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lockportlegend.com SPORTS
the Lockport Legend | February 16, 2017 | 47
fastbreak
Wrestling
Program-record 12 Porters qualify for state finals
Bob Klein/22nd Century Media
1st and 3
LTHS girls bowlers
hope for another
top state finish
1. Taking care of
business
The Lockport girls
bowling team won
the Andrew Sectional
Saturday, Feb. 11.
LTHS had trailed
Oswego East, but the
team surpassed them
in the final two games.
2. Coming back for the
crown
Lockport bowlers
Paige Reiter and Bailey
Delrose put together
two of the top three
scores in the afternoon
session to help their
team take first with a
final score of 6,334.
3. History of
achievements
The Porters advanced
to state for the fifth
consecutive time.
They finished fourth
at state in 2013, 11th
in 2014, first in 2015
and third last year.
Lockport has five
sectional champions
in dominant showing
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
This is the time of season
that the Lockport Township
wrestling team has been
aiming for.
Through an undefeated
(25-0) dual meet season
and back-to-back trips to a
pair of the best tournaments
in the nation, the Porters
moved up to be the topranked
team in the state and
No. 24 nationally.
But through it all they had
a goal to be at their best in
the postseason. They certainly
showed they were
on Saturday, Feb. 11, in
the Class 3A Normal Community
Sectional. There
the Porters established program
records with 12 state
qualifiers and five sectional
champions.
The Lockport dozen,
along with other area qualifiers,
will compete for at the
individual state tournament
finals, which is held this
Thursday through Saturday,
February 16-18 at the State
Farm Center in Champaign.
“We wrestle a really good
schedule and we’re ready to
compete when it’s time to
compete,” Lockport coach
Josh Oster said. “Twice before
we had seven people
get to state and once before
had four [sectional] champions.
We know we’re not
going to win every one, but
if you compete well then
good things will happen.”
Qualifying 13 people out
of their own regional on Feb.
4, the Porters had 12 of them
place in the sectional. They
will be represented at state
in every weight class except
195 and 220.
Brendan Ramsey was not
one of the Lockport sectional
champions. But despite
having 15 losses (22-15), he
epitomized the Porter spirit
by finishing third at 126 with
a 3-1 win over fellow senior
Jevon Pargo from Collinsville.
“It’s a great day and I’m
proud of all my teammates,”
Ramsey said. “When your
teammates are winning and
you see it, it pumps you up,
too.”
Capturing titles for Lockport
were seniors Abdullah
Assaf (132), Brandon
Ramos (138), and Trevell
Timmons (160), along with
sophomores Baylor Fernandes
(145) and Ronald
Tucker Jr. (285).
Garnering second for
the Porters was sophomore
Matt Ramos (106), freshman
James Pierandozzi
(120), junior Zach Reese
(152) and senior Nicholas
Dado (170). Placing third
was sophomore Anthony
Molton (113), Ramsey
(126) and senior Payton
Fernandes (182).
“Team-wise with all of
the qualifiers, that was just
amazing,” Timmons said.
“Everybody’s pushing along
and I feel like every week
we’re getting tougher and
tougher. A lot of guys knew
that if you move on from
this, you go to state, so there
was a lot of pressure on
some guys.”
Timmons, who defeated
senior Michael Foy (18-1) of
Crete-Monee 4-2 to improve
to 36-4 and win his second
straight sectional title, has
his eyes set on the prize this
weekend.
“I definitely want to do it
and don’t want to get injured
again,” said Timmons, who
finished fifth in 2015 and
sixth last year after being injured
— both at 152 pounds.
“I feel I’ve worked way too
hard not to take it [state title]
this year.”
So does Assaf, who was
third at 113 two years ago
and fifth at 120 last season.
He improved to 24-2 with an
8-3 victory over junior Carlos
Champagne from Marian
Catholic in the title bout.
But it didn’t come without a
worrisome moment to start
as Assaf had to take an injury
timeout.
“My knee popped and I
kind of freaked out a bit,
but it was nothing,” he said.
“I’ve been waiting for this
week. I think we can bring
home 12 placers at state.
We feel confident. We’re
hungry and we looked really
good.”
Brandon Ramos (37-5),
who won his first sectional
title after finishing third the
past three years, agreed.
“This is exactly what I
wanted,” said Brandon Ramos,
who defeated fellow
senior Luke Smiley from
Plainfield North 8-1 to win
the sectional title. “But I
can’t be satisfied with just
moving on. All of us will be
pushing each other to get a
medal or better.”
Baylor Fernandes (36-
8), who defeated fellow
sophomore Juan Bazaldua
from Providence 5-2 in a
local matchup, had to push
through to even compete.
But there was no way he was
going to miss out.
“I hadn’t practiced once
this week because I had the
flu, so I just gave it all that
I had and ended up on top,”
Baylor Fernandes said.
“I’ve never been this tired
before. Our whole team did
really good with guys beating
people who are better
ranked than them, which
just shows how hard they’ve
been working all year.”
The heavyweight bout
also featured an all local
matchup. There Tucker improved
to 26-2 in toppling
Lincoln-Way East senior
Sammy Diehl (35-3) 5-0 in
the first meeting of the season
between two of the top
heavyweights in the state.
“It felt good to wrestle
him and get the win that I
deserve,” Tucker said of
defeating Diehl. “We didn’t
have any letdown and wrestled
great. To have a guy
like Brendon Ramsey [with
15 losses] make it to the podium
is kind of heart warming.”
Despite his loss to Tucker,
Diehl, who is the SouthWest
Suburban Blue heavyweight
champion and is making his
second straight trip to state,
hopes to be on the podium
this weekend.
“He did very well, especially
on shot defense,”
Diehl said of Tucker. “But I
definitely still want to be on
the podium [at state].”
Cole Smith from Providence
was on top of the podium
at 152 pounds in the
sectional. He didn’t even
have to wrestle a title match
as fellow junior Zach Reese
had to injury default after
reaggravating a shoulder
injury that kept him out of
action for the month leading
up to the regional in the
semifinals.
Reese is expected back for
Lockport at state this weekend.
But Smith (40-4) was
very happy for the win as
it keeps him in the opposite
bracket as Lockport resident
and three-time defending
state champion Austin
O’Connor from St. Rita.
“I was really looking forward
to winning this since
I knew that if I did, I’d
be on the opposite side of
O’Connor, and could see him
in the finals,” said Smith,
who has lost to O’Connor
three times this season. “I
feel pretty good, but I’m still
not where I’d like to be.”
LISTEN UP
“You don’t see girls with this ability this
often, and all on the same team.”
Art Cwudzinski — Lockport girls bowling coach, on his team after
winning the Andrew Sectional
Tune In
Girls Bowling
Big cherry on top — Friday, Feb. 17 and Saturday, Feb. 18,
at the Cherry Bowl in Rockford
• The Lockport girls bowling team travels north to state
hoping to come back with another title.
Index
43 - Athlete of the Week
43- This Week In
FASTBREAK is compiled by Contributing Editor Thomas
Czaja, tom@homerhorizon.com.