Chicagoland Wrestling

Porters capture easy senior night win over Bolingbrook

By Curt Herron

There's always plenty of pride at stake for seniors when they get the chance to compete on the home mats for what could be the final time.

Such was the case for 13 individuals from Lockport who were honored during senior night on Friday when their squad met Bolingbrook in a dual meet.

Seven of those competed on the varsity mat and all but one walked away with victories during the SouthWest Suburban Conference meet.

And even the one who lost was able to walk away pleased after putting up a great battle before falling in overtime against a ranked opponent.

All of those factors added up to a successful night for LTHS as it returned to dual meet action for the first time in over three weeks.

Coach Joe Williams' squad rolled to wins in the first eight matches and only dropped one decision on the mats in a 52-9 romp over the Raiders.

The Porters (10-5) followed up on their recent successes in a pair of tournaments as they prepared to compete in the Sycamore invite on Saturday.

Lockport placed second at Palatine's Berman Classic before turning in a seventh-place showing at the Cheesehead meet in Kaukauna, Wisconsin.

The first three Porter seniors who competed, Matt Weber, Jake Martisek and Joe Litoborski, all walked away with victories by technical fall.

Matt Andre rallied from five points down to win, Adam Kendall got a last-second takedown and Mike Rossi received a forfeit win for LTHS.

Joe Sliwa was the only senior who fell, but he had nothing to be ashamed of following an overtime defeat to Dvorak invite champion Robby Bain.

Other seniors recognized on Friday were Charlie Booth, Nick Clancy, Basil Idelah, Como Negrete, Dave Weidenaar, Nik Zadkovic and stat girl CC Naso.

One of the two pins during the evening was recorded in the opener when the state's top-ranked 125-pounder bumped up one weight class.

Jameson Oster (24-2) needed 3:19 to register a fall over Antonio Govea to get the ball rolling in the right direction for the Porters.

At 135, Chris Tragos (18-10) got a takedown at the end of the second period to grab a 4-2 advantage over Arturo Vasquez.

He was able to turn that narrow margin into a major decision after claiming a 10-2 win to give the hosts a 10-0 advantage.

Weber (21-6) began the seniors' run of success at 140 when he posted a 17-0 victory in 3:44 over Manny Mendoza.

Shaun'Qae McMurtry (20-8) followed up on that by registering a fall in 4:36 over Jesus Najera to make it 21-0.

Martisek and Litoborski (18-7) completed the trio of technical falls to add 10 more points to the Porters score.

At 152, Martisek beat Edgar Perez 18-3 in 4:17 while Litoborski followed with a 16-1 win in 4:41 over Will Vargas.

Andre (10-4) trailed 7-2 in the middle period at 171 before closing to within 7-5 with two minutes left against Kyle Clark.

He added five more points to that total, including a late nearfall, to rally for a 10-7 victory to make it 34-0.

Brad Johnson (23-3) completed LTHS's run by capturing a 7-1 victory over Justin Goodpastor in the next match.

As he has done much of the season, the under-sized Sliwa (17-12) more than held his own against a bigger opponent.

The match at 215 featured two escapes in regulation before Bain got a takedown midway through the first overtime to claim a 3-1 win.

Fellow senior Kendall (20-8) had his hands full in the heavyweight match with Dorian Haynes and looked to be headed to overtime.

But Kendall recorded a takedown with one second remaining to capture a 3-1 victory that gave the hosts a 40-3 advantage.

Freshman Haley Augello kept things going for LTHS when she posted a 3-0 triumph at 103 over Jordan Laster.

After Rossi picked up a forfeit win at 112, Emeric Williams jumped out to a big early lead at 119 over Gene Evans.

The Porter junior got into some trouble in the final period and had to fight off a pin before recording a 12-5 win.

Lockport didn't present a wrestler in the final match at 125 and thus David Willis was able to get a forfeit victory.

The Porters were scheduled for a SWSC home dual meet on Thursday against Bradley-Bourbonnais but it was wiped out by the weather.

LTHS has won five straight duals heading into next weekend's meet at Lincoln-Way Central followed by the Neuqua Valley mega duals.