Wrestling: Newman’s Rude returns to lead large contingent of local finalists in Erie

ERIE – Newman senior wrestler Will Rude has been itching to get back on the mat for some time now.

After missing the end of football season and the start of wrestling after surgery on his hand, Rude has picked up where he left off last season.

In a battle of champions from last year’s IWCOA state tournament, Rude defeated Illini Bluffs’ Paul Ishikawa 3-1 in the 138-pound title bout at the Erie-Prophetstown Holiday Tournament on Saturday, riding out Ishikawa for nearly the entire third period to win a 3-1 decision.

“I have nothing but respect for the man. I knew it would be a hard match, and for my third day back, that’s exactly what I needed,” Rude said. “Ranked No. 1 and 2, returning state champs, everyone knew that would be a fun match, and I think we put on a show. His energy and that last 10 seconds where he just went all-out was insane.”

Rude, the 138-pound state champ last year, got a takedown just 19 seconds into the match, then added an escape three seconds into the second period for a 3-0 lead. After riding Ishikawa, the 126-pound state champ last year, for the first 1:47 of the third period, an Ishikawa escape with 13 seconds left set up a final flurry.

Ishikawa took as many shots as he could fit into the final 10 seconds, only to have Rude elude his grasp each time. On the final one, Rude tried to leap over Ishikawa, and the two wrestlers staggered away from each other. The final buzzer sounded before Rude had to endure another attack.

Rude said the initial takedown was the key to the match.

“That was huge, for sure,” he said. “I knew exactly what he was doing; he was going to try and neutralize all my stuff, and I knew I was going to try and stop his, and that first takedown really meant a world of difference. The match could’ve gone very differently if he would’ve gotten it.”

Rude won a pair of first-period pins in the first two rounds, then notched a third-period pin in the semifinal against Sherrard’s Austin Fratzke. He was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the lower weights; Le-Win/Stockton’s Marey Roby won the award for the upper weights.

“It felt great. My third day back, and it was definitely a very exciting third day,” he said with a smile. “I had the energy and motivation to get back into it, but it was rough getting that conditioning back, but we worked through it. I’m still getting there, but it’s definitely coming back hard and fast.”

Rude’s individual title was one of three for the Comets, who also had a pair of runner-up finishes, a third and two fourths to take third as a team with 175 points. Rockridge, which led going into the final round, held on to win the team title with 205.5 points despite not having an individual champ.

The Rockets did have five runners-up and five third-placers, and that depth was enough to counteract the six individual titles Lena-Winslow/Stockton had; the PantherHawks finished in second with 199 points.

Erie-Prophetstown scored 136.5 points to finish fourth, while Illini Bluffs (114) rounded out the top five. Morrison was seventh (89.5), Sterling took 10th (50), Fulton was 11th (44), Polo placed 12th (43), and Rock Falls finished 13th (35).

[ Photos from wrestlebacks at the Erie-Prophetstown Holiday Tournament ]

Brady Grennan and Carter Rude – Will’s younger brother – also won titles for the Comets. Grennan pinned Illini Bluffs’ Avery Speck in 54 seconds at 120 pounds, getting an initial takedown just 10 seconds into the match, then getting Speck on his back before sticking him 44 seconds later.

“I know he’s a very defensive guy, so basically I was going to snap him down with my under-hooks, and then I felt him try and circle with me and I just used his momentum against him,” Grennan said. “I knew I was going to get it done, but I didn’t know if it was going to be done that quickly. I even felt myself that was pretty quick.”

Carter Rude won at 126 pounds, pinning Rockridge’s Jude Finch in 5:23. Finch got the first takedown 1:01 into the first period, then Rude escaped. Rude took a 3-2 lead with a takedown with 1:25 left in the second period, and Finch escaped to tie the score 3-3.

Rude took the lead with a takedown with 20 seconds left in the second, then added an escape with 1:12 left in the third. Finch got a takedown with 59 seconds left to get within 6-5, then he let Rude up to try for a tying takedown – but Rude spoiled that plan when he got the next takedown just four seconds later, and he ended up finishing off the pin six seconds after that.

“My game plan was to just keep him away from my legs doing funky stuff, because my coaches were telling me that he’s a funky wrestler who tries all these rolls and moves,” Carter Rude said. “I wanted to make sure that I kept my legs away from him, just tried to finish shots on my feet. On that first takedown, I didn’t really do that, but then after that, I think I really dialed in and I got going.

“I kind of felt like he was getting tired at the end, and I knew he was going to shoot off the whistle, because that’s what he did before. I expected that I could take him down, but I didn’t really see the pin coming at all. I like those extra points, especially since we’re fighting for a team place.”

Newman’s runner-up finishes came from Daniel Kelly at 132 and Mason Glaudel at 152. Kelly lost an 8-4 decision to Illini Bluffs’ Ian O’Connor, after leading 3-0 midway through the second period. O’Connor recorded three takedowns in the final 2:14 of the match to win it.

Glaudel fell 11-6 to Le-Win/Sotckton’s Jared Dvorak. After a scoreless first period, Dvorak had a reversal and two takedowns in the second, then two more takedowns in the third – the last with eight seconds remaining to seal the win.

Tom Powers took third at 160 with a pin of Rock Falls’ Ryan McCord in 1:43, while Brendan Tunink (7-6 loss at 145) and Hunter Luyando (9-5 loss at 170) finished fourth.

