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The Real Wrestling Fun
Begins
Begins
There's no “I” in “Dual Team State” ...
Those who have never experienced the Grand March of the IHSA Individual Wrestling
State Tournament would think of it as a hailing of individual glory.
The music, the the dark setting, the procession ... then that music turns into the cue
that's recognizable from the Olympics telecast.
Afterward, the wrestlers fight on the mat for the final time of the season, and sometimes
their careers, and the outcome can be as thrilling as getting a gold medal, or
devastating like a tragedy just occurred. Some wrestlers cannot stand second place, let
alone third, fourth or onward down the line.
You had your personal time in the spotlight last weekend. Some of these wrestlers,
winners and losers alike, don't have a choice other than to get back up again and go at
it one more time. Personal glories have already been achieved or shattered.
Forty-eight Regional Tournament winners in Illinois came back on Tuesday to go for
team glory. Twenty-four of those teams will compete at the IHSA Dual Team State
Tournament on Saturday.
There are no Grand Marches. There are no podiums. The spotlight isn't a small circle
around you.
There is no “I” in “Dual Team State Tournament.”
Wrestlers may have already worked on, and have successfully developed, skill,
technique and the battle with emotions, last weekend.
This weekend is what turns talented wrestlers into leaders, coaches, and even gurus of
the sport they put so much time, and running around to cut weight, in.
They'll do their job once they are called on. After that, they'll be there guiding the next
kid though his match. They'll be there trying to help squeeze out every bonus point
possible.
Bonus points in wrestling can be achieved in three ways: creating an eight-point bout
margin, a fifteen-point bout margin, and by simply pinning the opponent. The most a
team can get out of a bout win is three team points. If the bout score ends in a margin
between eight and fourteen points (a major decision), a team can get an additional
team point added onto the three. When the bout reaches a margin of 15-or-more points
(a technical fall), a team can get two additional team points added onto the three. A pin
is even greater, doubling the three points already earned for the win.
Some sports teams like to emphasize that all they need to do is have more points than
the other team, regardless of margin. Some wrestlers like to emphasize during the
Individual tournament that they just need to beat the opponent.
In Dual Team Wrestling, the mantra becomes dominate, dominate, dominate.
Winning a 9-2 decision doesn't cut it. Just one more takedown, reversal, near fall or
whatnot will bring about one more team point. That's another team point for the other
team to try to catch up to, or for your team to add to a comeback effort.
Natrually, the goal is to pin the opponent. Wrestlers do this in the regular season for a
quick win. In the Dual Team State Tournament, the meaning of the pin changes to a
quick six team points.
Even if the wrestler is behind by more than six points in the third period, the fight to
come back is even greater than in individual wrestling. You're trying to legally stall and
not let the opponent get that critical takedown or escape for a team bonus point.
Arithmetic isn't always the best subject to learn in school, but it comes in handy when
trying to notch a team win. In Tuesday's Dundee-Crown Sectional meet against the host
Chargers, Harlem's Jordan Northrup took to the mat with his team leading 31-15 with
three matches left after his. Put it this way: if Dundee-Crown ended the night with four
straight pins, the hosts would win the match 39-31. If Dundee-Crown ended the night
with four straight decision wins, the Huskies would still win.
This is where bonus points become a great factor. Eventually, Northrup ended up
winning his match with a technical fall at 2:37 for five team points. That put Harlem up
36-15. Even if Dundee-Crown ended the night with three pins afterward, the team score
would be 36-33 in Harlem's favor.
Northrup is considered the “clincher” when it comes to team points. A wrestler,
regardless of experience and season win-loss total, never knows when his match may
end up being the one that seals the team's fate.
The last area wrestling team to win a team state championship was Dakota in 2006.
Vinny Alber at 119 pounds clinched the state championship for his team with his pin of
Wilmington's Ryan Nash in the second round. Dakota started off with a 36-0 lead
before a Wilmington pin made it 36-6. All Alber had to do was win the match to wrap up
the title.
This Saturday, there are four area wrestling teams looking to achieve the ultimate team
goal. Harlem will be the area's lone Class 3A representative, and will face Chicago Lane
in the 9 a.m. quarterfinal round. Sycamore, the area's lone Class 2A representative, will
face Richmond-Burton at the same time.
The two other teams are in Class 1A: Newman and Stillman Valley, while competing at
the same site at the Morrison Sectional, have a possibility of meeting each other for a
state trophy. Newman kicks off at 11 a.m.
Stillman Valley finished in third place last year. Former Stillman Valley coach Ben Morris
admitted after last year's meet that he didn't really teach his kids the dual meet-type
wrestling style, where bonus points matter. The Cardinals eventually lost by one point
to Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 37-36 in the semifinal. The Cardinals led 36-28 with two
matches left: Travis Hagemann got pinned and Tad Hawley lost by two in overtime to
give GSMS the win.
“The last two matches, our guys don't really know how to stall. That's all they really
needed to do,” Morris said after last year's tournament. “All Travis needed to do was
stay away from him. All Tad needed to do was get a win, and we had 20-30 seconds left
and he's up by three. All we had to do was stall, and those guys wouldn't stall.
