Summary

On Saturday, Lockport hosted its annual 10-team mega-quad, and came out with a 2-1 record on the day, pushing their season record to 17-3 already.  The Porters, currently ranked 4th, were able to pick up victories over #11 Wheaton North and #12 Rockton-Hononegah before dropping their final dual of the day, against #5 Lyons Township, 37-34.

Lockport was lead by Anthony Molton, Abdullah Assaf, and Shayne Oster - the only Porters to go 3-0 on the day.  Seven Porters, however, had two wins on the day as well.  

Each dual had a completely unique and different feel to it, so the following coverage will stray from the usual format and cover each dual individually.  As a result, it will be a bit long, but the sections are clearly labeled for you to jump to what you want to.

#4 Lockport vs. #11 Wheaton North
Lockport started the day against #11 Wheaton North, and that story was pretty typical - solid wrestling overall, with a few close matches that didn't go our way.  Lockport won 10 of 14 matches, racking up bonus points in 6 of the 10 victories, en route to a 42-15 victory.  

Three of the four losses for the Porters came by a combined total of four points. At 138, Baylor Fernandes was deadlocked in a 1-1 tie when he came out on the wrong end of what seemed to be the only scramble that actually stayed in bounds against Wheaton North's 8th ranked Frankie Indelli.  An escape made the score 3-2, but Fernandes couldn't score a last second takedown and dropped the decision.  At 170 pounds, a true last-second takedown, in sudden victory nonetheless, did Nick Dado in, as he lost 4-2 on a takedown at the buzzer of the first overtime period.  David Balderrama also dropped a close one, losing 2-1 at 220 pounds.

#4 Lockport vs. #12 Rockton-Hononegah
The dual against #12 Hononegah was the first nail-biter of the day, as the 32-31 score indicates.  Matt Kronsbein started the dual off at 113, dropping a close 5-3 decision, but Abdullah Assaf was able to get a major decision at 120 to take a 4-3 lead.  

The biggest upset of the dual came at 126, when Matt Ramos, ranked 8th at 120, dropped an 8-3 decision to Hononegah's unranked Aaron Leppert.  Lockport rebounded, winning the next three matches; a decision by Brendan Ramsey, followed by falls for Baylor Fernandes and Shayne Oster, giving the Porters a 19-6 lead.  

Hononegah won three of the next four matches.  George Wolfe dropped a decision at 152, Zach Reese was pinned by 4th ranked (at 152) Fernie Silva at 160, and Nick Dado dropped a major decision at 182.  Chandler Proszek had the lone win in that grouping, with a fall at 170 pounds.  Yousif Salah won by decision at 195, giving Lockport a 9 point lead with three matches remaining.  Unfortunately, Lockport lost by fall at 220 and 285, by Hononegah's 4th ranked Blake Zalapi over David Balderrama at 220 and 2nd ranked Tony Cassiopi over Ronald Tucker at 285, marking Tucker's first high school loss, and putting Hononegah up, 31-28, with one match to go. 

Anthony Molton not only needed to win at 106, he needed to win by a major decision, technical fall, or by pinfall.  If the meet ended in a tie, Lockport would lose on the third criteria - penalized unsportsmanlike conduct points during a match (it was a chippy dual, with both teams being penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, Lockport more-so).  Molton, however, rose to the occasion, and continued his fantastic campaign thus far this season, putting on a takedown clinic over his opponent to score a HUGE 18-5 major decision to win the dual for the Porters, 32-31.

#4 Lockport vs. #5 Lyons Township

After such high emotions to end the dual against Hononegah, it was no surprise that the most anticipated dual, the matchup against #5 Lyons Township would be an emotional rollercoaster.  #2 Abdullah Assaf started with a major decision at 120, and Lockport jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead, picking up right where the team left off in the previous dual. 

Lyons responded immediately, with #6 Zach Villareal scoring a 14-3 major decision over Lockport's #8(120) Brandon Ramos.  Villareal lead 11-0 after the first period, but Ramos, while upset with the match as a whole fought hard to keep the match at a major decision.  At 132, Brendan Ramsey was put to his back halfway through the first period by #6 Tyler Zeman of Lyons, and could not recover, losing by fall at 1:27.  

Lockport fought back hard, however, rattling off pins by Baylor Fernandes, #2 Shayne Oster, and George Wolfe at 138, 145, and 152, regaining a 22-13 lead in the team score.

Lyons stormed back, however, winning the next five matches.  At 160, Chandler Proszek fell behind early, but did a great job to hold Lyons 3rd ranked Johnny Mologousis to a 9-2 decision.  Lyons would then win the next four matches, all by fall, to take a 37-22 lead with three matches to go.  

Not only would Lockport have to win the final three matches to have a chance of winning, but if any one of the three victories was by decision, both of the other wins would have to be by pinfall just to tie.  And that's the exact scenario that began to playout, with Ronald Tucker getting a 1-0 decision at heavyweight to cut the score to 37-25, and Anthony Molton pinning his 106 pound opponent in 0:38 to make the score 37-31, giving the Porters a chance to tie the dual with a fall at 113.  

If Matt Kronsbein won by fall, the Porters would tie, so long as there were no team points lost. That almost became a reality, as an incorrect call to start injury time rather than blood time against Kronsbein caused head coach Josh Oster to be vocal enough to merit a warning by the official, but not any penalty.  Kronsbein knew that he needed a pin to win the dual.  His opponent, though surely also wanting to win, knew that his other role was to not get pinned.  Kronsbein was able to control the match, but his opponent did his job, staying out of any position that would put him at risk, and avoided the fall.  Kronsbein won, 6-2, but Lockport ultimately lost the dual by 3.

