Wrestling: Seneca 2nd, Ottawa 4th, Streator 9th in 2023 Fighting Irish Invitational

After a number of photographs and pats on back of congratulations, Seneca senior Chris Peura stood in the middle of the mat with a smile on his face, a medal around his neck and a posterboard with the bracket from his 215-pound weight class in hand.

“This was my last year in this event, so I just wanted to out big,” he said.

Peura captured his third consecutive title at Saturday’s Seneca Fighting Irish Wrestling Invitational, posting four straight pinfalls, including defeating Kewanee’s Alejandro Duarte in 1 minute, 17 seconds in the title match.

All told, Peura’s four matches combined to last 4:35, leading to him being named the Outstanding Wrestler of the upper weights (150-285) for the second consecutive time.

“I felt like my shots were really good in every match and that led to take downs where I put myself in great position to get pins,” said Peura, who had titles at 195 as a sophomore and junior. “Even though some of my matches were quick, I felt like I wrestled patient and took opportunities when my opponents gave them to me.

“(Duarte) got me with a firemen’s carry right away and took me down. But I was able to escape quickly and then took a high crotch shot and was able to take him straight to his back. My first thirty seconds or so of every match I’m just slow to get going. I’m just a slow starter I guess, but once I get into the flow, I’m usually good to go.”

Clifton Central won the team title with 270 points, with Seneca runner-up with 219, Orion third with 165 and Ottawa fourth with 151. Streator placed 9th of the 17 squads with 69.

Fighting Irish teammate Nate Othon also put together a solid day, winning all four of his matches at 157 via pinfall, including the title in 2:36 over Normal U-High junior Joshua Caraballo.

“I’ve come up short every year I’ve wrestled in this tournament, but that was most of the motivation for me coming into today,” said Othon, who finished fourth at 145 last year. “I watched (Caraballo’s) semifinal match, and I knew he would be aggressive, so I just knew I had to be more aggressive both physically and mentally. I was able to take him down right away and that really gave me the confidence to keep working toward the win.

“I just told myself I had to look for my shot and when it was there, give it everything I’ve got. I’m very proud of how I wrestled today and so happy, especially being my last Seneca Invite, that I was able to win the championship.”

Ottawa senior Ivan Munoz earned a pin in his semifinal match at 113, then after building a solid lead, pinned Kewanee sophomore Kingston Peterson with 17 seconds remaining in the third period.

“(Peterson) caught me off-balance and was able to get an early takedown, but I was able to come back quickly and get the match moving at my pace,” said Munoz, who won the title at 106 last year. “I know the pace I want to wrestle at and I’m always going to do what I can to keep it there. Sometimes, like in the championship match, you just have to stay patient and take points when they are there to take.

“I felt like I had put a lot of pressure on him, and I could tell after the second period that he was getting tired. I was finally able to turn him and get the pin. To come back here at 113 and win again is an awesome feeling.”

Streator senior Nicholas Pollett and Seneca freshman Raider Terry each secured a pair of pins to reach the title match at 106. The championship match was tied at 2-all heading to the third period before Pollett earned a 4-2 win.

“I know that I won, but I also know I could have done a lot better, especially mentally,” Pollett said. “I was way too overconfident today and going into the championship match. I’m a senior and he’s a freshman, so I guess I thought I’d have an easier time, but it ended up a very tough match.

“There were a lot of tough kids in my bracket for sure. Coming here thinking it was going to be easy wasn’t the right mindset. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Also earning medals for Times-area schools were: Seneca - Wyatt Coop (113, 5th), Ethan Othon (120, 3rd), Joey Arnold (138, 6th), Memphis Echeverria (165, 6th), Asher Hamby (175, 3rd), Landen Venecia (190, 4th), Jeremy Gagon (285, 2nd); Ottawa - Giovanni Hernandez (106, 4th), Malachi Snyder (144, 3rd), Marek Duffy (150, 5th), Andrew Ristau (165, 4th), Wyatt Reding (175, 4th), Ryan Wilson (190, 3rd), Ethan Day (285, 4th); Streator - Steven Goplin (157, 3rd).