Joliet West closes dual with 8 straight wins to defeat Plainfield South 52-16

PLAINFIELD – Six matches into their dual at Plainfield South on Wednesday, Joliet West was in need of a fire. Jakob Crandall lit the spark just before Joseph Pedrosa fanned a flame that engulfed the Tigers the rest of the way.

Trailing by 10 points, Crandall won by technical fall to snap a three-match skid before Pedrosa secured the first of three straight wins by fall. It all added to eight consecutive wins to close the dual for the Tigers to give them a 52-16 come-from-behind win over Plainfield South.

The first six matches were a mixed bag for the Tigers, as they dropped four with all of but one going the distance. After Crandall got his victory, no match went past the second period.

“It was a back-and-forth start,” Joliet West coach Awais Arain said. “It was a little too back-and-forth to be comfortable. The guys just rallied together, and that’s ultimately what it came down to, to get momentum going our way. The guys fed off our [JV] wrestlers cheering in the stands, and we just rolled right through the lineup right after that.”

The dual started with a 175-pound match between Colin Bickett of the Cougars and Zachary Cronk of the Tigers. They went all three periods, with Bickett winning 21-8 and giving four points to Plainfield South. The 190 match went three periods, as well, but the Tigers managed to take that one as Mohamed Kosh outlasted Julius Pierscionek. Kosh won 8-2 and cut the deficit to 4-3.

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Joliet West’s Joseph Pedrosa rolls Plainfield South’s Travis Rebout in the 126-pound match on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 in Plainfield. (Gary Middendorf)

Joliet West scored its second consecutive win at the 215 spot. Freshman Jacob Tyderek secured a 6-4 triumph over Jamal Jones Jr. to send the Tigers into the lead. After that, however, Plainfield South retook control with Ian Portillo pinning Andrew Klobnak in the second period to put the Cougars up 10-6.

The lightweights favored the Cougars, as well, with Drew Ritchie downing Nicholas Murdock-Schey 9-4 at 106 to increase South’s lead to 13-6. The lead grew to 16-6 after the 113-pound match between Islam Ismanaliev and Logan Hudson ended in an 11-8 win for Ismanaliev. The Cougars looked to be in control.

Crandall won his match by technical fall at the end of the second period over Nathan Cameron to cut the West deficit to 16-11. Pedrosa then pinned Travis Rebout to give the lead back to the Tigers, 17-16 and get the juices flowing.

“We were pretty down at that point,” the sophomore said. “Our lower weights were getting their butts kicked, and our coaches were just like, ‘We’ve got to start ramping it up and get some pinfalls.’ I did my job, and that got it going.”

Got it going indeed. That pin was followed by another pin for West, this time by Joseph Jaburek in the 132 match against Terrence Emmons. That moved the advantage to 23-16 West.

Adrian Hernandez was up next for West in the 138-pound bout. Coming off an illness that forced him to miss time, Hernandez looked to be in peak form against Jimmy Medina, winning by fall to move the edge to 29-16.

“I’m getting ready for my match, and my coach tells me, ‘We need you to go out there and get six points,’ ” Hernandez said. “I could’ve gone out, scored 14 points and then pinned him or stretched it out, but there was no point. I’m coming back from an illness, so I knew I just needed to stick him fast.”

Andy Ruiz won at 144 by technical fall against Kayden Palmer before West star Carson Weber won by forfeit at 150. Aiden Brown bested Brad Surwillo in 96 seconds by fall at 157, and Jacques Thomas downed Hunter Hook in just over two minutes at 165 to close out the competition.

“We’re just going to go back to the drawing board,” Cougars coach Daniel Saracco. “The kids are working really hard, we’re just waiting for them to hit that breakthrough. Our coaching staff is amazing. Thank you to Adrian Cervantes, Ethan Stachniak, Jake Residori, Jake Meeder, Tom Redman, Gabe Hinkel. I’m trying to get everybody, because they’ve really been doing such a great job with our kids.”