Lincoln Cooley picks up clinching win as Sycamore tops Kaneland, sweeps triangular

SYCAMORE – In a four-point match going into the third period, anything can happen. Sycamore heavyweight Lincoln Cooley made sure it didn’t.

Cooley rode out Kaneland’s Jacob Nonnemacher, preserving a 6-2 win for himself and clinching the victory for the Spartans over their Interstate 8 Conference rivals, 39-33.

“I was tired, so it was nice to keep him on the mat,” Cooley said. “[The goal was] to ride him out. And if he does get up, take him back down.”

Cooley finished 2-0 on the day, picking up a win over Joseph Holloway-Rockwell as the Spartans beat Rockford East, 45-24. Kaneland was a 48-25 winner over the E-Rabs.

In the opener between the Spartans and the Knights, Cooley started the second period with a key reversal to go up, 4-1, then got a takedown after an escape.

“Who knows what happens if he does let him get back up,” Sycamore coach Alex Nelson said. “A throw here, a throw there, and you’re giving up six. Being able to keep him down for the third period and seal the win once he won that, we knew we sealed it.”

Nelson said he’s been impressed with the year the sophomore is having and credited senior 220-pounder Dylan Shuman with some of that. Shuman had a 3-1 win against Miles Ripper against Kaneland but was pinned by Zander Guttridge in the East match.

“He’s been solid, being able to wrestle Shuman in the room,” Nelson said. “Shuman has been able to take him on his back and show him the ropes a little bit and what the varsity entails. He’s stepped up and done well and picked up a win there, which was big for us.”

The Spartans had to forfeit three matches but still ended up handing the Knights their first dual loss of the season.

Nelson said the middle weights were a big part of that. Syler Larsen and Brayden Peet had first-period pins and 138 and 145, then Zack Crawford picked up a 9-0 major win at 160, and Colton Berg had a pin at 170.

“Those guys know they need to pick up bonus, and they need to pin if we’re going to make up 18 points,” Nelson said. “Every dual meet they’ve come ready to go. Syler pinned, Peet pinned, Zack majored and Berg [got a pin]. When you’re picking up bonus points like that, it makes wins possible.”

Caden Grabowski started the day with a pin in the third period for the Knights at 120, moving up a class to continue his rivalry with Sam Sprinkle. Grabowski got a first-period pin against the E-Rabs.

“We love that rivalry him and Sam Sprinkle have,” Kaneland coach Ken Paoli said. “Caden bumped from 120 to 126. We knew it was a matchup we wanted. He’d been training for it all week, and he did what he needed to do.”

Cameron Phillips picked up a tech fall against Sycamore’s Jonathan Buckheister. He won by forfeit against East.

“Cameron is looking the best he ever looked,” Paoli said. “The hard thing has been trying to get him matches. We bumped him to 113 today. He’s got a 9-0 record, and he’s looking the best he ever looked. I’m hoping we can get him some more competition so he can show off what he’s got.”

Like Grabowski, Larson finished the day with a pair of pins. Gable Carrick won by a tech fall against Diego Serriteno of Kaneland, then got a pin against East’s Mason Crowe.

“I would have liked to have done a little better but am proud of the guys who got wins,” Paoli said. “Some of our wrestlers came out a little less intense than they would have liked. We’ll get back to it and we’ll look to keep improving.”