Senior Night was one of many celebrations that the Rochelle Hub varsity wrestling team enjoyed on Thursday, when the purple and white hosted Kaneland needing one more dual win in the conference to secure its second consecutive Interstate 8 championship.
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ROCHELLE — Senior Night was one of many celebrations that the Rochelle Hub varsity wrestling team enjoyed on Thursday, when the purple and white hosted Kaneland needing one more dual win in the conference to secure its second consecutive Interstate 8 championship.
In addition to the wrestling program honoring its nine senior members, several student-athletes on the team took part in a staged gender reveal wrestling match for assistant coach Nelson Baker, who’s expecting his first child with his wife Mara. The positive energy in the gymnasium set the tone for a dominant wrestling performance from the Hubs, who struck down the Knights 60-12 and clinched the Interstate 8 Conference crown for the second straight season.
“We have conversations as a team about what our legacy is going to be and we’ve talked about needing to perform at the right time,” head coach Alphonso Vruno said. “We want to prove not only to ourselves, but to the Rochelle community and the wrestling community, that Rochelle is a force to be reckoned with. We’re really excited about winning the conference title and we competed really strongly against teams in our conference. It means a lot to me and the kids.”
Rochelle (21-6, 5-0 Interstate 8) will have two dual matches remaining in the regular season before hosting an IHSA 2A Individual Regional at home on Saturday, Feb. 3. The Hubs will face Freeport at home on Wednesday before traveling to battle the Princeton Tigers on Thursday. Eleven of the 14 Hub wrestlers in the varsity lineup earned wins in the match with Kaneland.
“We’re going to stay the course and our kids are improving every day,” Vruno said. “We’re working on things our kids are good at and we’re spending time on niche positions where only a few seconds could change the whole outcome of the match. We’re really breaking things down and we’re really excited for the end of the season where we can work more as individuals.”
Nine seniors were honored in a prematch ceremony on Thursday. Those seniors included four-year varsity wrestlers Tommy Tourdot and Brock Metzger, who recorded his 100th career win during the dual. Additional seniors honored included Riley Damask, Mateo Hughes, Frank Decena and Abel Huerta as well as Lauren Basilio, Olivia Dreska and Jaclyn Seyller.
“Tommy and Brock are really special to our program and their freshman year was the COVID season when we wrestled during the summer,” Vruno said. “Brock played baseball and then came out to wrestle during the summer. That’s where their leadership started. They’re always looking to help out. They add a lot to our culture and we’re going to miss them. It’s going to be really tough to replace leaders like that. It was a really special night for our program.”
The dual against the Knights began with the 285-pound bout, where junior Kaiden Morris recorded two takedowns and a first-period fall over Levi Hurst. Kaneland answered with three points after Angelina Gochis scored a 10-7 decision over sophomore Freddie Hernandez in the 106-pound bout. Sophomore Colten Manning stepped into the varsity lineup and earned a big win for the Hubs, using just 12 seconds to pin Russell Blickem to claim the 113-pound bout.
Kaneland’s Kamron Scholl held off senior Tommy Tourdot for a 5-2 decision in the 120-pound bout to make the score 12-6 in favor of the Hubs, who won the 126-pound bout after junior Xavier Villalobos secured a second-period fall over Alex Gochis. Sophomore Deegan Schabacker and freshman Josh Lassiter followed with back-to-back falls for the Hubs, beating John Havron and Will Lindgren to take the 132-pound and 138-pound bout victories.
Rochelle extended its lead after freshman Angel Hernandez recorded two takedowns and a near fall during his 8-3 decision over Wyatt Yakle in the 144-pound bout. Sophomore Brenden Voight kept the Hubs rolling with a first-period fall over Kyle Rogers in the 150-pound bout. Trailing 39-6 in the dual, Kaneland stopped the bleeding with a win in the 157-pound bout, where Mason Kelly notched a second-period fall over Rochelle freshman Alex Pellicer.
Junior Grant Gensler started a streak of four wins to close the dual, totaling three near falls and three takedowns in his 17-1 technical fall over Caden Vanik in the 165-pound bout. Sophomore Roman Villalobos followed with a 12-1 major decision over Apollo Gochis in the 175-pound bout and senior Brock Metzger swiped a first-period fall over Rogan O’Neil in the 190-pound bout. Senior Frank Decena’s fall over Garrett Herst in the 215-pound bout sealed the match.