Boys’ Wrestling: Six area athletes reach championship matches

Six area wrestlers are still in the mix to stand at the top of the podium in their respective classes at the IHSA Individual State Wrestling Meet at State Farm Center in Champaign.

Lockport’s Brayden Thompson (170 pounds) and Andrew Blackburn-Forst (220) will compete in Class 3A finals Saturday, three Joliet Catholic wrestlers in Mason Alessio (145), Gylon Sims (112) and Dillan Johnson will vie for Class 2A crowns, and in Class 1A Dwight’s Dillon Sarff will battle for the 138-pound crown.

In all, 29 area wrestlers will compete for a placement on the tournament’s final day.

Class 3A

A pair of Lockport wrestlers reached championship matches in impressive fashion.

First, Thompson kept his season record spotless at 44-0 and breezed into the title matchup with a win by technical fall over Libertyville’s Austin Gomez in a 170-pound matchup.

Then Blackburn-Forst made quick work of his semifinal opponent at 220 pounds, pinning Hinsdale Central’s Marko Ivanisevic in 24 seconds to advance. It was Blackburn-Forst’s second pin of less than 30 seconds in the tournament thus far.

Lockport’s chance to send three wrestlers to the championship round was denied when Logan Swaw was toppled in a 152-pound matchup against Conant’s Ethan Stiles by a 5-1 decision.

Lincoln-Way Central’s Joey Malito dropped only his second match of the season as he was pinned in 4:38 by Marco Odiotti, while Plainfield North’s Jacob Macatangay fell to Mount Carmel’s Sergio Lemley in a battle of grapplers who entered the semifinals with just one loss on the season. Lemley won by pin in 3:42.

Those still alive in the consolation rounds are Joliet West’s Carson Weber (106), Lincoln-Way Central’s Connor Smetana (138), Lockport’s Paul Kadlec (160), Providence’s Billy Meiszner (132), Plainfield North’s Jared Gumila (160) and a pair from Plainfield South’s in Matthew Janiak (170) and John Pacewic (195).

Those athletes will compete on Saturday morning in the hopes of qualifying for either the third or fifth place matches along with those that lost semifinal matchups on Friday night.

Class 2A

Sims cruised to a win over Austin Dangles of St. Rita in the semifinals winning by technical fall in 4:45. Sims, now 32-4, will face Rochelle’s Xavier Villalobos in Saturday night’s championship match.

Alessio joined Sims as a Joliet Catholic finalist a short time later, winning his 145-pound semifinal matchup by a 6-0 score over Drew Kested of Sterling.

“It feels amazing because I’ve been working so hard for this for so long,” Alessio said. “I can’t wait for the grand march, I can’t wait for everything, I love it. It’s so fun.”

Johnson made it three finalist for Joliet Catholic as he recorded his third pin of the state tournament in defeating Lincoln Cooley of Sycamore in 1:37.

Owen O’Connor ran into some trouble in his 138-pound semifinal matchup with Kai Neumark as he dropped a 9-1 loss by major decision.

Lemont’s Alex Tagler ran into a tough Grayslake Central wrestler Aaron Cramer in the semifinals and dropped a 7-2 decision at 170 pounds, Tagler’s teammate Moe Khalil didn’t have any more luck with a Grayslake Central wrestler as he fell by pin to Matty Jens at 182 pounds.

Those still alive in the consolation rounds are Joliet Catholic’s Owen Gerdes (195), Shay Kohorn (120) and Lemont’s Evan Schiffman (138), Mike Jabbay (160) and Tyler Wilms (220).

Class 1A

Dwight’s Sarff continued his strong performance run in the 138-pound division. Sarff defeated Will Rude of Sterling Newman 6-1 in the semifinal round. Rude’s one point was the only one Sarff has allowed to three opponents at the tournament thus far.

Yorkville Christian’s Issac Bourge knocked off Coal City’s Brant Widlowski in a 120-pound semifinal by a narrow 3-1 decision.

Ashton Harvey of Coal City dropped a 3-1 decision to Dakota’s Noah Wenzel in a 195-pound bout, while Reed-Custer Kody Marschner was edged out 4-3 by Nazareth’s Gabe Kamiski in a a 220-pound matchup.

Consolation round hopefuls are Coal City’s Zach Finch at 152 and Peotone’s Marco Spinazzola at 138.