BETHALTO - A very young Alton High School wrestling team, with only one senior in its lineup, had some very good performances in a quadrangular meet on Wednesday hosted by Civic Memorial.
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The Redbirds defeated Granite City 45-26, but lost to the host Eagles 33-32 and to Belleville West 45-21, but wrestled both hard and well in what was a very good meet for all involved.
"It was a very competitive meet tonight," said Redbird head coach Eric Roberson. "I thought they wrestled tough, we were a little inconsistent, and we made a few mistakes, and that did cost us a meet. But we did have some outstanding performances as well."
The top performer was freshman Javion Freeman at 113 pounds, who won all three of his bouts, defeating CM's Ben Skaggs 10-7, getting a second-period pin over Granite's Mikal Boyd and a forfeit win against West. The two wins on the mat were "two outstanding wins for a freshman," Roberson said.
Another big performance came from junior 195-pound wrestler Joab Tobin, who had three pins in his matches, winning by fall over Nick Simpson of the Warriors, then moved up a class to 220, and pinned Nick "Suge" Walker of the Eagles and C. Mays of the Maroons. Deontae Forest, who normally wrestles at 120, moved up to 126 for the meet, and also did well, taking a 10-6 decision over CM's Ashton Reed, a 10-4 win over Logan Lacefield of Granite, then wrestled at his regular 120 class against West, and defeated Allen Hardin 17-3.
"Deontae has wrestled up a class for the team, and he's been handling that really well," Roberson said.
For the Eagles, the Tyus brothers scored a pair of pins in their matches against the Redbirds, with Caleb winning at 132 over Antonia Phillips, while Caine took the 138 bout by pinfall over Maurice Lee. Other winners for CM were Abe Woscikiewicz at 145, Colton Carlisle at 152, Peyton Bechtold at 160, Dillon Dublo at 182 and Alex Miranda at 195.
The other winners for the Redbirds against CM were Caleb Christner at 106, Jayson Ragland at 120, and Damien Jones at 170.
Alton's only senior, Kyle Hughes at 285, did have a good meet as well, taking two of his three matches, the wins coming by fall over CM and Granite.
It has been a very busy week for the Redbirds, which also included the snow days on Monday and Tuesday, when classes were cancelled, throwing off the team's routines.
"Snow days never help," Roberson said. "They throw the kids out of their routine, and they get a little distracted mentally. But we all have to deal with it."
The week continues with a dual meet against Collinsville on Thursday, followed by the Mascoutah tournament this weekend. Roberson is also looking forward to the holiday season, where Alton will compete in the annual William "Red" Schmitt Memorial Holiday Tournament at Granite City, which is always one of the premier events in the area.
"We've got the Granite City tournament, and that'll really test their mental toughness," Roberson said. "It'll be a good test for the kids."
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