Photo Gallery | Lightweights lift SJO in home win over Clinton

ST. JOSEPH - The St. Joseph-Ogden wrestling squad won seven out of the nine lightest weight classes on the way to a 56-36 win last night over Clinton. Here are photos from last night's action-packed meet against the Maroons.

Hunter Ketchum rolls Clinton's Aric Oliver to his back
Spartan's Hunter Ketchum rolls Clinton's Aric Oliver to his back in their 182-pound match on Thursday in the Main Gym at St. Joseph-Ogden High School. Ketchum, competing in second season, picked up his first varsity win with pin at 2:55.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Fans cheer after St. Joseph-Ogden 182-pounder Hunter Ketchum
Fans cheer after St. Joseph-Ogden 182-pounder Hunter Ketchum's win over Clinton's Aric Oliver. Ketchum's victory put the first six point on SJO's side of the scoreboard.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


SJO's Peyton Sarver
SJO's Peyton Sarver tries to drive Kael Morlock face down into the mat during their 195-pound match. Sarver battled valiantly for nearly six minutes before suffering a loss by pin with 8 seconds left on the clock. Fall 5:52

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Peyton Sarver
Peyton Sarver overpowers Clinton's Kael Morlock during second period action in their 195-pound match. Sarver is one for four seniors on this year's Spartan wrestling team.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Wrestling at 285-pounds, SJO wrestler Quincy Jones looks for a shot in on Clinton's Dawson Thayer. Thayer went on to beat the Spartan in the first period by pin.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Clinton's Dawson Thayer wrestles Spartans' Quincy Jones.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Jackson Walsh
Jackson Walsh shoots in for a takedown on Clinton's Jeremiah Ortiz during the 106-pound match. Walsh prevailed with pin at 4:47. Earlier in the triangle meet on Thursday, Walsh suffered defeat by El Paso-Gridley's Nolan Whitman by way of a first period pin.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


With the crowd cheering behind him, 106-pound wrestler Jackson Walsh from SJO celebrates his win over Clinton's Jeremiah Ortiz. Walsh, a sophomore

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


St. Joseph-Ogden's Emmitt Holt dumps Clinton's Gabe Walker to the mat during their 120-pound bout. Holt, the only junior this year's squad, ran up the match score up to a 20-3 tech fall and tallied his second win of the day. Earlier in SJO's first match of the evening, Holt defeated El Paso-Gridley's Caleb Graham with a second period pin.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Spartans' Holden Brazelton somersaults out of a takedown attempt by Clinton's Cayden Poole in their 132-pound match. Brazelton, who finished 6th at last year's state finals as a 120-pound freshman, destroyed Poole by major decision, 11-2.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


SJO's Holden Brazelton
SJO's Holden Brazelton tries force Clinton's Cayden Poole out of a neck bridge in their 132-pound match. Brazelton, who finished 6th at last year's state finals as a 120-pound freshman, destroyed Poole by major decision, 11-2.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Student fans and members of the St. Joseph-Ogden wrestling team cheer for Holden Brazelton at the end of the second period during his match against Clinton's Cayden Poole.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Holden Brazelton
Holden Brazelton scores a takedown in his 132-pound match against Clinton's Cayden Poole.

Media/Clark Brooks


Representing SJO in the 138-pound weight class against Clinton, Landen Butts was all business in his match against Maroons' Sable Taylor. Butts crafted a 16-0 techinical fall to win the bout. Earlier in the evening, the sophomore lost to El Paso-Gridley's Tyler Roth by pin. Tech Fall 16-0

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Coy Hayes looks for an attack
After earning back points, Spartans' Coy Hayes looks for an attack on Clinton's Russel Stamp. Hayes won the 152-pound match in the second period by pin.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


SJO wrestler Maddie Wells
SJO wrestler Maddie Wells tries score points on Clinton's Ariana Humes during their 120-pound match. Wells, a freshman, earned six points for the Spartans after pinning Humes at 2:48.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Maddie Wells is declared winner
Maddie Wells is declared winner after pinning Clinton sophomore Ariana Humes.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


