pounds) and Deandre Hughey (152 pounds). Each recorded one pin for the day.
At 126 pounds, Reese Wilson rebounded from a first-round loss to pin two foes in the consolation bracket to secure fifth place.
The Bulldogs didn’t have entries in three weight classes: 120, 132 or 138.
M-S (3-0) returns to action on Tuesday (Dec. 6) at Centennial in a meet that will also include Chatham Glenwood.
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The M-S junior varsity squad edged Edwardsville and Lincoln Way Central for team supremacy on Saturday (Dec. 3) in a 17-school tournament at Lincoln.
M-S totaled 57 points. Edwardsville finished with 50 points and Lincoln Way Central carved out 48 points.
The Bulldogs’ champions were Gage Decker (152 pounds), Hayden Hart (182 pounds) and Noah Daniels (285 pounds).
Decker won four of his five matches by pin, with three coming in the first period. Daniels recorded pins in all three of his bouts. Hart was 3-0 for the day, with one pin.
M-S’ second-place finishers were Kaleb Collins (145 pounds), A.J. Demos (160 pounds) and Phil Daniels (220 pounds).
Daniels notched three pins. Collins and Demos each finished with two pins.
Other Bulldog placers were Lukas Alstetter (third at 106 pounds), Grant Munds (fourth at 132 pounds), Preston Sriver (fifth at 120 pounds), Christian Valade (fifth at 126 pounds), Noah Frank (fifth at 182 pounds) and Grant Arbuckle (sixth at 170 pounds).
Sriver, Valade and Frank ended with two pins. Totaling one fall apiece were Alstetter, Munds and Arbuckle along with Adam Dobrucki, who did not place at 132 pounds.
