Seneca Irish wrestling runs dual streak to 17 with trio of wins

SENECA – The profile of some of the most successful teams in The Times area this spring included, and rightfully so, the Seneca High School wrestling team.

And right on cue, as if they were out to prove exactly how dominant they have been on the mat this season, the Fighting Irish went out Tuesday night and put on a perfect show.

Coach Todd Yegge’s club extended its string of consecutive dual-meet victories to 17 by taking down three opponents without losing a single individual match. Seneca defeated Marquette Academy 84-0, Somonauk 81-0 and Amboy 82-0 on its home mats to run its overall record to 17-1, with its only loss coming way back in its season opener to Joliet West, the Class 3A No. 15-ranked team in the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association polls.

They have rolled over the competition since, and Tuesday’s effort assured that every wrestler in the SHS lineup would still have a winning record heading into their next double-dual, on Thursday with Deer Creek-Mackinaw at No. 12 ranked Prairie Central.

“We’re just doing our best to keep it rolling,” said Yegge. “You know, we lost a good senior group last year, I knew we had a good group coming in as freshmen with three IESA state qualifiers, and we’re happy to be sharing of athletes with other sports, so I don’t know that I expected to be this solid right now. But the kids are really showing that they want to compete and they’re jelling as a team. They’re competing very well. …

“The freshmen, stepping onto the varsity mat is very different from grade school, and the backups who have stepped in, they’ve all done the job like you saw tonight.

“Across the board, the kids are showing a desire to win every time they step on the mat, freshman to senior. They expect to get their hand raised, and that was really evident tonight.”

With Marquette and Somonauk low on numbers, the match of the night was with Amboy, and even that was no contest. Capturing contested victories for the Irish against the Clippers were Luke Sangston at 113 (11-2), Jaden Casey at 120 (3:03), Nate Othon at 126 (1:09), Owen Feiner at 132 (2:58), Wilson Widman at 145 (1:21), Chris Peura at 170 (1:27) and Maveric Varland at 285 (3:29).

Against the Crusaders, Irish wins on the mat went to Sangston at 106 over Casey Sherer by pin at 1:16, Asher Hamby over Logan Petre by pin at 5:00, Widman over Luke Cooper at 145 by pin at 1:23 and Gavin Robertson over Jake Mitchell at 195 by pin at 1:01.

“I’m really proud of the way the kids wrestled tonight,” said MA coach Kyle Lowman, whose tiny club also lost to Amboy 84-0. “A lot of what we’re seeing comes from being behind in conditioning, and we’re trying to work on that with a lot of the kids also out for track. For two of our kids tonight, Easton Kent and Casey Sherer, it was their first match of the year … but I’m very pleased with the progress I’m seeing, even from the end of last season to this season.”

Somonauk had just one wrestler competing, and it was the only girl, Shea Reisel taking two of three matches on the night to improve to 5-1 on the season. At 106, she defeated Marquette’s Scherer and Amboy’s Levi Near by pin before moving up two classes to face Seneca’s Jaden Casey at 120 pounds. Casey claimed the win, 5-0, but not before battling through a scoreless first period.

“I’m glad that I got to move up for one. It was a really good match,” said Reisel, who between matches for the Bobcats competes in national girls tournaments around the Midwest and just returned from one in Texas. “I always like wrestling the boys, because it hypes me up, and I like trying to beat the odds. People like to see that, so I’m not only doing it for myself.

“I’m proud to represent all girls who want to wrestle or maybe want to do things others think they shouldn’t do.”