Story and photos by Chet Piotrowski Jr.
Mattoon’s four senior wrestlers took care of business on senior night winning seven of eight bouts – six by pin – in losing to Oakwood, 39-33, in the first match and winning, 60-22, in the third match of tri-meet Tuesday evening at MHS.
Seniors Logan Blackburn, TJ Owens, and Leo Meyer all won their respective matches by pin, while Jason Skocy won one and lost another by decision. Meyer wrestled at 285 against Oakwood for his first win of the night, then came back and won at 220 against Lawrenceville for his second.
“I thought our seniors did great,” Mattoon varsity wrestling coach Brett Porter said. “It was awesome for them to be showcased tonight(on senior night). Being able to wear the championship singlets, they did a great job.”
Porter applauded Blackburn and Meyer for being great leaders.
“Logan Blackburn and Leo Meyer have been great captains,” he said. “They’ve been around for four years and know what to expect from me so they know what to tell the younger guys on how practice is going. They have done a fantastic job.”
Owens and Skocy aren’t new to wrestling, but rather stopped in favor of other activities.
“TJ (Owens) and Jason (Skocy) are new to our program as seniors,” Porter said. “But that doesn’t diminish the amount of work they’ve done though the kids club. They took some time off in high and decided to come back and are having a great time. They bring some fun to the program just because they work hard and they’re just really good time doing it.”
Meyer said the first loss to Oakwood set the tone for their matches.
We started off slow against Oakwood,” he said. “When we lost that first match we kind of got demoralized. But when we got back onto a winning streak, it got better. When coach got us together after the first loss, it really brought us back up.”
“In the second match, when we started getting in a groove we started winning a lot of our matches and stuff went our way.”
Meyer says the crowd gave them an emotional boost.
“The seniors bring the crowd,” he said. “It was senior night and the crowd showed. Team Massive came today, when they normally don’t and that was really upbringing.”
Meyer felt like his performances were positive.
“I felt like my performances were pretty good,” he said. “My first match, I didn’t know anything about the kid. He just fell over and it lasted thirty seconds. The second kid, my dad told me he was pretty good, something like 12-3. He tried to dodge me. Coach was being smart there. At first, he was going to put Elliott (Burrell) in for the forfeit, but then the (Lawrenceville) coach wanted to put their kid in. But he had to report to the table first, so that’s why I got the match.”
Porter said the team needs to work on fine-tuning some things before the postseason.
“I think it’s evident that we need to work on getting off the bottom,” he said. “We need to be able to control tie-ups. We got out of position a few times and even if we do that it can’t be a catastrophe where we have close match and getting pinned giving up more points. It’s a matter of securing our takedowns and making sure we don’t get too sloppy.”
“We just have to do the best we can.”
Oakwood 39, Mattoon 33
106 – (Olney) Lucas Ochs wins by fall 2:54 over (Charleston) Lucas Ross
106 – Double forfeit
113 – (Oakwood) Tyler Huchel wins by fall 2:36 over (Mattoon) Tristan Porter
120 – (Oakwood) Jack Ajster wins by decision 8-6 over (Mattoon) Vincent Gibson
126 – (Mattoon) Logan Blackburn wins by fall 1:26 over (Oakwood) Thomas Wells
132 – (Mattoon) Korbin Bateman wins by fall :11 over (Oakwood) Julian Kincaid
138 – (Oakwood) Taylor Owens wins by fall over 2:41 over (Mattoon) Logan Crist
145 – (Oakwood) Reef Pacot wins by fall 4:34 over (Mattoon) Miles Clapp
152 – (Oakwood) Bryson Lapansky wins by fall 5:17 over (Mattoon) Aidan Blackburn
160 – (Mattoon) Jason Skocy wins by decision 12-7 over (Oakwood) Blake Barney
170 – (Oakwood) Dalton Brown wins by fall 2:48 over (Mattoon) Blaine Howell
182 – (Mattoon) TJ Owens wils by fall 3:03 over (Oakwood) Tucker Pesek
195 – (Oakwood) Doug Myers wins by fall 1:07 over (Mattoon) Kael Alexander
220 – (Mattoon) Elliott Burrell wins by forfeit
285 – (Mattoon) Leo Meyer wins by fall :13 over (Oakwood) Kade Flemming
Mattoon 60, Lawrenceville 22
106 – (Lawrenceville) Drew Siskinger wins by forfeit
113 – (Mattoon) Tristin Porter wins by fall 4:38 over (Lawrenceville) Dan Kasey
120 – (Mattoon) Vincent Gibson wins by fall 1:24 over (Lawrenceville) Isaac Foster
126 – (Mattoon) Logan Blackburn wins by fall 1:38 over (Lawrenceville) Cale Siskinger
132 – (Mattoon) Korbin Bateman wins by forfeit
138 – (Mattoon) Ben Capitosti wins by fall over (Lawrenceville) Trevor Loy
145 – (Mattoon) Miles Clapp wins by fall :34 over (Lawrenceville) Sierra Sheppard
152 – (Mattoon) Aidan Blackburn wins by forfeit
160 – (Lawrenceville) Brian Seed wins by decision 8-0 over (Mattoon) Jason Skocy
170 – (Lawrenceville) Kasey Ochs wins by fall 5:35 over (Mattoon) Blaine Howell
182 – (Mattoon) TJ Owens wins by fall 1:09 over (Lawrenceville) Maloki Williams
195 – (Mattoon) Sam Gerkins wins by fall 2:15 over (Lawrenceville) Nathan Blackwill
220 – (Mattoon) Leo Meyer wins by fall 2:29 over (Lawrenceville) Dillon Camden
285 – (Mattoon) JD Sullivan wins by forfeit
Coles County Sports 