Just like our earlier loss against Holt (MO), giving up bonus points in our losses, particularly pins, were what truly hurt the Porters, not just the outcome of any one match.  Out of the seven matches lost in this dual, five were by fall, one was by a major decision, and one was by a decision.  Had Lockport held two of these falls to major decisions or decisions, the team would have won the dual outright.  Hopefully the Porters can move forward and improve on this to have more success in their future duals.

Box Scores

#4 Lockport 42, #11 Wheaton North 15
106: Anthony Molton LTHS dec. Anthony Indelli WN, 10-3 / 3-0
113: Matt Kronsbein LTHS dec. Chase Balosky WN, 9-4 / 6-0
120: #2 Abdullah Assaf LTHS fall Colin Rosenberg WN, 3:20 / 12-0
126: #8(120) Brandon Ramos LTHS fall Jaime Suarez WN, 5:19 / 18-0
132: HM Brendan Ramsey LTHS maj. dec. Sam Chesney WN, 17-6 / 22-0
138: #8 Frankie Indelli WN dec. HM Baylor Fernandes LTHS, 3-2 / 22-3
145: #2 Shayne Oster LTHS maj. dec. Duncan Nelson WN, 18-6 / 26-3
152: HM George Wolfe LTHS dec. Riley Lomenick WN, 6-4 / 29-3
160: HM Chandler Proszek LTHS dec. Natan Jara, 3-1 / 32-3
170: Connor Cleveland WN dec. Nick Dado LTHS, 4-2 SV / 32-6
182: Brandon Gambill WN fall Austin Atwood LTHS, 5:06 / 32-12
195: Yousif Salah LTHS fall Bo Niedballa WN, 2:30 / 38-12
220: Bob Wall HM dec. Andrew Balderrama LTHS, 2-1 / 38-15
285: HM Ronald Tucker LTHS maj. dec. Nick Yanan WN, 10-1 / 42-15

#4 Lockport 32, #12 Rockton-Hononegah 31
113: Giovanni Cassiopi HON dec. Matt Kronsbein LTHS, 5-3 / 0-3
120: #2 Abdullah Assaf LTHS maj. dec. Mason Schewe HON, 17-5 / 4-3
126: Aaron Leppert HON dec. #8 (120) Brandon Ramos LTHS, 6-2 / 4-6
132: HM Brendan Ramsey LTHS dec. Chuck Meyers HON, 13-6 / 7-6
138: HM Baylor Fernandes LTHS fall Casey Sauter HON, 2:43 / 13-6
145: #2 Shayne Oster LTHS fall HM(138) Anthony Silva HON, 4:52 / 19-6
152: HM(145) Christian Fausel HON dec. HM George Wolfe LTHS, 8-3 / 19-9
160: #4(152) Fernie Silva HON fall Zach Reese LTHS, 1:25 / 19-15
170: HM(160) Chandler Proszek LTHS fall Nick Benkovich HON, 5:31 / 25-15
182: HM Jordan Shahrikian HON maj. dec. Nick Dado LTHS, 14-4 / 25-19
195: Yousif Salah LTHS dec. David Buckner HON, 11-6 / 28-19
220: #4 Blake Zalapi HON fall Andrew Balderrama LTHS, 1:52 / 28-25
285: #2 Tony Cassiopi HON fall HM Ronald Tucker LTHS, 0:25 / 28-31
106: Anthony Molton LTHS maj. dec. Zach Fausel HON, 18-5

#5 Lyons Township 37, #4 Lockport 34
120: #2 Abdullah Assaf LTHS maj. dec. HM Elias Garcia LT, 15-5 / 4-0
126: #6 AJ Villareal LT maj. dec. #8 (120) Brandon Ramos LTHS, 14-3 / 4-4
132: #6 Tyler Zeman LT fall HM Brendan Ramsey LTHS, 1:27 / 4-10
138: HM Baylor Fernandes LTHS fall Keith Schroeder LT, 1:28 / 10-10
145: #2 Shayne Oster LTHS fall Howard Willis LT, 0:52 / 16-10
152: HM George Wolfe LTHS fall HM Mac Casella LT, 4:36 / 22-10
160: #3 Johnny Mologousis LT dec. HM Chandler Proszek LTHS, 9-2 / 22-13
170: HM Ezra Avery fall Nick Dado LTHS, 1:01 / 22-19
182: Tim Hangsterfer LT fall Yousif Salah LTHS, 1:55 / 22-25
195: Nick Rivera LT fall Austin Atwood LTHS, 3:50 / 22-31
220: #7 Frank Walsh LT fall Andrew Balderrama LTHS, 0:41 / 22-37
285: HM Ronald Tucker LTHS dec. HM Taylor Curtin LT, 1-0 / 25-37
106: Anthony Molton LTHS fall David Letsinger LT, 0:38 / 31-37
113: Matt Kronsbein LTHS dec. Domenic Campo LT, 6-2 / 34-37

Photos

Here are a handful of photos from the dual.  Click on the pictures to enlarge, and scroll between them using the arrows on the screen or your keyboard.
For more photos from the day, you can visit Coach Sealy's photography website.  You should probably just bookmark it anyway at this point.

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