Sandwich has 11 sectional qualifiers, wins team title at St. Bede Regional

PERU – Princeton senior Ace Christiansen and Sandwich sophomore Cooper Corder have engaged in several tightly-contested matches over the last two seasons.

Last winter, Corder beat Christian in regional and sectional finals, with Christiansen rebounding to win over Corder in the IHSA Class 1A 138-pound third-place match. This season, Corder defeated Christiansen at the Plano tournament early in the season.

The latest installment came Saturday in the 144-pound title match at the Class 1A St. Bede Regional. Corder got ahead early with a pair of takedowns in the first period en route to a 10-3 victory.

“Ace and I have a history, so I was excited to get this one,” Corder said. “It’s good competition to get me ready for sectional. I was excited to go out there and put out for my team, especially because Princeton and Sandwich were close in the team race.”

Corder’s win helped the Indians take the team crown, as he was one of four Sandwich wrestlers to win a regional championship and one of 11 to place in the top three.

Sandwich racked up 209 points to beat the Tigers (176.5), Marquette (134.5), St. Bede (104.5), Amboy (93.5), Mendota (85), Lisle (76), Putnam County-Hall (31), Aurora Central Catholic (22) and Somonauk (14).

“It means a lot,” Corder said. “I’m still an underclassman. We have some guys in the upperclass, and we want to put them out with a good taste in their mouths. A lot of my friends, we all try to work togehter. We try to keep it as a family. It’s super cool to come out here and compete.

“It means a lot for us to get to team sectional.”

The Indians, who won their first regional since 2022, will wrestle in the Oregon Dual Team Sectional on Feb. 25.

Before that, 11 Sandwich wrestlers will compete in the Oregon Individual Sectional next weekend after placing top three Saturday.

Joining Corder atop the podium were Jaxson Blanchard at 138, Josh Lehman at 157 and Kai Kern at 175. Also advancing for the Indians were runners-up Dom Urbanski (113), Colten Stone (132), Joshua Kotalik (150), Kaden Clevenger (190) and Devon Blanchard (215) along with third-place finishers Hunter Whitecotton (106) and Jakob Gruca (126).

Princeton had four champions – Augustus Swanson (120), Kane Dauber (132), Casey Etheridge (165) and Cade Odell (285) – while Christiansen and Jacob Paull (113) also advanced.

In their title matches, Swanson won by fall in 2:36, Dauber recorded a fall in 2:44, Etheridge edged Marquette’s Reily Leifheit 5-4, and Odell beat Mendota’s Angil Serrano 10-3.

Etheridge fell behind 3-0 after one period but pulled within 3-2 after two. In the third, Etheridge scored a takedown to pull out the win.

“I got down a little bit early, and I just didn’t give up,” Etheridge said. “I kept working. He’s a great opponent. We wrestled earlier in the season, and it went into triple-overtime, so it was nice not to go into overtime.

“(In the third), I tried to push the pace and tire him out a little bit. Once I got that takedown, I knew I had to keep working and not let him get back up.”

Along with Leifheit, Marquette has six other wrestlers going to sectional as Brysen Manly (150) and Alex Schaefer (215) won titles, Koby Clark (120), Beau Thompson (138), Landyn Mcemery (175) took second, and Adrian Schaefer (285) finished third.

“I’ve gone through kids club wrestling and went to state and all that,” Manly said about winning a title. “Being able to do it at the high school level is big.

“I wrestled perfectly (in the championship). I got on top and rode him out all three periods.”

For the host Bruins, Mikey Benge (113) secured the program’s first regional title on its home floor with a 16-0 technical fall as St. Bede hosted a regional for the first time, while Garrett Connelly was down 9-3 in the third but recorded a late pin for a title.

Also advancing for the Bruins were Max Moreno (126) and Logan Pineda (157) with second-place medals and Jordan Coventry (165) with a third-place finish.

“I feels really good, especially doing it as a freshman,” Benge said. “It was really hard. I think it’s cooler (to win at home) than having it somewhere else.”

Amboy is sending five to sectional with champion Aden Spinelli at 106 with a pin in 54 seconds in the title match along with third-place finishers Josh McKendry (138), Caiden Heath (144), Jose Lopez (150) and Evan Flanagan (215).

“I just attacked and finished my shots,” Spinelli said. “It feels pretty good being a freshman.”

Mendota has four sectional qualifiers in Serrano along with third-place finishers Komen Denault (132), Gavin Evans (157) and Corbin Furar (175), while Putnam County-Hall’s Alex Tucker placed third at 190 to advance.

Lisle had two qualifiers in champion Alexander Ferari (126) along with runner-up Sebastian Lara (106), while Aurora Central Catholic’s Vince Hefke (120) placed third.