BC, Kaneland advance one each to state
ROCHELLE — Burlington Central junior Johnny Major didn’t let a loss to a state-ranked opponent undermine his goal of reaching next week’s state wrestling meet at Assembly Hall in Champaign.
The 135-pounder rebounded from a 7-3 loss to No. 4-ranked Brandon Rice of Washington on Friday by fighting his way through three wrestle-backs to reach the third-place match at the Class 2A Rochelle sectional Saturday.
Needing a win to qualify for state, Major (34-9) scored a 5-2 decision over Jaren Glasscock (31-8) of Morton.
“I won one of my matches in overtime, which was pretty big,” Major said of a 2-0 win over Rock Island’s Denzel Gay in his penultimate bout of the day. “This feels good. I want to see how well I can do downstate, but this was the first goal.”
The state qualification is the second of Major’s career. He also reached Champaign as a freshman. He was the only member of the Rockets’ five-man contingent to qualify for state.
Central 215-pounder Jake Turk came close, but he was denied a state berth when he lost the third-place match to fellow sophomore Lucas Joseph of East Peoria in a 9-6 decision. Joseph entered the sectional ranked No. 12 in the state.
Turk, who returned only two weeks ago from a Grade II MCL tear suffered during football season, earned a point for an escape with 29 seconds left in the bout to pull within 7-6. However, Joseph scored a takedown with 11 seconds left to seal the 9-6 decision.
“I thought I could have won that match,” Turk said. “I came in late in the season and I wasn’t really in great shape. I needed to set up my shots more. If I’d done that, I would have gotten more takedowns.”
Though only Major advanced, Central wrestlers went 18-7 at the sectional overall.
“I thought our guys wrestled great,” Rockets coach Tony Rigitano said. “I’m proud of them. They wrestled a tough schedule to prepare for this time and I thought they wrestled well.”
Kaneland sent 11 wrestlers to Rochelle, but only heavyweight Jimmy Boyle advanced to state. Boyle (36-6) beat Marian Central’s Scott Taylor 3-0 in overtime in a semifinal, but he couldn’t crack the defenses of sectional champion Jason Huebbe (30-3) of LaSalle-Peru in a 3-1 loss.
The state qualification is the second straight for Boyle, a senior.
“I wanted to come back out here and show that last year wasn’t a fluke or anything,” Boyle said. “I feel good. I’ve got a lot more work to do.”
Kaneland’s Nick Michels (25-13) fell just shy in his state bid. The senior reached the third-place match at 171 pounds but couldn’t solve Freeport’s Armond Hollins (35-13), who won a 7-2 decision.
“I thought we wrestled hard in every match and none of our kids gave up,” Kaneland coach Monty Jahns said. “Obviously, the competition here is very stiff. Our kids worked hard all year long and improved all year long. I’m proud of the effort they gave this weekend.”
Hampshire qualified four wrestlers for the sectional, but none advanced past the second round as the Whip-Purs finished with a combined record of 3-7.
Crystal Lake Central dominated the meet with champions in six weight classes: Michael Zelasco (112), Clayton Lutzow (130), Trevor Jauch (140), Joey Kielbasa (152), Gage Harrah (189) and Austin Marsden (215). The Tigers advanced nine wrestlers to state overall.