St. Joseph-Ogden wrestler nearly pins a Clinton grappler during the 120-pound exhibition match.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Brazelton, Hayes place at Rex Avery PORTA Invite

PETERSBURG - A pair of St. Joseph-Ogden wrestlers placed at the annual Rex Avery PORTA Invite on Saturday, December 9. Holden Brazelton (9-0) won the 132-pound title, and Coy Hayes (5-2) finished 5th in the 157-pound bracket.

Brazelton made quick work of his first three opponents the way to the title.


Holden Brazelton looks for a shot in on Clifton Central's Kayden Cody. The St. Joseph-Ogden's senior won the 138-pound title at the PORTA Invite. Photo: PhotoNews Media

Twenty-four seconds into the second period, the SJO senior secured a tech fall over Cumberland sophomore Jaxson Dukeman. Warmed-up, he ended his next match against Sacred Heart-Griffin's Kenneth Lockhart with pin in 44 seconds.

His semifinal match against LeRoy's Kobe Brent lasted 32 seconds longer, sticking him at 1:16. In their previous meeting in a dual meet at St. Joseph-Ogden on December 3, Brazelton took down Brent 7-1 on his home mat.

In the championship match, Brazelton squared off with Farmington senior Keygan Jennings, whose day and path into the final nearly mirrored Brazelton. After the dust had settled, Brazelton came out on top with a 1-0 decision.

In the 157-pound division, Coy Hayes faced Kewanee's Wayland Lambert in the second round. Forty-two seconds into the bout, Hayes went up 2-0 on a takedown and almost a minute later got the slap, pinning Lambert with 17 seconds to go in the first period.

Hayes' win put him in the path of Shelbyville's undefeated Ryne Peavler (12-0), who beat him soundly in six minutes, 15-0.

During his next match against LeRoy's Bo Zeleznik, Hayes struggled, nearly losing in the first period. Starting the second period down, 5-1, the SJO sophomore scored eight unanswered points to win the match, 9-5.

Advancing to the fifth place match, Hayes defeated Canton's Greene by pin 14 seconds into the third period.

Also representing St. Joseph-Ogden at the invitational meet were: 113- Jackson Walsh, 120- Camden Getty, 126- Eli Birt, 138- Landen Butts, 144- Alex Vaughn, 150- Logan Xiao, 165- Devan Swisher, 175- James Barron, 190- Corbin Smith, 215- Qunicy Jones, and 285- Brodie Harms.

Out of the 30 teams competing earlier this month, the Spartans finished 14 in the team standings with 86.5 points.



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St. Joseph-Ogden finishes 7th holiday wrestling tournament

SPRINGFIELD - The Spartans defeated Hoopeston Area 60-18 to finish in 7th place in the Bronze Division at ABE's Rumble.

Banded together, the top 16 grapplers from St. Joseph-Ogden competed in nine duo meets in two days at the Bank of Springfield Center.

After enjoying a first-round bye in the four-match pool round, Brandon Goodwin, Logan Xiao, Devan Swisher, Khaden Hallowell, Emmitt Holt, and Holden Brazelton delivered victories in the ten-point loss to their first opponent, Anna-Jonesboro, 43-32.

In the third bout, SJO won four of the 14 possible matches, falling 42-19 to Auburn.

Devan Swisher pinned Jasen Verry in the third period of the 157-pound match at 4:12. Wrestling at 106 pounds, Holt, a senior, stuck George Piazza at the one minute and seven seconds mark for six points.

Jackson Walsh picked up his first W at the two-day event with an 8-2 decision in the 113-pound division over Jasmine Brown. SJO got a major decision from Landen Butts after he shut out Noah Duncan 8-0.

