Joliet West wrestlers top Joliet Central to capture fifth straight SPC East title

JOLIET — Even though the Southwest Prairie Conference boys wrestling meet was held last weekend, there was still plenty riding on Friday night’s match between District 204 rivals Joliet West and Joliet Central.

Both teams were tied atop the SPC East Division entering the match, so the winner would take home the division title. It was also the annual Take Down Cancer match, in which there were raffles for gift baskets and a 50/50 raffle to raise money for cancer awareness in honor of former Joliet East and Joliet Central wrestling coach Pat O’Connell.

Through the first six matches of the night, the two teams were tied at 18 with each team picking up three six-point decisions. After that, though, West began to assert its dominance and picked up a 50-28 win that earned the Tigers their fifth straight SPC East title.

Senior Carson Weber capped the night with a 21-6 technical fall win over Yamil Cotto. Weber won the 150-pound championship at the conference meet and was a part of the last four Tiger division titles.

“Winning four titles in our division feels great,” Weber said. “Our program has always been solid, but I feel like we are turning the corner and ready to take that next step.

“I have been taking more of a leadership role this year, and that is kind of new to me. We didn’t really have that the last couple of years. I am trying to push the younger guys and get them confidence in the team and in themselves.”

Wrestling began at 157 pounds, and Joliet West grabbed a 6-0 lead when Aiden Brown pinned Cayden Summers in 0:35. Central returned the favor at 165 as Mark Bew recorded a pin over Tristan Radecke in 4:39. West’s Zach Cronk followed with a pin of Connor Gualandi in 0:56. Joliet West freshman Jacob Tydarek followed with a pin over Xavier Eggert in 1:52 at 190, putting the Tigers ahead 18-6. Central’s Charles Walker won by forfeit at 215 and teammate Evan Patton pinned Andrew Klobnak in 3:21 at 285 to tie things up.

“This was a fun match,” Tydarek said. “The crowd was big and cheering a lot. It was a great experience. It’s great that we won conference. Now, I want to make it to state in high school to back up what I did in IESA. I was first in the state last year.”

At 106, West’s Nick Murdock-Schey, another SPC champ, scored a 16-0 technical fall over Gio Contreras to put the Tigers up 23-18. West got pins from Jakob Crandall at 113 and Joseph Pedrosa at 120 to move out to a 35-18 lead.

In perhaps the most exciting match of the night, Central’s Jowel Maldonado and West’s Joseph Jaburek went at each other for nearly the full six minutes like they owed each other money. Jaburek was called for stalling too many times and was disqualified, giving Maldonado the win and bringing the score to 35-24.

Marquan Godfrey got a pin over David Calderon at 132 for West, and teammate Adrian Hernandez got a 15-2 major decision over Isaiah Kan at 138. Tremaine Cooper of Central followed with a 17-2 technical fall over Andy Ruiz-Martinez before Weber’s win in the final bout.

“Winning one division title is hard,” first-year West coach Awais Arain said. “For the seniors on this team to get four in a row is even harder. They have targets on their backs every time they wrestle a conference match. It’s a testament to the work these kids put in, not only during the season but in the offseason as well.”

Central coach Patrick McGovern was happy with how his team performed and the improvement they showed.

“About halfway through the match, we were tied at 18,” he said. “And, we had five wins where we got bonus points. If you would have told me before the match that we would have five bonus wins, I would have been very happy.

“We did a good job of not giving up six. Gio Contreras didn’t get pinned against the conference champ, and neither did Yamil Cotto. Everyone has improved, even from five days ago at the conference meet, so we are peaking at the right time.”