“I don't teach the guys the dual meet style type of wrestling, to just stall it out. I'm
starting to rethink that and think I maybe should do that. They got to get smarter, but I
probably don't teach these mat tactics hard enough.”
Morris wound up resigning after last season and James McCarty took over as head
coach.
The Cardinals have a tall task ahead of them on Saturday. The team they defeated for
third place last year, Wilmington, awaits at 9 a.m. Wilmington has now qualified for the
state meet six years in a row.
While the Cardinals may have missed a couple of beats, Wilmington hasn't.
“It was great for my guys,” Wilmington coach Ron Murphy said after last year's
tournament. “Over half the team is a freshman out there, I've got five of them starting
for me and over half of my starters are fresh-soph. We're a very young team compared
to my other teams I've had down here the last four years. These guys are getting a lot
of valuable experience and got to see what it's about.”
+ This year was a banner year for individual state champions in the area.
Six wrestlers: Harlem's Northrup and Derek Elmore, Newman's Maxx Hubbard and Jake
Snow, and Stillman Valley's Nick Harrison and J.J. Whaley, will have the opportunity to
lead their team to a state title after competing in the final round of the individual
tournament.
Elmore, Harrison, Snow and Whaley won state championships, while Hubbard and
Northrup took second place.
In fact, northern Illinois had a great showing at the Class 1A tournament. In 11 of the 14
weight classes, an area wrestler was going after a state title. Nine of them won:
Dakota's Josh Alber (103), Snow (112), Harrison (119), Whaley (125), Morrison's Mark
McDonnell (140), Winnebago's Trace Engleke (152), Dakota's Jake Apple (171), Lena-
Winslow's Trey Griffin (189) and Winnebago's Michael Sojka (215). Riverdale's Mitch
Keppy took runner-up at 285 pounds.
All area state champions and runner-ups came from the Oregon Individual Sectional.
What is perhaps even more dominating was the three-team show in the Class 2A
Tournament. Twelve of the 14 weight classes featured state champions from either
Aurora Marmion, Crystal Lake Central or Lombard Montini. The area's lone Class 2A
champion was Yorkville's A.J. Messenger at 171 pounds. Teammate Connor Bass was
runner-up at 135 pounds, and Sandwich's Alphonse Vruno was runner-up at 119
pounds.
+ For the second year in a row, I will be covering the wrestling action on Saturday. That
herein lies the problem: I alone will be covering it. There are three duals going on at the
same time (9 a.m.) across the entire floor of U.S. Celluar Coliseum.
I will be breaking down the event one team at a time.
Cody Cutter is Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
State Tournament would think of it as a hailing of individual glory.
The music, the the dark setting, the procession ... then that music turns into the cue
that's recognizable from the Olympics telecast.
Afterward, the wrestlers fight on the mat for the final time of the season, and sometimes
their careers, and the outcome can be as thrilling as getting a gold medal, or
devastating like a tragedy just occurred. Some wrestlers cannot stand second place, let
alone third, fourth or onward down the line.
You had your personal time in the spotlight last weekend. Some of these wrestlers,
winners and losers alike, don't have a choice other than to get back up again and go at
it one more time. Personal glories have already been achieved or shattered.
Forty-eight Regional Tournament winners in Illinois came back on Tuesday to go for
team glory. Twenty-four of those teams will compete at the IHSA Dual Team State
Tournament on Saturday.
There are no Grand Marches. There are no podiums. The spotlight isn't a small circle
around you.
There is no “I” in “Dual Team State Tournament.”
Wrestlers may have already worked on, and have successfully developed, skill,
technique and the battle with emotions, last weekend.
This weekend is what turns talented wrestlers into leaders, coaches, and even gurus of
the sport they put so much time, and running around to cut weight, in.
They'll do their job once they are called on. After that, they'll be there guiding the next
kid though his match. They'll be there trying to help squeeze out every bonus point
possible.
Bonus points in wrestling can be achieved in three ways: creating an eight-point bout
margin, a fifteen-point bout margin, and by simply pinning the opponent. The most a
team can get out of a bout win is three team points. If the bout score ends in a margin
between eight and fourteen points (a major decision), a team can get an additional
team point added onto the three. When the bout reaches a margin of 15-or-more points
(a technical fall), a team can get two additional team points added onto the three. A pin
is even greater, doubling the three points already earned for the win.
Some sports teams like to emphasize that all they need to do is have more points than
the other team, regardless of margin. Some wrestlers like to emphasize during the
Individual tournament that they just need to beat the opponent.
In Dual Team Wrestling, the mantra becomes dominate, dominate, dominate.
Winning a 9-2 decision doesn't cut it. Just one more takedown, reversal, near fall or
whatnot will bring about one more team point. That's another team point for the other
team to try to catch up to, or for your team to add to a comeback effort.
Natrually, the goal is to pin the opponent. Wrestlers do this in the regular season for a
quick win. In the Dual Team State Tournament, the meaning of the pin changes to a
quick six team points.
