St. Joseph-Ogden placed second at the Illini Prairie Conference Wrestling Tournament with a 6-1 record. The Spartans swept six duals and fell only to Unity in the championship matchup. SJO opened the tournament with three lopsided wins on Friday.
Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks
SJO's Vance McComas wrestles IVC's Mason Talley in their 190 pound match. McComas pinned Talley at 3:34 for the win. St. Joseph-Ogden went on to win the dual at the conference meet 72-9.
ST. JOSEPH - St. Joseph-Ogden put together a dominant two-day showing at the Illini Prairie Conference Wrestling Tournament, finishing second overall with a 6-1 record and sweeping its six non-Unity duals in convincing fashion. The weekend was yet another sign that Spartan wrestling program is making positive strides back to its position of one of the area's top Class 1A wrestling programs with the return of the Gallo family leading the program after a 16-year hiatus.
The Spartans’ only conference tournament loss came against eventual champion Unity, which secured its seventh league title. SJO controlled the rest of the field, placing ahead of Monticello, Pontiac, Illinois Valley Central, Prairie Central, Rantoul and St. Thomas More.
St. Joseph-Ogden opened the round-robin tournament Friday with a 71-6 rout of Prairie Central, followed by a 72-9 win over Illinois Valley Central. The Spartans closed the first day by overpowering Rantoul 59-9, establishing early momentum behind depth throughout the lineup.
Saturday began with a 48-33 victory over Pontiac, then a 57-24 win over Monticello. SJO capped its non-championship duals by cruising past St. Thomas More 72-12 before setting up a title-deciding matchup with Unity.
Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks
Spartans' Cam Getty settles in for a pin during his 126 pound match against Illinois Valley Central's Bradley Allen.
The championship dual began at 144 pounds, where Unity quickly seized momentum. The Rockets opened the match with a fall by Hayden Smith over Alec Bowlin at 144. The team from Tolono strung together victories at 150, 157, 165 and 175 to build an early 27-0 advantage by controlling the middle of the lineup.
St. Joseph-Ogden stopped the run at 190 pounds, where senior
Vance McComas pinned Bradley Smith for six points. Unity responded at 215, as Chason Daley delivered a pivotal second-period fall over Liam Carter to extend the lead to 33-6.
At heavyweight,
Cam Wagner won his seventh match in two days with a 40-second pin of Christian Sellers. Wagner added valuable team points despite limited competition, recording a pin against Pontiac and collecting multiple forfeits.
As the dual wrapped back through the lighter weights, St. Joseph-Ogden mounted a late surge. Levi Lee earned a first-period pin over Vincent Abon at 106 pounds. Sophomore Ben Wells followed at 113 with two takedowns before pinning Ian Skibbe 38 seconds into the bout. George Hale added another fall at 120 by pinning Deklyn Thomas, and
Cam Getty capped the lightweight run with a first-period pin of Bryson Williams at 126.
The four consecutive wins gave SJO a 36-33 advantage heading into the 132-pound match, which the Spartans had to forfeit. In the final contested bout of the meet, Unity clinched the match and conference title with a technical fall by AJ Daly over Aiden Hundley.
Individually for the Spartans, Getty finished the tournament with five wins, all by pin, with his only loss coming in sudden victory against Pontiac freshman Jack Voigts.
Coy Hayes also posted six wins, including five pins and one forfeit, with his lone setback coming by major decision to Unity’s Abram Davidson.
Carter finished with five victories and one loss at 215 pounds. Four of his wins came by pin over opponents from Monticello, Pontiac, Illinois Valley Central and Prairie Central.
Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks
St. Joseph-Ogden 157 pound wrestler Alex Vaughn pins Rantoul's Jordan Cross in the first period. The Spartans cruised to a 59-9 victory over the Eagles on Friday.
TAGS: St. Joseph-Ogden wrestling second place finish, Illini Prairie Conference wrestling tournament recap,
SJO Spartans conference wrestling results, Illinois high school conference wrestling standings, Unity vs St. Joseph-Ogden wrestling dual
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the starting weight class of the dual meet between Unity and St. Joseph-Ogden. The match began at 144 pounds, not 106. The story has been updated to reflect the correct order of competition. We regret the error.
Freshman Ben Wells rebounded from his quarterfinal loss on Friday, winning his next two matches at the Clinton sectional on Saturday. Facing Olympia's Brandon Gaither (40-9) in the 106-pound consolation semifinal, he struggled and fell 17-1 in the second period, concluding his first season with a 38-13 record. Gaither went on to finish third in the division.
Sophomore Cam Wagner also experienced a tough loss in his consolation semifinal to Peoria Notre Dame's Brady Mullen, who defeated him in just 42 seconds. Wagner, in his debut varsity wrestling season, achieved 37 wins against 15 losses.
Senior Jackson Walsh, finishing his final season with over 40 wins, lost his consolation semifinal to PORTA's Kainin Fillbright, who finished fourth in the 113-pound division. Walsh's prep career ended via pin just 57 seconds into the match.
The fourth SJO wrestler at sectionals, senior Landen Butts, faced a challenging draw and concluded the tournament with a 0-2 record. He wraps up the season with a 35-15 record.
Below is the summary of how all four wrestlers performed at the Clinton sectional tournament:
