As a freshman at Mount Carmel, Matthew Reyes was a stranger to the Cheesehead and Dvorak.
After all, the two sound more like specialty pizzas than a pair of the Midwest’s most respected wrestling invitationals.
“I really didn’t think much of it, and I never really thought of myself as being varsity,” said Reyes, who opened his wrestling career on the freshman team.
But that line of thinking didn’t last long.
“To see myself place sophomore year at the Dvorak, I was shocked,” he said.
Fast forward to his senior year, and the athletic 285-pounder is now well-acquainted with wrestling’s high-profile stages. Reyes (21-2) won the championship of the the heavyweight division Saturday at the 27-team Cheesehead Invite in Kaukauna, Wis.
“This was a national tournament, and now I’m even more shocked,” Reyes said. “I mean, I wrestled a guy (TJ Rayam) from Alabama. Afterward, I found out he was a two-time state champion.”
It wasn’t the only significant win for Reyes, a well-spoken senior. The Caravan topped Sandburg 582-557 for the team title, handing the nationally ranked Eagles the first loss of their season in any format.
“It’s special because we lost to (Sandburg) last year at team sectionals,” Reyes said.
The Caravan received a second-place showing from Michigan State recruit Jake Tucker (152 pounds), and thirds from Yahya Thomas (120), Cameron Lopez (160) and David Riojas (170).
As a result, Mount Carmel was ranked as No. 14 in the nation by Intermat and FloWrestling. Sandburg is one spot back in both polls.
“To be honest, I did expect a lot from my team,” Reyes said. “We’ve been putting our bodies through a lot of struggle. We had doubles over winter break, and that helped us get into the shape. I talked to some of my teammates, a lot of us weren’t tired on the second day at Cheesehead.”
Reyes, a left guard on the football team, looks primed to wear down opponents for the remainder of what he hopes is a lengthy postseason — especially after last year was cut short.
In a sectional bout with Marist’s Jake Ford, Reyes looked primed to advance and qualify for state. However, Ford rallied with a pin to end Reyes’ season, and Ford carried that momentum all the way to the Class 3A state title at heavyweight.
“I have a chip on my shoulder, but not because I didn’t qualify for state or went toe to toe with Ford,” Reyes said. “I have a chip on my shoulder because I’ve been putting in the work and I believe I can go farther.”
Pound for pound: The other Cheesehead champions hailing from the Southland won’t come as a surprise with Sandburg’s Rudy Yates (132) and St. Rita’s Austin O’Connor (145), the latter named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Yates, a senior committed to Northern Iowa, and O’Connor, a junior fielding multiple offers, are seeking their third state titles. An argument could be made that either one is the state’s pound-for-pound best.
Home cooking: Don’t grapple with Rich East lightweight Sam Tijerina. A judo and jiu-jitsu practitioner, Tijerina grew up home-schooled until last year, when he transferred into Rich East to try his hand at another sport.
“My main reason for wanting to come to a public school was to try wrestling,” Tijerina said. “The school part was semi-easy, and then wrestling, I had to get beat up by Kevin (Radcliff) for a semester before I started getting it.”
Knowing he’d have a state-placer like Radcliff (113) as a drill partner helped make Tijerina’s decision an easy one.
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“Without someone around your size or skill, you can’t really challenge yourself like in a real match on a daily basis,” Tijerina said. “It helps a lot.”
Logan Malloy is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.
TOP 10
Last week’s rank in parentheses
1. Mount Carmel (2)
2. Sandburg (1)
3. Lockport (3)
4. Lincoln-Way West (4)
5. Marian Catholic (5)
6. St. Rita (6)
7. Providence (7)
8. Marist (NR)
9. Lincoln-Way East (8)
10. Lincoln-Way Central (9)
Wrestler of the Week: St. Rita’s Austin O’Connor (32-0) dominated with five pins and a tech fall at 145 pounds last weeked in being named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the 27-team Cheesehead Invitational.