Wrestling: Huskies pin down own tournament title
By Gary Larsen Contributor January 24, 2012 4:12PM
Oak Park-River Forest's Colin Rogers wrestles Minooka's Jake Deklerk in a 138-pound match on Saturday. Colin was one of five title winners at the Oak Park tournament. | Jon Langham~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:11AM
It had been five years since Oak Park-River Forest won its annual tournament, so Saturday’s team title win in dominant fashion was particularly sweet.
The host Huskies sent a parade of nine wrestlers to the title mat to put the tournament out of reach before the finals even began.
“Hard work,” OPRF’s Davonte Mahomes said. “That’s what we count on. It’s been a while since we won this tournament, but we worked hard today. Everybody’s banged up this time of year but we’re fighting through it.”
The Huskies sent nine wrestlers to the title mat and held a 73-point team lead heading into the finals, en route to a 259.5-185 win over second-place Lyons Township. Oswego was third and Minooka placed fourth.
Winning titles for OPRF were Mahomes (152), Matt Rundell (106), Larry Early (120), Colin Rogers (138), and Sammy Brooks (182).
“We didn’t wrestle the finals as well as we could have but we looked good today,” OPRF coach Mike Powell said. “And Colin (Rogers) and Larry (Early) beat a pair of Wisconsin state champs today.”
Wisconsin teams from Arrowhead and Fort Zumwalt West also competed in the 10-team tournament. Rogers won 6-4 over Arrowhead’s Adam Yde for his title, while Early pinned Arrowhead’s Andrew Crone on the title mat.
Early also avenged a loss suffered Jan. 12 to LT’s Carter Beebe, winning by 11-2 major decision in Saturday’s semifinal rematch.
Rundell posted a pair of pins on the day in winning his title, while Mahomes used two technical falls and a major decision in winning his crown. Brooks won a 23-13 major decision over Minooka’s Mitch Morris on the title mat at 182 pounds.
Brooks turned an ankle late in his title match and limped his way to the final buzzer to stay unbeaten on the year.
The Huskies had four wrestlers place second in Cameron Harris (132), Michael Woulfe (160), Joe Ariola (170), and Emonte Logan (220). Marq Brumant (285) took third, with sixths coming from Johnny Gahagan (126), Mike Roeser (145), and Andre Lee (195).
In his semifinal match, Harris avenged a loss to Lyons Township’s A.J. Villareal suffered two weeks ago, winning 14-8 over Villareal before losing 5-4 on the title mat to Hersey’s Conrad Bugay.
In a 24-hour span that included the Huskies’ dual-meet win over Glenbard West on Friday, Harris squared off with a trio of quality wrestlers in Bugay, Villareal, and Glenbard West’s Zak Hasaan.
“Cam’s coming on at the right time and I’m real confident in his abilities,” Powell said. “He just needs to be in a little bit better shape, but he’s committed and he wants it bad.”
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