Sycamore Remains Unbeaten,
Beats DeKalb
Beats DeKalb
Luke Pritchard's pin at 160 seals 37-28 win for Spartans in rivalry dual
| Northern Illinois Sports Beat http://www.northernillinoissportsbeat.com |
| Sycamore's Jon Dougherty has control of DeKalb's Matt Parenti in the first match of the meet. Dougherty won the match by fall and Sycamore won the meet 37-28. (Photo by Cody Cutter) |
By Cody Cutter
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Publisher
SYCAMORE (Jan. 15) – Sycamore senior Luke Pritchard is trying to figure out which
weight class to compete in for the rest of the season.
Pritchard was introduced in the face-off of the Spartans' match with DeKalb at both 160
and 171 pounds. It was decided that he go at 160. With his team up 31-22, meaning a
pin would seal the meet for his team, Pritchard had little problem with DeKalb's Josh
Sommers and scored a pin 1:32.8 into the bout while up 5-0. The Spartans held on to
win 37-28 to remain unbeaten at 15-0 on the season and 6-0 in the Western Sun.
Whether the fit at 160 is right for Pritchard is still under consideration, but it was the
right choice as far as this particular dual was concerned. It was Senior Night for the
Spartans, and it was against traditional rival DeKalb (12-0, 0-5) of all teams.
“I say this every year when we wrestle DeKalb: This is what high school athletics is all
about,” said Sycamore coach Chauncey Carrick. “Two teams that respect each other
come out and bust their tail for six minutes. It was great competition tonight. DeKalb's a
great team, and we were fortunate enough to come out on top.”
The Spartans got off to a 9-0 start after Joe Dougherty pinned Matt Parenti at 189
pounds after 2:31 and up 12-5, and a 9-3 decision won by Matt Copple over Gabe
Pishghadamian. DeKalb's first win came at 285 when Alex Robinson pinned Zach
Frederick after 55 seconds.
DeKalb would win three of the first four lower weight bouts and gain a lead in team
points as a result. Trailing 12-6, DeKalb's Tyler Lawson posted a 12-0 major decision
over Austin Zimmer to close the team gap to two points.
In a matchup of ranked wrestlers, DeKalb's Doug Johnson (No. 11 by Illinois Matmen)
beat Sycamore's Chris Kerwin (No. 5) with a 5-3 decision. Leading 3-2 after an escape
in the third period, Johnson brought Kerwin down with 1:04 left to go up 5-2 and hold on
for the win. DeKalb gained a 13-12 lead after the match. The Barb lead increased to 16-
12 after Jake Jones' win at 125. He led 7-0 after one period and didn't look back in
winning 11-6.
“He's been one of those guys that has made little steps along the way,” said DeKalb
coach Mike Patel. “He's getting to that point where he's really one of the toughest kids,
and most reliable, kids on our team.”
Sycamore didn't let the Barbs have any more of a lead after this. The strong middle-
weight contingent of Zach Spiewak, Austin Culton, Kyle Culton and Steve Lalowski all
won their matches to give their team a 31-16 lead with three matches left.
Spiewak scored a quick takedown and pin over Evan Jones 54 seconds into their match.
“We lost two close matches at '19 and '25, matches we think are swing matches,” said
Carrick. “For Zach to come out and get a pin like that was huge. That's what we
needed. We needed to get the ball rolling our way.”
Austin Culton followed with a 14-5 major decision over Jake Sommers. Brother Kyle was
two points away from a technical fall at 15-2 over Colton Phelps, but was able to pin him
with 19.4 remaining in the second period.
Dalton Watie stopped Sycamore's streak of wins by scoring a pin with 7.1 seconds left
in the second period against Shane Lay. Lay was down 5-0 at one point and clawed his
way to a 6-6 tie with 38.2 left, but ran out of steam after Watie escaped and took him
down to set up the pin.
Devin Walker capped the match with a pin with 26.1 left in the second period over
Sycamore's Jake Davis.
Patel mentioned that after last year's meet between these two, some DeKalb wrestlers
dropped off in their performance. He doesn't want to see that happen this year.
“We're going to try to use this loss as motivation going into the conference tournament
and the state series. Any excuse to train is a good excuse,” said Patel. “We'll try to use
this as much as we can to motivate us for the end of the season, and it's a long season.
“This is important because it teaches them how to wrestle in big matches. That's why we
like this environment because it teaches us how to wrestle in high-pressure situations.
The Spartans, meanwhile, have one more WSC dual left against Kaneland.
