Three Oregon grapplers headed to state meet

OREGON – Oregon will send three wrestlers to the IHSA State Individual Finals this week, all fourth place finishers.

Regional champions Isaiah Perez at 120 and Nelson Benesh at 132 and 113 pound regional runner-up Josiah Perez all reached the semifinals and lost their matches at the 1A Oregon Sectional on Feb. 15.

All three dropped to the consolation semifinals and won their match to qualify for the state dinals.

Unfortunately, all three lost in the third place match and will have to face a champion from another sectional in the first round in Champaign on Thursday.

Ethan Mowry at 157 and Andrew Young at 175 both lost to third place finishers in the wrestleback semifinal and will be alternates.

Joining Oregon with three qualifiers are the Hawks Team Sectional opponent Sterling Newman with a champion, a second, and a third. Johnsburg also sends three, all runners-up. With two champions and two seconds, Lena-Winslow-Stockton will advance five.

Princeton, with three thirds and two fourth places, also sends five. Richmond-Burton had two champions and a runner-up among their six qualifiers.

Woodstock Marian led all schools with eight qualifiers, winning all four of their first place matches. Four schools advance two, including BNC rival Byron with a champion, Brody Stein at 165 pounds, and a third place, Jaren Claunch, at 285 pounds.

Twelve schools send one including Morrison, Rockridge, and Wheaton St. Francis, each with a champion. Stillman Valley had a second place finisher, Henry Hildreth, at 150 pounds.

Twelve schools had no place winners.

The first night of the Oregon Sectional was not kind to the Oregon Hawks. With a tournament leading 12 qualifiers, Oregon advanced just three to semifinals.

In the first round of the championship bracket Oregon won four of nine matches. Three of those lost in the quarterfinal. Also losing in the quarterfinal were regional champions Preston Labay at 126 and Levi Benton at 138.

First round losers were Jackson Messenger at 144, Jayden Berry at 150, Ethan Mowry at 157, and Briggs Sellers at 285.

Berry was pinned at 1:04, and the rest lost by major decision. Winning their first match were Jordon Lowe at 106 with a chicken wing over the front at 2:31, Josiah Perez at 113 with a half nelson at 2:27, Andrew Young at 175 with a takedown in a cradle at 4:52, and Seth Rote at 190 with a 7-0 decision.

In the second round, Lowe and Rote were pinned in half nelsons. Young dropped a 19-4 technical fall at 5:12. After a first round bye, Labay had his chances in the quarterfinal, but couldn’t break through in a 10-7 loss. Also with a bye, Benton looked a little off as he went over in a half nelson at 3:45. All nine of these wrestlers dropped to the second round of consolation.

Josiah Perez was the only first round winner to clear the second round, racking up a 23-6 technical fall as time expired in the match.

Regional champions Isaiah Perez at 120 and Nelson Benesh at 132 both won in the round of eight. Perez caught a chicken wing at 3:23. In a hard fought and tense match, Benesh came from behind with two takedowns in the third, the second to the back for two points to advance with an 11-5 win.

The wrestlebacks and semifinals were also tough for the Hawks. All three wrestlers in the semifinals lost and only two made it through to the consolation semifinals.

On the front mat, Josiah Perez met second place medalist Chase Vogel of Johnsburg and was in a 7-0 hole by the end of the second. He came back with a reverse and two takedowns to tie the score before Vogel scored a reverse to the back for six points and Perez went to consolation with a 14-8 loss.

Isaiah Perez never got rolling against eventual champion Brayden Teunissen of Woodstock Marian and was down 7-0 when he lost a takedown into a half nelson and was pinned at 3:51.

Benesh had his chances in a hard fought 7-5 loss. He took a 4-3 lead with an escape and takedown in the second but lost an escape and takedown in the third to drop to the wrestleback semifinals.

On the consolation mats, Labay won 17-5, Benton pinned with a half nelson at 4:30, Messenger reversed to the back at 4:58, Mowry tossed with a hip at 1:04, and Young found a half nelson at 2:51 to advance to the third round.

Losing in the first round of consolation were Lowe, sucked back in a half nelson at 5:44, and Berry, rolled in a granby and pinned at 3:53, Rote was roughed up in a 19-3 technical fall at the first period buzzer, and Sellers could not get off the bottom in the third period of an 11-3 major decision loss.

In the second round of wrestlebacks, LaBay went over in a half nelson at 3:51, Benton was turned with a chicken wing at 3:19, and Messenger went over in a half nelson in 42 seconds.

After a scoreless first period, Mowry withstood a late reversal to hang on for a 9-5 win. Young lost two takedowns and a chicken wing and was down 6-0 when he hit a spinning reversal to the back and pinned at 1:38, both advancing to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Josiah hit a high crotch into a half nelson for seven points as he rolled to a 12-2 major decision and ensure his qualification for next week. Isaiah had two takedowns and a reverse, losing a late reverse in an 8-2 win. Benesh split his opponent’s legs and put in a half nelson at 1:01. Mowry trailed 5-4 when he was turned over the front in a half nelson at 3:49 by third place finisher Wyatt Goossens of Erie-Prophetstown.

Third place medalist, Blake Livdahl of Richmond-Burton, started with a takedown in a cradle and finished a 15-0 technical fall with a chicken wing at the 56 second mark to drop Young from the competition.

On the third place mat, Josiah met Brandon White of Dakota who had beaten him by one point in the Regional final. This time, Perez never got going, losing four takedowns in a 26-9 technical fall loss as time expired. Isaiah was scoreless in the first but lost a reverse and four point cradle at the start of the second and went on to drop a 13-5 major decision, ending the match on his back in a scoreless turk

Benesh was down 15-4 in the third when he lost a heel pick and went over in a chicken wing at 4:45 to end it for the Hawks.

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Oregon’s Josiah Perez and Dakota’s Brandon White wrestle at 113 pounds in the third place match at the 1A Oregon Regional on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Earleen Hinton)