:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/5JYM5M3AL3JIUL6KWSVODWYIYU.jpg)
MORRIS – The Morris wrestling team hosted the New Year’s Quad on Saturday that included LaSalle-Peru, Ottawa and Pontiac high schools.
After losing a close match to Ottawa and losing big to LaSalle-Peru, the Redskins won the final dual over Pontiac in dramatic fashion.
With the finale starting at the 220-pound match, the Redskins got pins from Colby Eschenbaum and Charlie Clark to take a 12-0 lead.
Morris extended the lead with a pin by Michael Milton at 113 and a 6-4 decision by Zach Sater at 120 to go up 21-6.
Pontiac won the 126- and 132-pound matches before Ethan Elleson (138) got a pin to make it 27-17 Redskins.
Pontiac won the next four weight classes (145, 152, 160 and 170) to take a 36-27 lead.
For Morris to have any chance, the Redskins needed Cody Baldridge (182) to come up big. He was taking on the GEI Illinois Matmen’s third-ranked Class 2A state wrestler, Levi Ransom.
Baldridge needed overtime and won a 6-4 decision to keep the Redskins alive at 36-30.
In the final match at 195, Morris freshman R.J. Roderick got the pin at 1:39 and the score was tied at 36.
In the tiebreaker, Morris received a point on criteria E, with its pin and victory earning the point over the Pontiac technical fall and victory.
“That was fun,” Morris coach Jon Lanning said. “We had the lead, went through a rough spot and had to battle back. Cody and R.J. came up big. This team is learning and after the first two matches against Ottawa and LaSalle-Peru, it was great to see us hang in there and continue to fight. We are so young.”
In the first match of the day, the Redskins lost to Ottawa, 48-36.
Baldridge started at 182 with a pin and, after a forfeit win by Abby Eisenbeis and a Milton pin at 113, the match was tied at 18.
Ottawa got pins in the next four matches, taking a 42-18 lead before two forfeit victories (145 and 152) for the Redskins made it 42-30 Ottawa.
After a loss at 160, Jeffrey Johnson won with a pin at 170 to get within 12.
“That was our youth and inexperience to start the day,” Lanning said. “We were close, Cody and Charlie had opportunities early but let it get away. We are always learning and it’s gaining the experience. We talked about taking advantage of those opportunities between matches. You flip one or both of those and it’s a different ball game.”
In the second dual, the Redskins dropped a 48-21 decision to LaSalle-Peru.
“If you look at the score, you would think it wasn’t a match,” Lanning said. “It was a lot closer that what the score indicates. L-P [LaSalle-Peru] has a nice team, but we really battled and again we were close in some of the matches.”
Jakob Eisenbeis (132), Johnson, Baldride and Clark won matches for the Redskins.
“This was a good day overall,” Lanning said. “We came together at the end and when we needed people to come through, they did. That is huge for as young as we are. These kids never quit and are learning every time out out. If you look at it, we could have been 2-1 today, it was that close. We are coming along and I’m happy with the effort and the day.”
Morris will host Sycamore 5:30 p.m. Thursday in a home conference matchup before traveling to Lincoln-Way West for a Saturday’s Warriors Mega Dual.