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mokenamessenger.com sports
the Mokena Messenger | January 19, 2017 | 41
Wrestling
Bolstered by state hopefuls, West downs Central
Jason Maholy
Freelance Reporter
Jake Dudeck began his
high school wrestling career
three years ago at Lincoln-
Way Central.
During his time there, left
his sweat — and likely some
skin and hair — on the mats
on which he grappled with
friends and foes.
His proudest moment as a
Knight came last February,
when he won the final match
of his junior season to take
fifth place at 220 pounds
in the IHSA Class 3A state
tournament.
Dudeck wrestled in the
Central gym for the final
time on Thursday, Jan. 12 –
Senior Night for the Knights
– and continued a season in
which he has dominated the
majority of the competition
at 220 by pinning his opponent
in 39 seconds.
He did it not, however, do
so in Central’s red and black,
but instead orange and black;
and he was not being celebrated
as one of the Knights’
outgoing seniors.
In fact, his victory contributed
to Lincoln-Way West
defeating Central by the lopsided
score of 56-8.
Like hundreds of other
Lincoln-Way High School
District 210 student-athletes
who were forced to switch
schools because of Lincoln-
Way North’s closure, Dudeck
is competing this season for
a team other than the one to
which he dedicated himself
for the first three years high
school. Now. he is a member
of a talented West squad that
is ranked by Illinois Matmen
as one of the Top-10 teams
in Class 3A.
“Really weird, really
weird,” Dudeck said of being
on the opposing side in
the gym he called home for
three years. “Three years
I spent sitting in that chair
Gabe Stevens (right) sprawls as West opponent Jake Price
goes for a takedown.
over there, so to sit on the
other side is just weird. I
have no other words for it.”
Another wrestler who
changed schools – Jason
Stokes, who came to Central
from East – helped the hosts
to a strong start when he
defeated West’s Nate Dluzak
by technical fall at 132
pounds, but that was one of
only two matches in which
the Knights got the better of
the Warriors. Mason Sargent
(195) was the other victorious
Knight, edging Robert
Noga 5-3 in overtime in arguably
the best match of the
evening.
West grapplers who won
by fall were Garrett Geigner
(106), Payton Geigner (113),
Jake DiBenedetto (138),
Joey Schloegel (145) and
Dudeck. Other Warrior victors
were Chris Kennedy
(120), Tommy Buell (126),
Jake Price (152), A.J. Patterson
(160), Kyle Quinn (170),
Trevor Schmidt (195) and
Nick Skentzos (285).
Central coach Jason De-
Polo said the Knights were
facing a significant challenge
and was proud of the
way they competed.
“I think that was our
preach this week – getting
to a six-minute match and
wrestling the whole time,
and I think, for the most part,
we did that. I think we came
out and battled,” DePolo
said.
“They’re a good, solid
team, obviously, from 106
all the way to 285, and our
kids knew that coming in.
But I was pleased. Obviously,
the scoreboard was
in their favor, but I think we
were in a lot of the matches.”
DePolo came to Central
in 2013, the same year as
Dudeck, and was obviously
disappointed to lose a wrestler
of Dudeck’s caliber but
happy to see the athlete he
coached for three years having
great success.
Dudeck (25-4) has won 18
matches by fall – 15 of those
in the first period – and his
losses have come to three
wrestlers who are undefeated
in Illinois and another
who is expected to contend
for a state title.
“He’s a great kid,” DePolo
said. “He was doing this last
year, acting like a senior,
mowing people down, and
having that presence as he
walked into a gym. Good for
him, hats off to him. We’ll
be rooting for him down at
state for sure.”
Dudeck said he goes into
Lincoln-Way Central’s Noah Upchurch tries to stay upright as Lincoln-Way West opponent
Trevor Schmidt goes for a single-leg takedown Thursday, Jan. 12, during a dual between
the two teams in New Lenox. Photos by Jason Maholy/22nd Century Media
each match with the goal “to
get off the mat as fast as possible.”
His more long-term
goals are to win regional and
sectional titles, and to advance
to the semifinal round
at the state tournament. He
has won regional crowns and
placed runner-up at sectional
each of he last two seasons.
“I’m going really hard in
practice, probably harder
than I’ve ever done before,”
he said. “Over here, we had
really hard practices, but [at
West], it’s freaky how hard
they are, so I feel like I have
so much more gas than last
year.”
Stokes, meanwhile, hopes
to return to the state tournament
after being upset in
sectional competition last
season. He qualified for state
at 126 pounds as a sophomore
in 2014, and last year’s
disappointment has helped
Mokena resident Jason Stokes controls opponent Nate
Dluzak.
fuel his effort to get back to
Champaign.
“The team has been great
all year, it was no big change
for me at all,” he said of
coming over from East.
“The coaches picked up with
what I was working with last
year – they watched me, they
knew me from years prior,
so it wasn’t a big adaptation.
“I’m feeling good. Next
week is conference, and then
we have a week off, and that
week is when the champions
are made. I just don’t want to
have the same feeling as last
year.”