Dukes muscle past Hubs in team sectional

Five Rochelle wrestlers score wins in 46-24 loss to Dixon

Russell Hodges
Posted 2/13/17

ROCHELLE — Hubs lost to the Dixon Dukes Tuesday night by a score of 46-24.

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Dukes muscle past Hubs in team sectional

Five Rochelle wrestlers score wins in 46-24 loss to Dixon

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ROCHELLE — If there’s one thing Rochelle head wrestling coach Rich Harvey always preaches to his kids, it’s to wrestle hard from the beginning of the match to the end.

And even though the Hubs lost to the Dixon Dukes Tuesday night by a score of 46-24 in the IHSA Class 2A Team Sectional at Rochelle Township High School, Harvey said afterward that he was proud of the energy the boys put forth.

“The effort tonight was really good from our kids,” Harvey said. “It was there up and down the lineup. At the beginning of the season we had a tendency to stop wrestling when things got hard, but our kids wrestled hard tonight and I’m really proud of them.”

Rochelle (16-8 overall) and Dixon met back in November, with the Dukes cruising to a 54-20 victory over the Hubs. But RTHS kept things a bit closer this time around, with sophomore state qualifier Eddie Villalobos (34-11) winning by 11-6 decision over Dixon’s Bryce Christiansen (30-15) after senior Jon Drilling (4-13) lost by fall in 1:02 to the Dukes’ Colten Bishop (31-9).

Junior Aidan Eckhardt (16-15) and sophomore Jesse Mohica (6-10), who each qualified for the individual sectional a few weeks ago, both wrestled tough matches Tuesday night, with Eckhardt falling in 3:33 to Duke 145-pounder Christian Hall (17-21) and Dixon 152-pounder Sebastian Quintana (27-10) winning by 14-4 major decision over Mohica.

After DHS took a 22-3 lead behind a victory by 160-pounder Clint Schielein (18-10) over Rochelle’s Isaac Contreras (4-11) in 37 seconds, the Hubs bounced back when junior 170-pounder Austin Tracey (15-13) won by fall in 4:48 over Dixon’s Brandon Finn (17-18). Tracey, who was one match shy of advancing to the IHSA Class 2A Individual Sectional in Sterling this season, got his revenge on Finn, who defeated him earlier in the season.

“We talked earlier today about the match and how he was a kid that beat him earlier in the year,” Harvey said. “Austin had some fire in his eyes after that and he went right after the kid. His technique has really improved and tonight he was sprawling and taking really good shots.”

Rochelle earned a second straight victory to make the score 22-15 after junior state qualifier Alex Harvey (34-5) pinned Dixon’s Matt Lohse (2-2) in a 182-pound bout at the 4:58 mark. Junior sectional qualifier Bazil Bennett (9-10) received a tall order in Duke state qualifier Andrew Wolber (37-6), but Bennett didn’t give Wolber any room to shoot, holding the top-5 ranked state competitor to only a 5-3 decision.

Perhaps the most exciting bout of the night came from 220-pounders Edwin Vega (17-19) of Rochelle and Jeffrey McKinney (11-13) of Dixon. The two heavyweights remained deadlocked at 3-3 before Vega took down McKinney in the first overtime period to earn three points for his team.

“Edwin can be a very successful wrestler,” Harvey said. “He’s learning how to win and he’s gaining confidence. That win tonight was big for him. Watching him figure out what works for him… He did what he needed to do.”

285-pound state qualifier Ryan Troutman (27-4) won by fall over Rochelle sectional qualifier Nick Henson (19-16) in 1:39, and after a forfeit at 106 pounds for the Dukes, DHS clinched the match by going up 37-18 with three bouts left to go.

Freshman sectional qualifier Keegan Davis (10-17) took the mat next for the Hubs, falling in a hard-fought 7-0 decision to Dixon’s Todd Schlosser (19-12) in a 113-pound match. Junior Andy Silva (7-24) lost by fall to Duke 120-pounder Elijah Ankney (21-14), but Rochelle ended the dual meet on a high note when junior sectional qualifier Justin Hernandez (35-9) overcame a slight deficit to pin Dixon 126-pounder Mason Rhodenbaugh (25-11). Hernandez, who suffered a tough loss to Ottawa’s Ethan Harsted in a state-qualifying match at the sectional tournament, ended the season as Rochelle’s only 35-match winner.

“Justin’s really come a long way as far as being patient and finishing strong,” Harvey said. “He doesn’t panic and he knows he’s in the match all the time, and that showed when he came back tonight.”

The Dukes will advance to the IHSA Team State Finals this coming weekend, and although the meet ends the Rochelle wrestling season, the boys huddled together on the mat for one final meeting with their head coach.

“Way to finish strong,” Harvey said regarding the final message to his boys. “We improved. We started slow but we set out to improve every week and that’s what we did.”