Brazelton (10-1) suffered his first loss of the season at the hands of Trojan Anthony Ruzic in their 132-pound match. Ruzic outmanuevered the Spartan junior, 8-3

Recovering their composure after the dominating loss at the hands of the Trojans, SJO rolled over Mercer County, 51-29.

Swisher (157), Vance McComas (165), Khaden Hallowell (190), Holt (106), Walsh (113), Maddie Wells (126), and Goodwin logged wins by fall or forfeit.

Only two matches went the distance. Sophomore Camden Getty won his over Mercer County's Miles Ward, 18-13, while Butts fell 18-2 to Eagles' Ethan Monson.

In their final pool match, the Spartans fell to Olympia, 60-24. SJO notched four wins thanks to Brazelton, Holt, McComas, and Swisher.

McComas was awarded a forfeit at 165-pounds, and Swisher, as well at 157 pounds. Holt beat Olympia's Noah Whiteside by pin at 3:09 in their 106-pound match, and Brazelton made quick work of the Oly's Landon Smith via 30-second pin.

The Spartans finished 4th pool action behind Olympia in first, Anna Jonesboro in second place, and Auburn in third. Mercer County finished under SJO in 5th place.

Advancing to the Bronze Division, St. Joseph-Ogden defeated Shelbyville 48-33. The team dropped the next two matches, first Tremont (51-29) and then against Robinson (48-34).

In the final dual for the squad in 2023, the Spartans won ten bouts by fall or forfeit. Brodie Harms, Wells, Brazelton, Xiao, and Hallowell recorded first-period wins by pin. Holt secured his final victory of '23 in the second period, sticking Cornjerkers' Charlie Flores at 2:57.

The Spartans tallied 60 points against Hoopeston Area to secure a 7th-place finish out of a pool of 16 teams in the division.

This year's contingent competing at the annual holiday grappling event included Brodie Harms, Khaden Hallowell, Chaz Bowlin, Vance McComas, James Barron, Jonathan Moore, Nathan Daly, Logan Xiao, Thomas Ware, Brandon Goodwin, Landen Butts, Holden Brazelton, Maddie Wells, Camden Getty, Jackson Walsh, Emmitt Holt, Corbin Smith, and Devan Swisher.


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Brazelton takes another step up the podium, SJO sophomore finishes third at state wrestling

St. Joseph-Ogden's Holden Brazelton celebrates his win over Coal City's Jake Piatak with assistant coach Shawn Freeman after his Class 1A 132-pound consolation semifinal at the 2023 IHSA Individual Wrestling State Finals on Saturday. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Top Left: St. Joseph-Ogden's Holden Brazelton is all smiles while on the podium with his third place medal during the awards ceremony for the 132-pound Class 1A weight class.

Top Right: Brazelton tosses Coal City's Jake Piatak to the mat during their consolation semifinal.

Below: One match away from finding himself in a state title match, Brazelton wrestles West Marian's Vance Williams in the second semifinal match in the bracket. Williams shutout the SJO two-time state finalist 7-0. (Photos: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)


Working to keep Coal City's Jake Piatak on his back during their consolation semifinal on Saturday, the SJO sophomore, who was up 4-0 after the first period, advanced to the third-place match thanks to a 6-2 decision. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

**Correction** In the second photo from the bottom the caption was incorrect. Brazelton was not wrestling Wyatt Doty, but West Marian's Vance Williams. The caption was updated on 2/22/23 to reflect the correct match.


Brazelton notches 2 wins for SJO on Tuesday

Holden Brazelton
ST. JOSEPH - St. Joseph-Ogden's Holden Brazelton tries to roll Clifton Central's Kayden Cody to his back in the third period of their 138-pound match at Tuesday's marathon triangle meet. Brazelton, a finalist in last February's state tournament, defeated Cody by Major Decision, 15-1. After a half dozen exciting matches, the Spartans defeated the visiting Comets by a narrow 40-35 decision. Brazelton picked up his second win in the team's next match against the Oakwood-Salt Fork Coop, defeating Jack Ajster, 9-2.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Photo Gallery | Spartans notch win #18 to finish the season above .500

ST. JOSEPH - The SJO wrestling program went 3-0 on Saturday to finish the regular season dual schedule with an 18-16 record. St. Joseph-Ogden defeated Decatur MacArthur 54-21, Decatur Lutheran 72-9, and Hoopeston Area, 50-26.

