Dan Eyrich, AP Sports; photos courtesy Jessie Otten
Postseason action got underway on Saturday for the Panther wrestlers as they competed at Riverdale in an IHSA Regional. The top three finishers in each weight class advanced to the Oregon Sectional starting next Friday with five Panthers qualifying in an extremely competitive meet.
EP took 5th in the very tough 11 team field with with 115 points. Newman won the regional with 197 points followed by Kewanee (169) and Riverdale (146). The Comets will now advance to a team regional in a few weeks.
The Panthers qualified Caleb Reymer (285) and Aidan Jepson (144) both taking second with Tristan Hovey (150), Wyatt Goossens (157), and Jordae Crowe (175) all advancing with third place finishes. Freshman, Noah Wetzell (138) took fourth place and will serve as an alternate at next week’s sectional.
Senior, Aidan Jepson went 2-1 on the day losing to Caleb Modglin of Morrison in the championship match by fall at 3:30. Jepson, who was seeded fourth, upset the number one seed Thomas Sowards of Rockridge, scoring a takedown with sixteen seconds left in the match to grab a 5-4 decision in the semi-final.
EP’s other runner-up, sophomore, Caleb Reymer was not at 100%, battling an ankle injury but collected two wins by fall before losing to Daniel Holman of Fulton in the finals 8-5.
Panther senior, Wyatt Goossesns had to battle through a weight class that featured three of the top 157 pound wrestlers in Class 1A. Goossesns entered the regional with a 37-7 record and met Newman’s Briar Ivey with a mark of 40-3 in the semi-finals. Ivey got the win in a hard fought match 7-5. Ivey would go on to the final but lost to Blake Smith of Riverdale who boasted a 30-0 mark to start the meet. Goossens needed just over sixty seconds to collect third place with a fall over Kaden Dutton of Sherrard.
Sophomore, Tristan Hovey earned his trip to sectional battling back though the bracket after losing in the semi-finals 11-7 to Kolton Kruse of Riverdale sporting a 42-4 record. Hovey won by tech fall in his consolation semi-final and won by an 11-5 decision over Quinn Zimmerman of Sherrard for third.
Jordae Crow came into the meet with a 32-15 record but was upset in his first match forcing him to win three matches in a row to get to the third place match. He picked up two wins by fall and one by decision in claiming third place.
Panther coach Brian Buri said he was pleased with the Panther’s day. “I really liked several of the matchups we had during the day with several of our kids defeating opponents that had recently beat them. Jordae Crow had a heck of day and did just that, earning his way to the third place match. It was great to see some validation for him after all the work he has put in this season.
The level of competition at the regional brought out some great efforts for the Panthers. “Wyatt is closing the gap the Newman kid who is ranked second and Wyatt is ranked third,” said Buri. if he continues to wrestle at this level he should do fine at sectional.”
Buri also had praise for his 138 pound freshman, Noah Wetzell. “He did a great job all day and just missed getting to sectional in a very tough weight class.” He also had praise for sophomore, Tristan Hovey saying, “He had great matches all day and dominated several of his opponents.”
Sectional action for the Panthers begins on Friday evening with first round matches.
Complete Riverdale Regional Results
