Every year the Byron/Oregon (Northwest) Wrestling Sectional is the toughest in the State. Annually the Sectional brings home more than 50% of the State medals, and last year won 11 of 14 individual State titles. Every year the event is a grind, and great wrestlers stay home. This year was no different.
The Mustang Wrestling team sent five wrestlers to compete in this past weekend’s Sectional, Friday, February 14, through Saturday, February 15, 2014. After two days of intense competition three wrestlers earned an opportunity to compete for State qualification. Austin Keller, Austin Shoup, and Joe Eads all fought their way back, after losing earlier matches to the Semi-final wrestlebacks.
Austin Keller started his Friday night with a very tough quarter-final match-up against Polo’s #8 Ethan Cain. Keller controlled the first five minutes and thirty seconds with a 3-1 advantage, but he was unable to stop Cain’s late attacks and lost a heartbreaker 5-3 in overtime. Keller would be dropped to the first round wrestlebacks. There he would put together three straight pins to earn a birth in the medal rounds and State qualification. Keller, with an area-leading 30 pins, pinned State-ranked Cole Ebenroth of Riverdale, Tanner Hagshenas of Rockford Lutheran, and Nathan Miller of Sherrard, before falling 3-0 in a rematch to Polo’s Ethan Cain in the third place match. Keller will face Vandalia’s CJ Runkel in Thursday’s, February 20, first round State match.
Austin Shoup had to grind his way to a semi-final birth with two victories on Friday evening. Shoup started with a pin of Rockridge’s Dalton Ray and then a double overtime win of Polo’s Jeff Kimpel. Saturday morning, Shoup met Winnebago’s hammer, #2 Sean Ward and lost a 10-2 major decision. That put Shoup in the semifinal wrestlebacks against #11 Ian Alberstett of Durand. Shoup dominated en route to a second period pin. That victory put him in the medal rounds, where he met #9 Matt Weeks of Mercer County, in a rematch of the Regional finals. Shoup fell 4-2 in a nail-biter. Shoup will meet Herscher’s Matt Marcotte in Thursday’s, February 20, first round action.
Joe Eads won a barn-burner match against #8 Blake Kittleson in his first round match on Friday. That set him up for a Semifinal showdown with Dakota’s #2 Dillon Swift. Saturday morning, Eads fell to the constant attacks of Swift, putting him in the Semifinal wrestlebacks. As it turned out Eads matched up with rival #6 Drake Stirn of Mercer County. The two had met three times prior, with Eads holding a 2-1 advantage. However, Stirn came out more aggressively and defeated Eads 8-2. Eads will travel to Champaign, IL, as an alternate. Eads competed in a bracket that featured six of the top-eight wrestlers in the State with only four qualifying. Eads leads the Quad-City area as a Freshman with 41 wins after the weekend. He fell two short of Matt McDonnell’s team record of 43, set in 2012 when McDonnell won his State title.