Here are moments and memories from the Spartans' final match of the day against the Cornjerkers.


Hoopeton's Anthony Zamora spins around SJO's Carlson Sarnecki during the first period of the 170-pound match. Moments later Zamora pinned Sarnecki for his team's first win of the match.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Peyton Sarver
Grinning ear-to-ear Peyton Sarver celebrate his 39-second pin over Hoopeston's Bryson Baker.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Owen Birt works toward keeping head control
SJO's Owen Birt works toward keeping head control on Hoopeston's Landen Mills during their 220-pound match on Saturday afternoon. It took the senior just 1:31 for a first period pin to secure the win.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Quincy Jones pins Cornjerkers' Nick Brown during their 285-pound match.
Spartan wrestler Quincy Jones pins Cornjerkers' Nick Brown during their 285-pound match.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Camden Getty and Karleigh Spain cheer for a teammate
SJO wrestlers Camden Getty and Karleigh Spain cheer for 285-pound teammate Quincy Jones after his second period pin over Hoopeston's Nick Brown.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Owen Birt offers words of advice
Owen Birt offers words of advice to teammate Jackson Walsh (right) before he heads out to wrestle Hoopeston Area's Owen Garrett for the 106-pound bout.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Coach Gallo and Thompson
SJO assistant coach Sean Thompson and head coach Bill Gallo yell instructions to 106-pound wrestler Jackson Walsh during the team's match against Hoopeston Area.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


SJO's Jackson Walsh scoots around Hoopeston's Owen Garrett
SJO's Jackson Walsh scoots around Hoopeston's Owen Garrett during their 106-pound match. Up 2-0 at the end of the first period, Walsh took 22 seconds in the second period to win his third match of the day.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Sophomore grappler Jackson Walsh
Sophomore grappler Jackson Walsh lets out a roar after a second period pin at 2:22 on Cornjerkers' Owen Garrett. Walsh, who wrestled in two other matches, finished the day undefeated.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Brandon Goodwin wrestles Hoopeston's Aiden Bell
SJO's Brandon Goodwin wrestles Hoopeston's Aiden Bell in the 126-pound match. Surviving three rounds, Goodwin fell by major decision, 13-0.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


SJO's Holden Brazelton lifts Cornjerkers' Rsiah Jones for a throw. Brazelton cruised to a 16-0 tech fall.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Holden Brazelton wrestles Rasiah Jones at 138
Ashley Brazelton watches and records her son, Holden, while he piles on points on his way to a 16-0 technical fall on Hoopeston's Rasiah Jones during their 138-pound match.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


SJO's Vance McComas
145-pounder David Bell from Hoopston tries to pull off a single-leg takedown on SJO's Vance McComas. Despite going the distance, McComas fell by major decision, 9-0.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


Coy Hayes tries to roll Hoopston's Aiden Larkew
Spartans' Coy Hayes tries to roll Hoopston's Aiden Larkew during their 152-pound match. Larkew, who was up 4-2 in the match, was able to prevail with a pin at 5:04.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks


State Wrestling |
Brazelton advances to quarterfinals at state for the Rockets

Unity's Holden Brazelton
Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks

CHAMPAIGN - Unity's Holden Brazelton (47-7) is declared winner of his 150 pound match against Gianni Panozzo from Clifton Central on Thursday at the IHSA Individual Wrestling State Finals. Brazelton won the bout via tech fall, 16-0. The win sets him in the path of Vandalia's Dillon Hinton later today for a spot in Thursday's semifinals.




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