Wrestling: Princeton sends 5 to next week’s home sectional

SHERRARD – Led by regional champion Matthew Harris, the Princeton Tigers will send five wrestlers to their own Class 1A sectional next weekend.

Princeton also had a pair of runners-up in Steven Benavidez and Ace Christiansen, while Carols Benavidez and Carson Etheridge both won third-place matches to punch their tickets to the next round.

The Tigers finished fourth in the Class 1A Sherrard Regional on Saturday, scoring 122.5 points to narrowly miss out on third place; Erie-Prophetstown (123) beat them by a half-point. Newman won the title, pulling away from a 25.5-point lead heading into the last round to beat runner-up Riverdale 167.5-134.

Harris recorded the fastest pin of the final round, sticking Newman’s Carter Rude in 33 seconds in the 126-pound title bout. He took a shot early in the match and pulled it off for a takedown, then got Rude on his back and finished off the bout a quarter of the way through the opening period.

“We wrestled last week, and the match went far into the third, and I just ran out of gas,” Harris said. “This week I had prepared for it to go all the way to the third, but I wanted to get it done as soon as possible if I could. I saw an opportunity and I took it, and finished the match off.”

While happy with the regional title, Harris was already eyeing next week soon after the victory.

“It’s all right, but I’m just looking forward to next week and the week after that,” he said. “That’s where I’m really ready to win and take over.”

Steven Benavidez and Christiansen fell in back-to-back title bouts at 113 and 120 pounds.

Benavidez trailed just 4-2 entering the third period, but was unable to keep up with Erie-Prophetstown’s Wyatt Goossens, who pulled away for a 12-2 major decision.

“I wanted to try and get some takedowns, but he was quicker than me, knew what he was doing. He just got me stuck,” Benavidez said. “I just have to practice hard, figure out what I did wrong and don’t do that next time.”

Christiansen ran into a buzzsaw in Newman’s Brady Grennan, trailing 5-0 after the first period and never catching up. Grennan went on to record a 17-1 technical fall.

“I think working on my feet was probably the best thing I did today. Not a lot of people can stop me up there,” Christiansen said. “But once he took me down, it was a struggle trying to get back up. That was rough.”

But it also gave the Princeton freshman an idea of what to work on in practice this week.

“I think working on getting off the bottom and then working on top will be key,” he said. “You have to get those good wrestlers down, then be able to keep them there to pin them.”

Carlos Benavidez won the third-place match at 132 pounds to secure his sectional berth, taking control early en route to a 19-5 major decision over Orion’s Caden Wegerer.

“Just being aggressive, really,” Benavidez said of the key to his victory. “I just kept working him on top, and whenever we were in neutral, I just kept shooting. That really helped me out in that match.”

He said his conditioning is what he’ll focus on heading into next weekend.

“I’ll probably get in some cardio,” he said. “I was a little gassed in my second match, so some cardio will probably help me out a lot.”

Etheridge was able to take control of his third-place match at 160, and he wound up pinning Newman’s Thomas Powers in 3:11. But he said it wasn’t speed that keyed his finish, crediting his patience instead.

“I just had to slow it down and stick with the basics,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll get going way too fast, and that’s what hurts me the most. But this match, I was able to avoid that.”

He said the key for him next week at the sectional will likely be more mental than physical.

“Just not take anyone for granted, and to believe in yourself,” he said. “I think if you believe in yourself, you can do anything, so I think that’s the most important thing.”

Two other Tigers came up one win shy of moving on, falling in third-place matches. Jesse Wright lost by pin to Erie-Prophetstown’s Nick Ballard at 220 pounds, and Payne Miller was pinned by Rockridge’s Sam Buser at 285.

Sectional qualifiers

Princeton Tigers

Regional champ – Matthew Harris, 126 pounds

Runners-up – Steven Benavidez, 113 pounds; Ace Christiansen, 120 pounds

Third-placers – Carlos Benavidez, 132 pounds; Carson Etheridge, 160 pounds