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SEE INTERVIEW WITH EDWARDSVILLE WRESTLING COACH JON WAGNER:
O'FALLON – Edwardsville's wrestling team took to the mats for the first time since their ninth-place finish in the Al Dvorak Tournament in suburban Chicago right before Christmas Wednesday night and scored a 54-10 dual-meet Southwestern Conference win over O'Fallon on the road.
The win put the Tigers 17-2 overall on the season and 4-0 in the SWC with the Cheesehead Tournament in Kaukauana, Wis., on the horizon for EHS this weekend.
A good number of Edwardsville's wins on the night came in the third period or in overtime Wednesday; to Tiger coach Jon Wagner, that's a good sign. “The kids are in pretty good shape,” Wagner said. “I think that they believe that if they're down, they can come back; O'Fallon's got some tough kids who came out strong.
“We gave up some points early but to the kids' credit, they kept battling back and we won a couple of those.”
Wagner cited 145-pounder Will Zupanci, who trailed 3-1 late in his bout with Mike Faulkner but got a late takedown of Faulker to tie the bout at 3-3 and send it into overtime, when he got a quick takedown at the start of OT to take a 5-3 win. “It's a great win,” Wagner said of Zupanci's victory. “We've got a tough schedule and some of those guys, their records are around .500, but they're good wrestlers, we're happy with them – they're young, they just have to keep battling.”
Wednesday's meet got started with the 170 bout which saw Eric Epenesa drop a 20-8 decision to Jack Bond to give the Panthers a 4-0 lead at the start for the major decision, but at 182, Riley Scheffel answered right back to put the Tigers ahead at 6-4 with a 3:57 pin of Nathan Vasquez and Sam Martin scored a 1:59 fall of Moises Navarro at 195 to extend the EHS lead to 12-4. Josh Anderson then scored a 16-0 technical fall over Sam McCoy for five more team points for the Tigers; the Panthers' Mason Baker then got a 3-0 win over Lloyd Reynolds at 285 to cut the Tiger lead to 17-7 heading into the lightweight bouts.
Grant Matarelli opened those bouts in fine fashion by getting a 3:01 pin over Austin Kostedt at 106, followed by Maxan Karnes taking a forfeit win at 113 to bring up Noah Surtin at 120; Surtin, one of the top-ranked wrestlers in the state at his class, scored a 2:53 pin over Gabe Thomas to put the Tigers ahead 35-7. The Panthers' Andrew Nunez then defeated Jack Evans 7-0 at 126 to cut the lead to 35-10, but Luke Odom, wrestling at 132, got the lead to 41-10 with a 3:04 fall over Kaleb Neuwirth to lead into the middleweight bouts.
Dylan Wright opened those bouts with a tough 5-4 win over Alex Fulton as Wright, trailing 4-2 through two periods, closed out the match with an escape and takedown for the final three points of the bout, leading to Zupanci's overtime win over Faulker to make the team score 47-10 in Edwardsville's favor.
Drew Gvillo then defeated Aaron Johnson 13-2 at 152 and Caleb Harrold closed out the meet with a come-from-behind, 9-7 overtime win over Damien Ross at 160.
Following this weekend's Cheesehead Tournament, the Tigers host a Jan. 11 triangular meet with Alton and Belleville Althoff, with bouts beginning at 6 p.m., then head to CBC to take on the Cadets on the road at 5 p.m. Jan. 12.
