EDWARDSVILLE - It took two drama-filled third place matches for two Metro East Lutheran wrestlers to extended their seasons another week at the Class 1A Belleville Althoff wrestling regional.
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At 106, MELHS freshman Jakob Schroeder opened the scoring for the Knights with a quarterfinal round win over Carter Mabus of Carlinville. Schroeder dispatched Mabus with a pin at the 1 minute 5 second mark. Schroeder then lost his semifinal match to top-seeded Matt Minnick of Althoff.
He then got a bye that put him in the third place match where he took on 
Wood River’s Sebastian Ledesma, a senior who had previously beaten Schroeder twice. As he did in the earlier matchups, Ledesma took Schroeder down and quickly put Schroeder in a near fall predicament with a tilt maneuver. With Schroeder’s shoulders clearly off the mat and Ledesma positioned on his back as well, the referee slapped the mat for a pin call.
Unknown to both wrestlers, a rare defensive pin had been called against Ledesma and Schroeder’s hand was raised. “I was mad when I heard the pin call because I was sure my shoulders were off the mat,” Schroeder recalled after the match. “Then my hand was raised. I wasn’t sure what happened.” The win was Jakob’s 19th of the season.
At 220 pounds, Timmy Lott started the day with a loss to Andrew McElligott of Althoff, a first period pin in the semifinal round. He then fell behind Peirce Heizer of Red Bud 4-0 in the first minute of the third place match. Lott righted the ship by the end of period one with a reversal and near fall of his own. Lott again turned Heizer’s back to the mat in the second period, securing the fall with 3 seconds left in the period. Lott will have a 24-14 record as he heads to the Vandalia Individual Sectional.
Also wrestling for the Knights were sophomore Andrew Shownes and two seniors - Michael Fields and Caleb Cope. Cope won two of his four matches on the day. He fell one place short of the top three places needed to advance to sectional when he lost to Hunter Morales of Wood River in the third place match. After falling behind early, Cope got a reversal and a three point near fall to catch up to Morales but eventually Morales secured the fall to end the match. Both of Cope’s wins were pins, giving him a team high 15 match-ending pins on the year.
“It was an exciting and satisfying day for us today. Timmy’s got quite a sense of humor-spotting a kid (whom he’s beaten twice previously) four points to start the match,” said Coach Muther. “Having two sectional qualifiers doubles the number of sectionals in MELHS history. And the way it happened with the defensive pin for Jakob- wow! I went kind of goofy for a bit, celebrating. Jakob said he prayed before the final match so I’m glad he did.”
The Knights 36 team points was also a MELHS record and good enough for eighth place in the 10-team field. The team title, won by host Althoff over Litchfield also had high drama, as it came down to the final championship bout in the 285-pound weight class. In that match, Althoff’s Nolan Schmidt pinned Jefferson Thomas of second place Litchfield, making a raucous home crowd very happy.
The Class 1A sectional for all competitors in the area will be held next Friday and Saturday at Vandalia High School. Roxana (Alex McGuire, 145) and Wood River (Zack Kincade, 220) each had one champion.
