Starting a new wrestling program at Mater Dei High in Breese, Kyle Graham thought he had an idea of what to expect.
Graham, who wrestled at Johnsburg High near Chicago, had done some little league coaching near home and also worked last year with the Highland youth club. But the experience this season has been an eye-opener.
“It's been tougher than I expected,'' said Graham, who is coaching the Knights along with Shane O'Brien. “We have six kids, all freshmen, and only one them, Nick Czar, had ever wrestled before this season. They're all working hard, trying to get better, but this is a very difficult sport to learn. It's hard to keep the kids' spirits up when they're losing all the time, but honestly, that's the only way they're going to learn and hopefully improve.''
The Mater Dei program received a huge boost from wrestling supporter Mark Mestemacher of Edwardsville to get started and has also been supported by its school.
“The school's helped by including us in the daily announcements, but it's not easy getting something like this off the ground,'' Graham said. “These guys had no idea what they were getting into -- I know at least one of them said he expected to see ropes around the mat -- but I'm real pleased with the progress we've made. Scheduling has been difficult because we only have the six guys and we've mainly been looking for JV matches, but that should improve now that we're established.
“And hopefully, now maybe a few more guys will be interested in coming out when we start up next season.''
The highlight of the Knights' season thus far was Czar's third-place varsity finish at 220 pounds in the Mascoutah tournament in late December. The lone experienced wrestler on the Mater Dei roster, Czar placed second in the IKWF championships last spring in Rockford and will be among the competitors when Mater Dei attends its first regional tournament Feb. 4 at Althoff.
“We think Nick can make some noise this year,'' Graham said. “As far as the others, it's still up in the air. We've basically left it up to them; it's a big step for a first-year wrestler, and the last thing we want to do is push somebody who's not ready.''
Others on the Mater Dei roster are Connor Burton (120), Logan Emig (132), Mike Hamilton (138), Blake Maue (160) and Ben Maue (170).
BIG EVENTS THIS WEEKEND
• Francis Howell North is hosting the big local event. Pool 1 includes the host Knights as well as McCluer North, Whitfield, Lindbergh and Hazelwood West, and Pool 2 features Troy, Fort Zumwalt North, Fox, Jefferson City and Rock Bridge.
Area standouts expected to compete include defending state champs Lindbergh's Michael Slyman and Rodney Hahn of Whitfield as well returning state medalists Darrell Pampkin (McCluer North), Tom Korenak (Lindbergh), Skylar Weber (Troy), Zach Nelson (Zumwalt North), Chris Wilkes (Whitfield), Austin Smith (Whitfield), Jack Pantanella (Whitfield) and Ethan Sherertz (Whitfield).
The finals will be Saturday at approximately 3 p.m.
• Triad will host the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Duals at 9 a.m. Saturday. The competition also includes Civic Memorial, Jerseyville, Mascoutah, Highland and Waterloo.
SUBURBAN WEST SHOWDOWN
Tim Yancey of Eureka and Bob and Ron Wilhelm of Northwest will be watching the weather next week. A year ago, Eureka and Northwest went into the last week of the Suburban West season with perfect conference records. The league title was going to be settled at a winner-take-all dual at Northwest. Except ... it wasn't settled. Bad weather blew in, the dual was canceled and the title was shared.
Wednesday, if the weather cooperates, Eureka and Northwest will do it again. Everything, except for the location, is as it was a year ago: Both teams are undefeated in league duals and the title is on the line.
The dual will start at approximately 7 p.m. at Eureka. The showcase match ought to be at 120 pounds where Eureka's Luke Seiler and Northwest's Chris Byrd will meet. Seiler pinned Byrd at the All-Suburban tournament three weeks ago. Most of the other sparks will be in the upper weights where Eureka's lineup features returning state medalist Matt McClimens (182), Luke McClimens (195) and Brett Judkins (220) and Northwest has Kyle Benz, Evan Campbell and Devin Cagle.
Northwest likely will be without two-time state qualifier Zack King. The senior 160-pounder suffered a knee injury at Jefferson City two weeks ago. "I think he's out until districts," Northwest co-coach Ron Wilhelm said.
WHO NEEDS RANKINGS?
Edwardsville coach Jon Wagner has a pretty convincing
closing argument if anyone wants to debate who the area's best team
is this season. "We haven't lost to anyone around here," he points
out.
"Anyone" includes Seckman, the Suburban South champ and All-Suburban tournament winner. The Tigers finished ahead of the Jaguars at the Ron Sauer Duals to open the season and again recently at St. Charles West.
While Edwardsville was forced to scratch its own quad Saturday when Quincy and Niles Notre Dame had to cancel because of bad weather, Wagner said he is pleased with the Tigers' bruising mix of tournament outings. In addition to traveling to Fox and St. Charles West, Edwardsville also wrestled at a couple tough events near Chicago and recently went to the Cheesehead Invitational at Kaukauna, Wis. At Kaukauna, Edwardsville turned in a solid effort, but was 19th in a 24-team field that featured championship-caliber teams from five states.
How tough was the Cheesehead? "If we went to six Cheeseheads, we'd be dead," Wagner said.
RECORD RUMBLE
J'den Cox's pursuit of state and national takedown records is causing waves -- and some hard feelings -- around the state. The two-time state champ from Hickman is running up big scores while extending matches -- rather than working for a pin -- with a take-'em-down, cut-'em-loose strategy.
“He's trying to get 10, 12, 14 takedowns a match," Northwest co-coach Ron Wilhelm said.
Wilhelm said the Lions' 220-pound standout Devin Cagle "got a double dose of that" at the recent Capital City Invitational. Cagle has banged out a 27-3 record, but was overmatched in a pair of matches at Jefferson City. Cox, a junior, scored a 23-8 tech fall against Cagle during the first-day duals and then cranked out a 22-7 tech fall against Cagle in the tournament final.
"I'm OK with it, but some of the coaches on our staff may not agree with me," Wilhelm said.
