Wrestling: Wilmington outlasts Coal City
By Logan Malloy For Sun-Times Media January 23, 2013 10:48PM
Updated: February 25, 2013 12:39PM
Wilmington set a school record Wednesday with its 32nd dual-match win of the season, downing Coal City 33-27 in a clash of Class 1A titans.
The Interstate Eight rivals were tied at 27 heading into the final contest, but Andy Rodawald (38-2), Wilmington’s returning state finalist, owned the closing contest with a first-round fall over Jonah Englert at 132 pounds
“It’s a credit to the kids,” Wilmington coach Rob Murphy said of the team’s record. “I’m going to get them out of practice early the next few days. I told them the 32nd win that set the school record, we’d get out an hour early and give them a little break and a chance to heal up before regionals.”
Rodawald was one of four conference champions Wilmington (32-4, 11-0) had on display. Sean Liaromatis (170 pounds) and Dexter Fierro (182) won by fall while heavyweight Derrick Romano won by forfeit.
“You don’t want to see any letdowns in a match like this,” Murphy said. “We just wrestled them Saturday, but we’re going to see them again at regionals. If they had won, they would have had a share of the conference title.”
For Coal City, Cody Minnick (37-0) notched a fall at 106, Casey Jurzak (34-3) won by decision at 113 and Casey Brown (36-3) won at 120 over Austin Headrick.
“Those three are tough as nails,” Coal City coach Mark Masters said. “When we show up and get those three guys coming up, it’s tough to get off to a good start against us.”
Minnick and Brown are returning state-placers.
“They’re good practice partners,” Brown said. “Cody is a tough match-up for me. When we go at it in practice, we go all out.”
Mike Czaja, fourth all-time in Coal City pins, added a decision over Austin Alexander at 152.
