CHAMPAIGN — Senior Allen Stallings is unique compared to most of the recent wrestling state champions at Oak Park-River Forest.
Stallings became just the third football player among OPRF’s 11 state champions since 2010 on Saturday, Feb. 20. He defeated Fremd’s Alex Jacobs (38-2) in a 7-3 decision to win the 220-pound Class 3A title at the State Farm Center in Champaign.
Stallings — the defensive lineman of the year during the West Suburban Silver football season — joined Kamal Bey and Davonte Mahomes as former OPRF football players who won wrestling state titles.
Bey and Mahomes each won state titles in 2014, but each played only one season of varsity football. Bey did not return for his senior season in 2014-15 when he left school after receiving an invitation to train for wrestling at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Mahomes was a starting linebacker as a junior, but he quit football to focus on wrestling in his senior season.
Stallings signed with Indiana for football on Feb. 3, but he still has high school wrestling remaining with the dual-team postseason next week.
Stallings (32-3) said he learned to adjust to the strain of playing football while also wrestling. Stallings and junior Rolliann Sturkey, who placed third at 170 pounds Saturday, were the only football players to compete in varsity wrestling for OPRF this season. Sturkey was the starting safety for the Huskies in the fall.
“I think it’s tough,” Stallings said. “You have to put your mind to it. I knew what I had to do. This year, I learned to take care of my body.”
Stallings reached the state quarterfinals at 220 pounds last season but had to withdraw early in his match against Libertyville’s Mark Dunsing because of a recurring back injury.
“My only two losses last season were due to injury defaults,” said Stallings, who went 17-2 in 2015.
Coach Paul Collins has described Stallings as a “brute” on the wrestling mat.
“This is a perfect way for him to end a career,” Collins said. “We just needed him to be healthy. We didn’t do anything. We taught him a few moves. For him, it’s about taking controlled aggression.”
Twitter @geomwilcox
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