Trojans' Almaraz holds off Hammons

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ST. JOHN -- For 30 seconds during the 152-pound final at the 28th annual Robert Emerick Harvest Classic at Lake Central, Highland fans were in shock. And those Lake Station fans who weren't screaming their lungs out were probably in awe, as well.

Highland's Chris Almaraz, who is one of the area's best wrestlers, was staring up at the gym ceiling after Lake Station junior Aaron Hammons muscled the state qualifier from a year ago to the mat.

Almaraz was just inches away from losing his first match of the season, in what would have been an upset on anyone's scale. But with some exceptional skill, Almaraz got back on his feet. Once he did that, he scrambled for a hard-fought pin (1:56).

"Hammons is strong, very strong," Almaraz said. "I knew I was going to have to work hard to get out of it, but when I won it was definitely a relief."

Said Hammons: "Almaraz is a very tough wrestler. It was good, but I'm working on getting back down to 145 where I can control guys better."

The Almaraz-Hammons match had fans up the whole time waiting to see what was going to happen, but there was no waiting to see who was taking home the team title. Penn separated itself from the pack with 246 team points and five individual champions, while Lake Central took second with 204 and McCutcheon placed third with 150.5.

The championship rounds began with a pair of undefeated freshmen squaring off in the Lake Central's Kyle Ayersman and Hanover Central's Paul Petrov. Ayersman came away with an impressive 7-2 decision.

"It felt great going out there with another freshman," Ayersman said of the atmosphere. "I can't lie, I was a bit nervous, but the closer the match got the less nervous I felt."

Ayersman wasn't alone on the podium, as Rob Keough (160-pounds) and Vlade Nacovski (215) both claimed individual titles for Lake Central.

Petrov's older brother, John, beat previously unbeaten Marc Escobedo 7-1 to win the 119-pound class; Escobedo was a two-time Harvest Classic champion.

Hobart was the only other region team to claim individual titles as Frankie Porras (130) battled Calumet's Mike Clark for a 17-6 decision, while teammate Johnny Dillon pinned McCutcheon's Chisum Devoe.

Highland's 275-pounder Coty Anderson claimed his second Harvest Classic title after defeating Kankakee Valley's Andrew Hall.