SUMMARY

On Thursday evening, Lockport's home dual meet schedule came to an end. It was a bit of an early date for senior night, with six weeks remaining until regionals. The Porters, putting a senior-heavy lineup on the mat, still dominated the dual, earning a 61-9 victory over conference opponent Stagg.

First things first, the seniors. We have a lot of them this season. Starting the evening, we honored the following seniors: Abdullah Assaf, Nick Dado, Dalton Dwyer, Sal Farbo, Payton Fernandes, Andrew Gonzalez, Demitri Hernandez, Angelo Lee, Chandler Proszek, Brandon Ramos, Brendan Ramsey, Mike Scurlock, Dan Stojsavljevic, Trevell Timmons, and master statistician Kylie Glinski.

Once the honors and recognition were bestowed upon the rather large senior group, we had a dual to go win. The lineup was much different than any of the other roughly 18,539 lineups we've put out this season, as we tried to accommodate as many seniors as possible on the varsity mat.

The dual started at 220, where Dan Stojsavljevic lost a close 6-3 match to his counterpart from Stagg. Stojsavljevic was down 4-3 with about 12 seconds left when he went for a big throw, and hit it, but a bit too much momentum allowed his opponent to come through, avoid the takedown, and cover for his own as the time expired. Lockport's Ronald Tucker would then take a forfeit victory for the Porters at 285. Senior Sal Farbo got the start at 106, picking up a quick first period fall in his last home dual, while Anthony Molton received a forfeit at 113 to follow. Lockport held an 18-3 lead at this point.

The 120 pound bout was the match of the night, for the second straight night. This time, James Pierandozzi found himself up against returning 4th place finisher Domenic Zaccone, who is currently ranked 2nd at 113 pounds. Unlike the night prior, Pierandozzi was unable to break through his opponents defense, and Zaccone came out on top with a close win, 5-3. (Quick side note: While rankings are generally meaningless in the big picture, this marks the 5th opponent for Pierandozzi this season ranked by IllinoisMatmen in the top-12 of their weights at the time he wrestled them - definitely the most such matches on the team thus far).

Following the loss at 120, Lockport won the next five weights handily. Matt Kronsbein picked up a second-period fall at 126, followed by senior Dalton Dwyer earning a 6-2 decision at 132. Fellow seniors Abdullah Assaf and Brandon Ramos each won by second-period fall in their bouts at 138 and 145, respectively. At 152, Baylor Fernandes earned a 12-3 major over HM Ahmad Suleiman, prior to Zach Reese taking a 2-0 loss to HM Peter Radev as he bumped up to 160 for the evening.

At 170, Nick Dado earned a fall in 1:59:90 - there was 0.10 sec left on the clock as the ref's hand hit the mat. Chandler Proszek, up at 182 for the dual, added a fall of his own over his opponent. The dual was closed with senior Payton Fernandes taking the mat to receive a forfeit at 195. Payton was taken down though - he lost the battle with his chair while getting up off the bench prior to receiving the forfeit victory.

BOX SCORE

220: Anthony Skalski STAGG dec. Dan Stojsavljevic LTHS, 6-3 / 0-3
285: #2 Ronald Tucker LTHS forfeit STAGG / 6-3
106: Sal Farbo LTHS fall Abraheem Mohamed STAGG, 1:48 / 12-3
113: #8 Anthony Molton LTHS forfeit STAGG / 18-3
120: #2 (113) Domenic Zaccone STAGG dec. HM James Pierandozzi LTHS, 5-3 / 18-6
126: Matt Kronsbein LTHS fall Justin Corral STAGG, 3:18 / 24-6
132: Dalton Dwyer LTHS dec. Rushdi Mustafa STAGG, 6-2 / 27-6
138: #4 (132) Abdullah Assaf LTHS fall Josh Gentry STAGG, 2:13 / 33-6
145: #5 (138) Brandon Ramos LTHS fall Jamison Nash STAGG, 3:12 / 39-6
152: #3 (145) Baylor Fernandes LTHS maj. dec. HM Suleiman Ahmad STAGG, 12-3 / 43-6
160: HM Peter Radev STAGG dec. Zach Reese LTHS, 2-0 / 43-9
170: Nick Dado LTHS fall Jordan Watson STAGG, 2:00 / 49-9
182: HM (170) Chandler Proszek LTHS fall Victor Nieto STAGG / 55-9
195: #8 (182) Payton Fernandes LTHS forfeit STAGG / 61-9