Erie-Prophetstown’s titles came at the front and back ends of the finals. Wyatt Goossens pinned Rockridge’s Cale Kuster in 3:39 to win the 113-pound title, and Elijah Friedrichsen won a 5-3 decision over Rockridge’s Sam Buser at 285.

Friedrichsen’s win was especially emotional, as he was able to exorcise some demons against Buser – and do it with his older brother Gabe, an active duty soldier who is stationed in Alaska, back home for a visit and in attendance.

“It was really exciting. When I got that last takedown, I thought, ‘Wow!’ Even though it’s just a tournament, it’s still the feeling that I did it,” Friedrichsen said. “That’s how exciting it was, because I can do it in front of my family, all my home fans, make them all proud, make everyone proud of our school. It’s something that really sinks in after you do it, and you’ll be able to keep memories of it forever.”

Friedrichsen’s escape 52 seconds into the second period was the only point until the third, when Buser escaped five seconds in to tie the score 1-1. But after the two wrestlers locked up and grappled for more than a minute, Friedrichsen finally scored a takedown with 37 seconds left, then got another one with five seconds remaining.

Buser had beaten Friedrichsen twice last season, so the E-P heavyweight was happy to get one in the win column.

“Last year in the COVID season, we wrestled at our dual and he beat me, and he beat me again at regionals,” Friedrichsen said. “I looked at my mom today and said, ‘It’s all God and me on the mat.’ Coach always tells us that whoever has the most heart will win.

“You’ve got to put in the work in the [wrestling] room, too; I stay extra, I come in the mornings and run. It’s just all that extra work that’s starting to pay off.”

Goossens set the tone early in his match, answering a Kuster takedown with a reversal to tie the score 2-2 in the first period. He then notched the first takedown 13 seconds into the second period, and spent the next 1:20 trying to turn Kuster onto his back. Goossens finally finished off the pin with 20.9 seconds left in the second.

“I was just trying to get back points and score. I wanted to try and finish it there,” Goossens said. “I went in thinking I could use the chicken wing, and it worked. It’s just a great feeling to win my home tournament, it’s really cool.”

Jase Grunder (145) and Nick Ballard (220) finished second for the Panthers, with Grunder falling in overtime to Le-Win/Stockton’s Garrett Luke. Grunder got an early takedown for a 2-1 lead after the first period, then Luke’s takedown gave him a 4-3 lead going into the third. Grunder scored a reversal with 1:39 left to take a 5-4 lead, but Luke quickly escaped, and neither wrestler could gain control in regulation. Luke finished it with a takedown with 28 seconds remaining in the extra period.

Ballard was pinned in 3:10 by Le-Win/Stockton’s Henry Engel, who recorded a first-period takedown, then an escape and another takedown in the second before finishing the pin with 50.2 seconds left in the period.

Morrison’s Kayden White won the title at 182 pounds, pinning Rockridge’s Nathan Petreikis in 5:34. The bout went back and forth a few times, with White scoring an initial takedown, only to have Petreikis answer with an escape and a takedown of his own for a 3-2 after the opening period.

White retook the lead with back points, then answered a Petreikis reversal with his own reversal with 23 seconds left in the second period. White scored another reversal 23 seconds into the third period, and managed to finish off the pin with 26.5 seconds remaining.

“I would say I’m that style of wrestler; I pin a lot of my opponents, and a match can go either way a lot,” White said. “He was a tough opponent, pretty squirmy, but Morrison’s pretty good with leg-riding, and that changed the pace of the match. That’s how I got it done.

“Getting to the third period was definitely a goal, to wear him out. He definitely wore me out, too. But we fought through it, and you’ve got to have the mentality to push through it even when it hurts, no matter what. At Morrison, we train in an offensive style, and we want to pin people, put the legs in and turn them as much as we can. We like scoring points, and we like doing it in style.”

The Mustangs’ Nate Schaefer pinned East Peoria’s Jose Del Toro in 3:04 in the 285-pound third-place match.

Fulton’s Zane Pannell was runner-up at 170 pounds, dropping an 8-1 decision against Le-Win/Stockton’s Griffin Luke. Pannell led 1-0 after getting hit in the face in the first period, but Luke took a 3-1 lead with some second-period back points, then hit on a reversal with more back points in the third.

“At the beginning I was kind of happy about getting the one point because he hit my face, then I tried to kind of stall the rest of the first period,” Pannell said. “At the beginning of second period, I started down, and he’s a really good rider on top and I couldn’t end up getting out. His power half was really good. In the third period, I was tired out, I couldn’t really use any of my strength.”

Two other locals took third in their weight classes: Erie-Prophetstown’s Sophia Wheeler was third in the round-robin bracket at 106, and Polo’s Wyatt Doty was third at 126. Other local fourth-place finishers were Sterling’s Nakynzy Canazos-Hodge at 106, Erie-Prophetstown’s Andrew Bomleny at 195, and Rock Falls’ Josh Woodard at 220.

Several area wrestlers finished fifth: Erie-Prophetstown’s Jaelin Hawkins (106), Sterling’s Zyon Westbrook (113) and Gage Tate (160), Morrison’s Kamden Pruis (126) and Logan Baker (145), Polo’s Wyatt Queckboerner (182) and Devin Rucker (195), and Fulton’s Xander Walling (220).