Wrestling: Wilmington advances in Class 1A

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Updated: March 23, 2012 8:13AM

Wilmington kept it close early and poured it on late in topping Manteno 36-25 in the Class 1A Coal City Sectional on Tuesday night.

“The way I had it figured we were going to be down at heavyweight but we actually went ahead and that just meant that we had more points than we expected,” Wilmington coach Rob Murphy said.

With the victory, Wilmington advances to face LeRoy in the Class 1A quarterfinals Saturday.

“Our guys did their jobs,” Murphy said. “Guys got the wins and the others saved us bonus points and they did a good job of battling.”

Manteno got wins from Anthony Franc (152 pounds) and Wes Ryan (160) in the early going.

“If I would have lost my match it would have given them a big momentum swing,” Franc said.

Wilmington’s Jason Conlin (170) posted a 4-2 victory over Mateno’s Mark Decry after nearly pinning him twice during the match. Wilmington’s Alex Petersen (195) put in a dominating 17-7 victory to spark the Wildcats.

“I thought it was very important to come out like that. I like to think that I did my job,” Petersen said.

Wilmington’s Dereck Romano (285) pinned the Panthers’ Dan Crarens with 21.4 seconds left in the first period to give the Wildcats a 13-12 lead.

Wilmington then won four of the next five matches as Stephen Kettner (113), Austin Headrick (126) and Trent Lyons (132) all posted impressive wins, Kettner and Lyons by pins and Headrick winning 17-1.