OREGON — The Oregon High School wrestling team built a large lead at the lighter weights and fought off a late surge at the heavier weights Tuesday evening, when the Hawks faced Newman Central Catholic during the IHSA 1A Dual Sectional at the Blackhawk Center.
Led by a trio of individual state qualifiers and a plethora of sectional qualifiers, Oregon opened its dual against the Comets with six pins over the first seven bouts to take a 36-3 lead. But Sterling Newman, who defeated Oregon during the regular season, wouldn’t go away quietly, stringing together five straight wins at the heavier weights to bring the Hawks within 12 points.
The late victories weren’t enough, though, as Oregon only gave up one pin in the match and built a large enough lead early in the dual to hand the Comets a 39-30 loss and clinch a bid to the IHSA 1A Dual State Championship, which will be held at the Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington this coming Friday and Saturday. Oregon (27-4, 7-1 Big Northern) will be one of eight varsity programs vying for the dual state championship in Class 1A this coming weekend.
“There was a lot on the line tonight,” Oregon head coach Justin Lahman said. “There were a lot of matches against them at the sectional and the dual earlier this year that we lost and we’d like to have back. This group of seniors is my first since I officially became the head coach and they work hard. They battle in the room and they pick everyone up. We battled for six minutes today.”
Individual state qualifiers Josiah Perez and Isaiah Perez sparked the Hawks early in their dual with the Comets, earning back-to-back pins against Javen Reyes and Kaylee Benyo at 113 and 120 to give Oregon a 12-0 advantage. Preston LaBay delivered a clutch victory for Oregon at 126, erasing an early deficit and pinning Sterling Newman’s Zhyler Hansen in the third period.
“Our little guys are the ones who score the bonus points,” Lahman said. “They get after it and they get the pins. Our big guys hang on and battle. They may not be the all-stars of the team, but they understand that and they battle for six minutes. When they do that, we’re going to win.”
Sterling Newman stopped the bleeding with a hard-fought win at 132, where Landon Blanton found a key takedown for a 4-1 decision over Oregon’s Nelson Benesh. The Hawks picked up their teammate, however, recording three consecutive pins at 138, 144 and 150 to extend their lead. Jackson Messenger needed only 44 seconds for a pin against Jason Curtin at 138, while Benton used just 42 seconds to record his first-period pin against Seamus McDonnell at 144.
Jayden Berry’s pin against Josiah Lewis gave the Hawks their largest lead. Sterling Newman’s comeback effort began with a pin at 157, where state medalist Briar Ivey defeated Ethan Mowry. The Comets added wins at 165 and 175, where Timothy Plote scored a 16-5 major decision over Leyton Kenney and Daniel Kelly earned a 19-3 technical fall against Andrew Young.
But Oregon’s ability to avoid getting pinned proved to be a deciding factor. While each team won seven bouts on Tuesday, the Hawks finished with nine more points than the Comets, who still trailed 36-24 after wins at 190 and 215. Matthew Clemen rallied for a 10-9 decision over Seth Rote before Jacob Newberry outlasted Landen Elder for a 15-12 sudden victory in overtime.
“It’s huge for our program from top to bottom,” Lahman said. “We had kids from our youth program who were here tonight and got to experience this. We want to get Oregon back to the old school late 90s and early 2000s when the program was rolling. Our numbers are great.”
Briggs Sellers clinched the dual victory for the Hawks, snatching a late takedown to secure an 8-4 decision against Mathew Murray at 285. Sterling Newman’s Landon Near took a forfeit at 106, but Oregon’s lead was large enough to avenge their early-season loss to the Comets.