Even if the wrestler is behind by more than six points in the third period, the fight to
come back is even greater than in individual wrestling. You're trying to legally stall and
not let the opponent get that critical takedown or escape for a team bonus point.
Arithmetic isn't always the best subject to learn in school, but it comes in handy when
trying to notch a team win. In Tuesday's Dundee-Crown Sectional meet against the host
Chargers, Harlem's Jordan Northrup took to the mat with his team leading 31-15 with
three matches left after his. Put it this way: if Dundee-Crown ended the night with four
straight pins, the hosts would win the match 39-31. If Dundee-Crown ended the night
with four straight decision wins, the Huskies would still win.
This is where bonus points become a great factor. Eventually, Northrup ended up
winning his match with a technical fall at 2:37 for five team points. That put Harlem up
36-15. Even if Dundee-Crown ended the night with three pins afterward, the team score
would be 36-33 in Harlem's favor.
Northrup is considered the “clincher” when it comes to team points. A wrestler,
regardless of experience and season win-loss total, never knows when his match may
end up being the one that seals the team's fate.
The last area wrestling team to win a team state championship was Dakota in 2006.
Vinny Alber at 119 pounds clinched the state championship for his team with his pin of
Wilmington's Ryan Nash in the second round. Dakota started off with a 36-0 lead
before a Wilmington pin made it 36-6. All Alber had to do was win the match to wrap up
the title.
This Saturday, there are four area wrestling teams looking to achieve the ultimate team
goal. Harlem will be the area's lone Class 3A representative, and will face Chicago Lane
in the 9 a.m. quarterfinal round. Sycamore, the area's lone Class 2A representative, will
face Richmond-Burton at the same time.
The two other teams are in Class 1A: Newman and Stillman Valley, while competing at
the same site at the Morrison Sectional, have a possibility of meeting each other for a
state trophy. Newman kicks off at 11 a.m.
Stillman Valley finished in third place last year. Former Stillman Valley coach Ben Morris
admitted after last year's meet that he didn't really teach his kids the dual meet-type
wrestling style, where bonus points matter. The Cardinals eventually lost by one point
to Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 37-36 in the semifinal. The Cardinals led 36-28 with two
matches left: Travis Hagemann got pinned and Tad Hawley lost by two in overtime to
give GSMS the win.
“The last two matches, our guys don't really know how to stall. That's all they really
needed to do,” Morris said after last year's tournament. “All Travis needed to do was
stay away from him. All Tad needed to do was get a win, and we had 20-30 seconds left
and he's up by three. All we had to do was stall, and those guys wouldn't stall.
“I don't teach the guys the dual meet style type of wrestling, to just stall it out. I'm
starting to rethink that and think I maybe should do that. They got to get smarter, but I
probably don't teach these mat tactics hard enough.”
Morris wound up resigning after last season and James McCarty took over as head
coach.
The Cardinals have a tall task ahead of them on Saturday. The team they defeated for
third place last year, Wilmington, awaits at 9 a.m. Wilmington has now qualified for the
state meet six years in a row.
While the Cardinals may have missed a couple of beats, Wilmington hasn't.
“It was great for my guys,” Wilmington coach Ron Murphy said after last year's
tournament. “Over half the team is a freshman out there, I've got five of them starting
for me and over half of my starters are fresh-soph. We're a very young team compared
to my other teams I've had down here the last four years. These guys are getting a lot
of valuable experience and got to see what it's about.”
+ This year was a banner year for individual state champions in the area.
Six wrestlers: Harlem's Northrup and Derek Elmore, Newman's Maxx Hubbard and Jake
Snow, and Stillman Valley's Nick Harrison and J.J. Whaley, will have the opportunity to
lead their team to a state title after competing in the final round of the individual
tournament.
Elmore, Harrison, Snow and Whaley won state championships, while Hubbard and
Northrup took second place.
In fact, northern Illinois had a great showing at the Class 1A tournament. In 11 of the 14
weight classes, an area wrestler was going after a state title. Nine of them won:
Dakota's Josh Alber (103), Snow (112), Harrison (119), Whaley (125), Morrison's Mark
McDonnell (140), Winnebago's Trace Engleke (152), Dakota's Jake Apple (171), Lena-
Winslow's Trey Griffin (189) and Winnebago's Michael Sojka (215). Riverdale's Mitch
Keppy took runner-up at 285 pounds.
All area state champions and runner-ups came from the Oregon Individual Sectional.
What is perhaps even more dominating was the three-team show in the Class 2A
Tournament. Twelve of the 14 weight classes featured state champions from either
Aurora Marmion, Crystal Lake Central or Lombard Montini. The area's lone Class 2A
champion was Yorkville's A.J. Messenger at 171 pounds. Teammate Connor Bass was
runner-up at 135 pounds, and Sandwich's Alphonse Vruno was runner-up at 119
pounds.
+ For the second year in a row, I will be covering the wrestling action on Saturday. That
herein lies the problem: I alone will be covering it. There are three duals going on at the
same time (9 a.m.) across the entire floor of U.S. Celluar Coliseum.
I will be breaking down the event one team at a time.
Cody Cutter is Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
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