Wrestling: Plainfield Central upends Minooka
By Logan Malloy For Sun-Times Media January 10, 2013 9:46PM
Updated: February 12, 2013 2:36PM
In the six-year history of the Southwest Prairie Conference, only two schools have captured league championships.
Those two programs met Thursday when five-time title-holder Minooka welcomed reigning champ Plainfield Central to town for a match of conference unbeatens.
Central (5-0 SPC) looks poised to go after another conference crown. The Wildcats rallied Thursday for a 36-24 victory.
“Now I think we’re the top competition in the conference but they were definitely at the top,” Plainfield Central state-placer Nick Nasenbeny said after his major decision at 126 pounds. “This is always a big rivalry for us, so for us to come and get the win on their home court, it’s good.”
After the schools split the first six matches, Minooka took the next three bouts behind decisions from Chris Hiscock (170) and Josh Bouie (195) and a pin from sophomore Nathan Gunn (182) for a 24-11 advantage.
Central rallied with five consecutive wins, highlighted by pins from Cody England (106) and Dylan Cramer (113) to seal the win.
Central also received points when Minooka (4-1 SPC) elected to forfeit against top-ranked and undefeated Jordan Ellingwood.
“The team is at a crossroad,” Minooka coach Jeff Charlebois said. “It comes down to competing consistently. (Thursday) some guys wrestled great, other guys wrestled poor. At the next dual, another set of guys are going to wrestle great and another set of guys will look poor.”
In one of the more closely contested matches, regional champion Ryan Holzrichter moved up a class to 145 to meet Minooka’s standout freshman Carson Oughton. After two scoreless periods, Holzrichter earned a 3-0 decision with an escape and a late takedown.
Clayton Ledbetter (120), Jordan Dinoffria (152) and Andrew McAllister (285) rounded out the winners for Central.
Minooka had a pin from Danny Ruetigger (132) and decisions from Mike McNulty (138) and Jeff Klank (160).
Minooka state-placer Corbett Oughton still is out with an injury but the senior is expected back sometime next week.
