Coach Allen Kirgan feels the Granite City wrestling team is a long way from reaching its potential, but he has good reason to be pleased with what the Warriors have already accomplished.
Granite City, ranked 22nd in the state in Class 3A, takes a 10-0 record into Thursday's home match against No. 20 Edwardsville.
"We've still got some holes and some young kids that are maturing," Kirgan said. "We've had as many as five freshmen in the lineup at one time and eight freshmen have gotten at least one varsity match."
One of the Warriors' veterans, senior Justin Valencia, is ranked first in the Class 3A state rankings at 170 pounds. He is 7-1, with the lone loss 6-4 in overtime to two-time defending Class 2A state champion Dylan Reel of Washington. Valencia plans to go down to 160 by the regional.
Junior Cain Salas (145) is out until mid-January after hernia surgery. Sophomore Justin Nelson is 7-0 at 106 and 113. Senior Chad Whitford is 6-1 at 152, with the only loss on an injury forfeit.
Other standouts are Felipe Osario (5-0 at 160 and 170), Josh Dowdy (5-1 at 160), Alex Brooks (7-0 at 182), Josh Masters (7-1 at 220) and Cole Whitford (8-0 with seven pins at 285). Whitford also posted a 5-0 win over Alton's Benniko Willis, a Class 3A sectional qualifier.
Kirgan is looking forward to the Edwardsville match, which could help decide the Southwestern Conference championship. The Tigers have been on a roll and placed second at the Ron Sauer Tournament Dec. 3 at Fox High School in Arnold, Mo., losing 31-30 in the final to Kansas City power Staley.
"Edwardsville has a strong program year in and year out," Kirgan said. "Barring anything unforeseen, that should be a really good match."
On Friday and Saturday, Granite City is in the Kansas City Classic, a 34-team event at Hale Arena.
"You get four matches in pool and unless you're last in your pool, you go into a bracket from there and wrestle to eight places each, so you can get in a lot of matches," Kirgan said. "The really good kids tend to wrestle to their level, but I'm a little concerned about the young kids who come in with high hopes and lose some matches.
"I've had kids say at the end of the season ‘I'd have a really good record if not for that tournament,' but the competition that we face is designed for the kids to be tested."
TIGERS OFF TO STRONG START
Edwardsville is 12-2 after winning two of three matches Saturday at Minooka. The Tigers defeated New Lenox Providence (51-9) and Lincoln-Way East (38-29) while losing 37-25 to the host Indians.
"Minooka outwrestled us by a little bit, but it wasn't due to a lack of effort," said Edwardsville coach Jon Wagner, whose team also defeated SWC rival Belleville West 47-20 on Thursday.
Blake Blair continued his strong start at 195 pounds, going 4-0 last week, while Haydon Grammer was also 4-0 at 126. CJ Miller (113), who had struggled at the Fox tourney, won all three of his matches at Minooka. Senior Will Velez is 10-4 at 170.
"Will wrestled varsity last season but didn't do very well," Wagner said. "He put in a lot of time during the offseason and it's made a big difference. He's become a leader for us.
"We have a couple weight classes where we've having wrestle-offs this week and we're moving some people up and down. We have a pretty deep lineup, so we're able to do that."
Thursday's match at Granite City is the only competition this week for the Tigers, who are in the Dvorak Tournament Dec. 22-23 at Machesney Park Harlem.
"We already kind of know where we stand, but Granite City is a big match for us," Wagner said. "It's an early season dual, but it has a lot of ramifications for the conference."
TRIAD SURVIVES TOUGH SCHEDULE
Triad, which lost four of five matches at the Sauer Tournament, bounced with a 45-32 win over Cahokia on Dec. 6. On Saturday, the Knights defeated Quincy (41-31) and Mattoon (39-33) and lost 40-24 to Bloomington. Mattoon is ranked 22nd in Class 2A while Bloomington is No. 9.
"We had two forfeits all day and another kid got hurt, plus we had a double forfeit against Bloomington," said Triad coach Russ Witzig. "Our record could be better - three of the four duals we lost at Fox were by six points or less. We have some kids bumping up to try to fill the lineup and some guys haven't been stepping up on a consistent basis."
Freshman Cole Wysocki is 9-1 at 106 with his only loss to Weston Basler of Seckman at the Fox tourney. Lucas Zook is 9-1 at 126 and Chris Kenney (9-1 at 160) suffered his first loss of the season against Quincy.
Jake Tindle (9-0 at 170 pounds) is ranked first in the state in Class 2A while Kyle Graumenz (8-0 at 138) is ranked eighth.
"Ben Throm weighs 173 and the only way for him to get in the lineup is to bump up to 182 or 195, but he's won some big matches," Witzig said. "Our heavyweight, Dan Calvin, also beat a couple good kids on Saturday.
"We don't have anybody in the program at 113 after a couple kids quit, so we'll be forfeiting that weight all year. We're also forfeiting at 132 after another kid quit, but we have another kid ready to step in there after he meets the weight regulations on Dec. 20."
Triad is in the 18-team Mascoutah Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
"I look for it to be a four- or five-team race," said Witzig, whose team placed third last year. "Alton is the defending champion and probably the favorite. You can't count out O'Fallon and East St. Louis is on the rise. Quincy and Mount Vernon have some decent kids and we hope to be in the mix. It should be a very balanced tournament."
COLLINSVILLE OVERCOMES INJURIES
Last week was one a busy one for Collinsville (7-4), starting with a 46-19 Southwestern Conference loss to O'Fallon on Thursday. The Kahoks were 2-1 on Friday, beating Mascoutah (32-30) and Springfield (43-33) and losing to Cahokia (37-36). On Saturday, Collinsville won two of three of three matches, defeating Pekin (63-3) and Mattoon (50-24) and losing to Bloomington (49-21).
"Thursday I was a little disappointed with our effort and not finishing matches," said Kahoks coach Tom Blaha. "Friday we were better, but our 220-pounder, Cesar Contreras, broke his arm and Blake Miller (126) banged up his knee."
The injuries forced some changes in the lineup on Saturday, with freshman Jordan May stepping in at 126 and junior Mike Vojas moving from 182 to 195.
"We also had three kids out sick," Blaha said. "We missed two on Thursday and one on Friday, but Saturday we had them all back."
Sophomore Tanner Gestes, who sat out last season as a transfer, made his varsity debut at 132 while sophomore Rashawn Sykes moved up from 106 to 113. Sophomore Devonte Smith, who usually wrestles at 106, is 13-1.
"His one loss (against Edwardsville) was a match that kind of got away from him," Blaha said.
Junior heavyweight Drew Pikey was 7-0 last weekend with five pins and two forfeits. Sophomore Dylan Johnson is 12-2 at 160 and Andrew Altenberger, the only senior in the starting lineup, is 10-2 at 170. Junior Colton Miller (120) is back after missing time due to illness.
Collinsville has a home match against Alton on Thursday and will wrestle in the Mascoutah Invitational Friday and Saturday.
"At Mascoutah, we'll find out where we're at," Blaha said. "O'Fallon is tough, Triad has a nice team and Alton has a couple freshmen who were junior high state champs or runners-up."