“We got another tough dual on Wednesday,” said Carrick. “The Knights are going to be
gunning for us, but we just got to keep working hard and get after it.”
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat, and writes columns about
Illinois high school sports. He can be reached at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com.
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Publisher
SYCAMORE (Jan. 15) – Sycamore senior Luke Pritchard is trying to figure out which
weight class to compete in for the rest of the season.
Pritchard was introduced in the face-off of the Spartans' match with DeKalb at both 160
and 171 pounds. It was decided that he go at 160. With his team up 31-22, meaning a
pin would seal the meet for his team, Pritchard had little problem with DeKalb's Josh
Sommers and scored a pin 1:32.8 into the bout while up 5-0. The Spartans held on to
win 37-28 to remain unbeaten at 15-0 on the season and 6-0 in the Western Sun.
Whether the fit at 160 is right for Pritchard is still under consideration, but it was the
right choice as far as this particular dual was concerned. It was Senior Night for the
Spartans, and it was against traditional rival DeKalb (12-0, 0-5) of all teams.
“I say this every year when we wrestle DeKalb: This is what high school athletics is all
about,” said Sycamore coach Chauncey Carrick. “Two teams that respect each other
come out and bust their tail for six minutes. It was great competition tonight. DeKalb's a
great team, and we were fortunate enough to come out on top.”
The Spartans got off to a 9-0 start after Joe Dougherty pinned Matt Parenti at 189
pounds after 2:31 and up 12-5, and a 9-3 decision won by Matt Copple over Gabe
Pishghadamian. DeKalb's first win came at 285 when Alex Robinson pinned Zach
Frederick after 55 seconds.
DeKalb would win three of the first four lower weight bouts and gain a lead in team
points as a result. Trailing 12-6, DeKalb's Tyler Lawson posted a 12-0 major decision
over Austin Zimmer to close the team gap to two points.
In a matchup of ranked wrestlers, DeKalb's Doug Johnson (No. 11 by Illinois Matmen)
beat Sycamore's Chris Kerwin (No. 5) with a 5-3 decision. Leading 3-2 after an escape
in the third period, Johnson brought Kerwin down with 1:04 left to go up 5-2 and hold on
for the win. DeKalb gained a 13-12 lead after the match. The Barb lead increased to 16-
12 after Jake Jones' win at 125. He led 7-0 after one period and didn't look back in
winning 11-6.
“He's been one of those guys that has made little steps along the way,” said DeKalb
coach Mike Patel. “He's getting to that point where he's really one of the toughest kids,
and most reliable, kids on our team.”
Sycamore didn't let the Barbs have any more of a lead after this. The strong middle-
weight contingent of Zach Spiewak, Austin Culton, Kyle Culton and Steve Lalowski all
won their matches to give their team a 31-16 lead with three matches left.
Spiewak scored a quick takedown and pin over Evan Jones 54 seconds into their match.
“We lost two close matches at '19 and '25, matches we think are swing matches,” said
Carrick. “For Zach to come out and get a pin like that was huge. That's what we
needed. We needed to get the ball rolling our way.”
Austin Culton followed with a 14-5 major decision over Jake Sommers. Brother Kyle was
two points away from a technical fall at 15-2 over Colton Phelps, but was able to pin him
with 19.4 remaining in the second period.
Dalton Watie stopped Sycamore's streak of wins by scoring a pin with 7.1 seconds left
in the second period against Shane Lay. Lay was down 5-0 at one point and clawed his
way to a 6-6 tie with 38.2 left, but ran out of steam after Watie escaped and took him
down to set up the pin.
Devin Walker capped the match with a pin with 26.1 left in the second period over
Sycamore's Jake Davis.
Patel mentioned that after last year's meet between these two, some DeKalb wrestlers
dropped off in their performance. He doesn't want to see that happen this year.
“We're going to try to use this loss as motivation going into the conference tournament
and the state series. Any excuse to train is a good excuse,” said Patel. “We'll try to use
this as much as we can to motivate us for the end of the season, and it's a long season.
“This is important because it teaches them how to wrestle in big matches. That's why we
like this environment because it teaches us how to wrestle in high-pressure situations.
The Spartans, meanwhile, have one more WSC dual left against Kaneland.
“We got another tough dual on Wednesday,” said Carrick. “The Knights are going to be
gunning for us, but we just got to keep working hard and get after it.”
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat, and writes columns about
Illinois high school sports. He can be reached at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com.
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