Is this the best roster Lincoln-Way West’s wrestling program has ever put together?
It’s a question that won’t be answered until the state tournament in February, but the Warriors sure looked the part Saturday in New Lenox.
West rolled the competition at its eight-team mega duals, topping Morris 76-3, Tinley Park 52-6 and Plainfield East 61-12.
“That team is loaded,” said Rich East coach Matt Shank, watching from the stands. “This might be (coach Brian Glynn’s) best team yet.”
Out of 42 individual matches, the Warriors lost only six, and two of those came against returning state finalists: Tinley Park’s Eric Schultz (195 pounds) and Plainfield East state champ Michael McGee (120).
Two-time state medalist Kyle Ruettiger (145) went 3-0, handing Tinley Park’s Ceaser Clark the first defeat of his season in a back-and-forth match that saw Ruettiger land the bout’s first points on a second-period scramble.
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“It’s my last year, I might as well make the best of it,” said Ruettiger, who improved to 20-5. “You can’t get down about the losses at the beginning of the season when you have to worry about the end.”
One wrestler taking it match by match is Ruettiger’s drill partner, junior Josh Bohne (160).
“He’s wild when he wrestles, but he just goes for it,” Glynn said of Bohne. “He’s nonstop, and he’s one of our hardest workers.”
Bohne’s also one of West’s top breakout candidates. He improved to 21-6 with three victories Saturday.
“Working hard in the practice room pays off,” said Bohne, a safety on West’s state finalist football team. “It helps going against guy like Kyle and Grahm (McClure) and Gabe (Montalvo).
In other action, Tinley Park defeated Rich East 57-15 but fell to Metea Valley 41-30. It’s been a brutal week for the Titans with six dual matches in the last five days, including a 40-24 defeat Friday to Marian Catholic, another Class 2A contender.
Despite all those matches, the Nebraska-bound Schultz didn’t see any mat time until Saturday.
“Everyone’s been ducking him,” Titans coach John Pfeffer said. “It gets pretty frustrating. Why wouldn’t you want to test yourself against a nationally ranked kid?”
Schultz came to wrestle Saturday and improved his record to 29-0. Trevor Koepke (132) was another standout for the Titans. Koepke went 3-0 and notched an overtime victory against West state qualifier Joey Schloegal.
“Trevor’s been wrestling really for us, along with Eric and Ceaser,” Pfeffer said.
Rich East dropped its last match to Morris 45-25, but bright spots included strong performances from Sam Tijerina (106) and returning state-placer Kevin Radcliffe (113).
The duo combined to go 6-0 with a fall, three tech falls and two forfeits.
“You’re only as good as your wrestling partner,” Radcliffe said. “I’m going hard on (Tijerina) all the time because I want us to be back to back: 106 in the state finals and 113 in the finals.”
Logan Malloy is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.