Wrestling: Minooka edges Plainfield East in SPC clash
Minooka edges Plainfield East in SPC clash
MINOOKA – It’s been a few years since a Minooka wrestling team was ranked among the top 10 teams in the state in Class 3A.
But after a 10-2 start heading into this week’s action, coach Bernie Ruettiger’s Indians found themselves ranked No. 7 in the large-school class by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association and Go Earn It Wrestling Apparel.
Some tough times and a lot of hard work finally are paying off for Minooka, and its hall of fame coach is proud of the way that so many have contributed toward the turnaround.
A good indication of the team’s improvement was seen Thursday when the Indians faced a much-improved Plainfield East team in Southwest Prairie Conference action.
Although the squads split the 14 matches, Minooka won the bonus points battle, 13-6, to capture a 34-27 home victory over the Bengals.
“What’s nice about it is that we’re not at full strength and we still won a nice, tough match,” Ruettiger said. “Plainfield East is pretty tough, and they’ve got some good kids. And what’s even nicer is that we’ve both got home-grown kids. We don’t allow anybody from outside to come in, and we tell them to go build their own program.
“We’ve had some down years, but we’re starting to come back a little bit. My coaches are doing a great job. We brought Paige (Schoolman) back and we’ve still got Mike Kimberlin, Matt Harding and Stan Tischer. They’re always beating the bushes to get kids out, and we’ve got over 100 kids out. And we’re starting to compete harder again, and that’s what’s fun.”
While the Indians are understandably excited to be back in the limelight, the Bengals also are pleased to know their program is moving in a good direction. Despite having some holes in the lineup Saturday at the Hinsdale South’s Matozzi Invite, East made a run for the title and placed second to Neuqua Valley by only nine points.
“This was the first time that we got a couple of important guys down to their weight that they’re going to wrestle the rest of the year,” Bengals coach Dave Early said. “Alex Villar at 106 allowed us to get another good wrestler, Ryan Graff, in the lineup. And Elijah Hickman at 182 let us go with Dylan Kurzrock, who are two of our better upperweights.
“Those little things make a huge difference in these close dual meets. The kids wrestled great and they’re the number-seven team in the state for a reason. Our kids have really bought in, and we’re super excited about the rest of the season.”
East (3-3, 2-1) grabbed an early 12-0 lead after Barry Stevenson recorded a fall in 2:37 over Dominic Ruettiger at 132, Tyler Krause followed with a 6-2 win over Cody Hoshell, and D’Anthony Hopkins added a 5-1 victory over Jacob Mumm at 145.
But the Indians (11-2, 3-0) responded with a pin in 40 seconds from Jake Ryan at 152 before Mason Spivey received a forfeit win to tie things up. Minooka moved ahead when Alec Dufour won 6-2 over Jarvis Wardlow at 182 but the Bengals tied it at 15-15 at the midway mark after Elijah Hickman hung on for a 7-6 triumph over Connor Colbert.
Minooka got a 10-7 win from Tyler Haase over Dylan Kurzrock at 195 and Connor Briley broke open a tight match with Kyle Easley by getting a fall in 5:50. But Artese Gregory edged Derek Wentworth 2-1 at 285 and Alex Villar recorded a fall in 1:43 to even things at 24-24.
“We started young two or three seasons ago and we’ve kept building,” said Haase, a senior. “Last year we didn’t have the best season, but we did okay. We ended up losing the regional by two points so we felt this season that we needed to come back and get to state as a team and place there. It all starts in practice by working really hard on drills and conditioning and we have some great coaches.”
The Indians moved ahead for good at 28-24 when Michael Ruettiger beat Ryan Graff 14-3 at 113. East closed to within a point when Anthony Zamora held on for a 3-1 win over Austin Markee and Zach McDowell closed out the meet at 126 with a fall in 4:55.
“We’re definitely finally coming together and getting some momentum,” said Hoshell, a senior. “We’ve been building since freshman year so it’s finally good to be in a good spot right now. It’s special to me since because my brothers were part of the state championship teams so it feels good to be part of a quality team and it’s good to see. It’s very nice that we have two or three people per weight.”