ROCK FALLS – The Class 1A Rock Falls Dual Team Sectional couldn’t have started out at a better weight class for Harvard on Tuesday night.

With Sterling Newman Central Catholic’s strength lying in the lower weights, the Hornets were able to build a big lead when the dual started at 195 pounds, and they were able to sprinkle in a few key wins later on to defeat the Comets, 43-28, and advance to this weekend’s IHSA Dual Team State Meet in Bloomington.

“Getting that lead was huge,” Harvard coach David Schultz said. “We knew that their strength was at the lower weights; we saw them at sectionals, and we wrestled a couple of their guys at sectionals, and we knew they were really tough down there. We knew that we were going to have to have our big guys come through for us in a couple matches, and they pulled out some big matches for us.”

Nathan Rosas opened the dual with a pin of Dylan Garland in 1:12, then Riley Vest (220) and Jose Pichardo (106) picked up forfeits around a Gerardo Cortez pin of Hayden Witt in 2:49 at heavyweight.

The 113-pound bout saw Harvard’s normal 106-pounder, Brian Hernandez, wrestle up a weight class to take on Newman’s Briar Ivey in a battle of individual state qualifiers. Hernandez was up to the task, notching a pair of takedowns and back points to take a 7-1 lead in the first period; he ended up winning an 8-6 decision.

“We like to come out strong and take that good lead, give the rest of our guys a little break and try to take the pressure off of them,” Hernandez said of the success to start the dual. “We want to make sure everybody has a calm mindset going into their match, make sure nobody feels any unnecessary pressure, try to keep a calm mind and make sure we wrestle our match.

“We like to come out strong and show that we know how to wrestle. We like to wrestle hard from the start, and that’s something Harvard likes to pride itself about.”

Schultz pointed to that bout specifically when talking about setting the tone.

“Brian was probably the biggest of the matches, because he’s bumping up from 106 to their 113-pounder, they’re both state qualifiers and they both won a match at state, so they’re both pretty equal,” Schultz said. “And when you’re pretty equal like that and you’re going up a weight, it’s a challenge, and he really wrestled well and was able to pull out a win for us there, which was great.”

Newman made its move through the powerhouse portion of its lineup. Brady Grennan pinned Connor Flores in 49 seconds at 120 to get the Comets on the board, then Carter Rude won an 18-6 major decision over Marques Merida at 126.

“We start most of our duals down by a lot, and we always seem to come back,” Rude said, “so we were still holding onto a little bit of hope until we were mathematically out of it.”

Daniel Kelly rallied from a 5-3 deficit early in the third period to defeat Aidan Gomez, 7-6, at 132, then Will Rude pinned Daniel Rosas in 2:58 at 138 to cut the Comets’ deficit to 27-19 with five bouts to go.

“I knew it was going to be a close final score no matter what,” Will Rude said, “and I knew I had to get a pin to make it as close as possible, I went out with a head full of steam trying to get that pin as fast as possible.”

Harvard’s Ivan Rosas broke Newman’s string of wins with an 11-2 major decision over Brendan Tunink at 145, but Mason Glaudel got Newman back within 31-22 with a 9-3 win over Kaden Vest at 152, meaning the Comets were only down nine with three bouts remaining.

But Harvard had the perfect wrestler in the perfect position, and Bailey Livdahl ended it in the next match. The 160-pounder pinned Tom Powers in 1:36 to secure the dual victory, giving the Hornets an insurmountable 37-22 lead with two matches left.

“I love being in that position. I’ve been there a lot of times. It wasn’t anything new, and I got it done to help my team move on,” Livdahl said. “I wanted the win, but when we were warming up, I saw the fear in his eyes, and I went out there and worked my [butt] off to get the pin, we got the win, and now we’re heading down to Bloomington.”

“That helps, having a guy that’s pretty reliable for us there in that spot, and is able to go out and get pins if we need it,” Schultz added. “He did a really good job for us.”

Newman notched one last win, as Hunter Luyando pinned Caden Scott in 1:25 at 170 pounds, but Gabe Sanchez finished off the win in style for Harvard with a pin of Chris Accardi in 2:20 at 182.

“Newman always has good wrestlers, and we know their lineup is solid,” Hernandez said. “Our lineup was solid too, and we always go out and try to be the better wrestler in our match. We just want to prove that we’re better than our opponent.”

Now, the Hornets will set their sights on making some noise this weekend at the IHSA Dual Team State Meet in Bloomington. Success will hinge on doing the same things that have helped them get to this point.

“We’ve got to continue doing what we did today; we can’t go out there and give up pins. If we’re in a tough match and we know that we’re up against it, we can’t give up pins, we’ve got to keep it to decisions and majors,” Schultz said. “We’ve got to get the bonus points where we’re able to, and our other guys have to preserve those bonus points if they can’t pull out the win in their match.”

“We’ve got to keep our conditioning up, we’ve got to keep everything going pretty smooth at practice, keep our weights down,” Livdahl said. “We’re contenders, we definitely made that known tonight, but we’ve just got to go down there and work our [butts] off and we’ll be fine.”