Wrestling: Morris grabs momentum early in conference win over La Salle-Peru

LA SALLE - Despite waiting through an hour and a half JV match, the Morris wrestling team managed a quick start against La Salle-Peru in an Interstate 8 Conference dual.

Morris recorded three pins and a technical and accepted three forfeits in the first seven matches to build a 41-point lead en route to a 57-24 victory Thursday.

“I’m sure they were sleeping a little bit, but coaches got them up and started warmups with about three, four matches left in the JV, so I think they were ready to go,” Morris coach Lenny Tryner said. “Obviously, went out there and wrestled hard. Those first few kids go out and get big wins and put up a lot of points, that gets our bench excited, and we have momentum from there.”

After the match started with an L-P forfeit at 106 pounds, Brock Claypool won by technical fall in the first period against L-P’s Austin Herron at 113.

Claypool got a quick takedown, then recorded five near falls to end the match.

At 132, Morris’ Carter Skoff blitzed L-P’s Zach Znaniecki and pinned him in just eight seconds, while Kazden Klinker followed with a first period pin at 138 against L-P’s Rylynd Rynkewicz and Tyler Semlar won by second period fall at 144.

“Our smaller guys always wrestle well,” Tryner said. “Claypool had that first period tech. He put a lot of points up there. He had a lot of tilts and turns. Carter Skoff really went out hard and aggressive right off the whistle and looked for that quick pin, and he got it. Kazden Klinker at 138 wrestled pretty good too.”

L-P got on the board during the eighth match of the night.

Andrew Peterson recorded a takedown and a two-point near fall against L-P’s Caleb Plutt in the first period then added an escape in the second, but the Cavalier freshman rallied.

Plutt, who placed fourth in the Morton Invite over the weekend, got a takedown and near fall in the second to pull within one, took the lead in the third with another takedown and recorded a pin with 1:37 left.

“Caleb Plutt did a great job,” L-P coach Matt Rebholz said. “He’s a freshman. He worked his way into the lineup. He’s been competing. Caleb’s really been stepping up. He’s been wrestling tough, and he’s developing. He has certain moves he likes to do, but we’re working with him in practice, and he’s developing. It’s going to be fun to see how he develops over the next few years.”

Also for Morris, Andrew Paull won by major decision over Zach Pocivasek at 157, Ian Wills pinned Walter Haage at 165, and A.J. Franzetti won by pin over Josh Bickford at 175.

“They wrestled well,” Tryner said. “We were coming off about a week’s rest, so we were fresh. We’re just back from winter break this week, so we were back in the room. During winter break you’re always missing a handful of kids.

“They came out and wrestled hard. They were aggressive. They knew this was a big conference match. They stepped up, got a lot of pins and did well.”

The Cavaliers ended the match strong, as Caeden Small pinned Michael Valverde in just 21 seconds at 190, Logan Miller bounced back from a 3-0 deficit to pin Daniel Riley in the second period at 215, and Morris forfeited at 285.

“Caeden Small is a strong wrestler,” Rebholz said. “He goes out there and has a 21-second pin. You see front headlock and takes him to his back. He’s been wrestling tough. I preach to them all the time, if you don’t go to your back, if you don’t roll over, fight and get through the period, you have second opportunities. You saw that with Logan Miller. He caught him, threw him to his back and stuck him. That was one of those moments you get all excited.

“It was a loss (in the dual), but there are still a lot of wins within that, especially with our young team.”