NL_011118

38 | January 11, 2018 | The New Lenox Patriot Sports
newlenoxpatriot.com
Warriors deliver in the final matches to seal conference win
Jason Maholy
Freelance Reporter
With Lincoln-Way West
leading an upstart Andrew
squad by six points and two
difficult matches to follow
his, Warriors senior Jordan
Telez knew he had to step up.
In case he wasn’t already
feeling inspired, West coach
Brian Glynn offered his
195-pounder a little extra
motivation.
“Coach Glynn said that
if I pinned him I wouldn’t
have to do another treadmill
workout, so that was plenty
of motivation,” Telez said.
It took Telez all of 19 seconds
to stick the Thunderbolts’
Ghassan Salah to extend
the Warriors’ lead to 12
points, and teammates Jimmie
Olds and Nick Skentzos
followed with hard-fought
victories at 220 and 285
pounds, respectively, and
West topped Andrew, 38-20,
in a SouthWest Suburban
Conference dual that was
closer than the final score
might indicate on Friday,
Jan. 5. The score had been
deadlocked at 20 with four
matches remaining before the
Warriors, who finished third
in Class 3A last season, rattled
off four straight wins to
thwart any hopes of an upset.
Glynn was pleased with
the manner in which his
squad finished the contest
at the upper weights after
Andrew had given West all
it could handle. The Thunderbolts’
J.P. Migawa upset
senior Kyle Quinn, 7-3,
at 170 pounds to even the
team score, but West sophomore
Peyton Knepper came
through with a huge win at
182, pinning Alex Hansen to
give the Warriors a 6-point
cushion. Telez followed with
a big victory of his own to all
but clinch the dual for West.
“Jordan’s just tough, he’s
just a tough kid that would
run through a wall for me,”
Glynn said. “He was banged
up and we weren’t even sure
if he was going to wrestle,
and I said, ‘Hey, I need you
to pin this kid,’ and that was
it. He’s the guy that jokes
around and keeps everybody
loose, but when it comes
game-time he fires it up.”
Knepper’s and Telez’s
pins also fired up Olds, who
followed with a 3-1 victory
over highly-ranked Ameer
Aqel at 220 pounds. Aqel
entered the match having
lost only once this season.
“Watching Jordan pinned
that kid right away pumped
me up for my match,” Olds
said. “Coach told me to go
out there and wrestle with
pride, and that’s what I did,
and I went out there with
what I know works for me
and ended up getting the W.”
Olds, a senior, has come
into his own this season
and has wins over several
highly-rated opponents. He
credits his coaches and hard
work during the off-season,
including a trip to Fargo,
North Dakota, for the Cadet/
Junior National Championships,
for helping him raise
his performance.
“I wrestled all summer,
went to Fargo, and that just
helped me this year,” he
said. “It’s made me more
confident in my wrestling.
Knowing I was up there with
some of the top contenders
in the nation and was able to
hang with them was a great
experience.”
Glynn has enjoyed seeing
the results of Olds’ growth.
“He looks really good,”
he said. “He’s matured just
so much over the last couple
years, and the way he dominated
that match [against
Aqel]... He controlled the
whole match.”
West sophomore Jacob
Please see wrestling, 37
Lincoln-Way West 145-pounder Brock Pfiefer holds on to his opponent’s arm to prevent him from getting up Friday, Jan. 5,
during a meet against Andrew in New Lenox. Photos by Jason Maholy/22nd Century Media
Garrett Geigner cradles his opponent’s leg to keep him from getting on top.