Wrestling: Lowell brings home first NCC title

LOWELL — It was a day of firsts at the Northwest Crossroads Conference wrestling tournament Saturday.

First-year Red Devils coach Bobby Howard was handed the trophy to signify Lowell’s first NCC championship, as the Red Devils outdistanced runner-up Kankakee Valley 270-194 for the crown.

The win stopped a string of two consecutive NCC title wins by Munster.

“It’s been a while since we’ve won a conference title,” Howard said.

“I think the last time we won conference was when I was here in 2000. We knew coming in that we had a chance in the tournament today. We also knew there would be some tough matches today, but it was a total team effort.”

Lowell boasted seven individual champions on the day.

Jake Gross pinned Griffith’s Cedric Fassoth at 2:36 to win at 106; Josh Bottos had a 3-1 decision over the Panther’s Connor Guzior at 120; Mitch Roadruck won a 4-1 decision over Hobart’s Tony Vasquez at 138.

Zack Mrockowski pinned Munster’s Darius Flores at 2:20 to win at 145; Kenny Hughes had a 7-1 decision over Highland’s Mark Maldonado.

Ryan Patterson had a 5-2 decision over Griffith’s Tyler Yost at 195, and senior Jeremy Crocker turned a 2-1 lead after 2 periods into a 12-6 decision over Hobart’s Tony Rodriguez to win at 170.

“He’s good, man, he’s good,” Crocker said of his opponent. “He’s very strong and good on his feet, I knew if I was going to beat him I had to match his intensity.”

KV had three individual champions on the day. Jimmy Marich won with a fall at 4:26 over Lowell’s Alex Mavros at 132; junior Matt Berdine improved his record to 31-7 at 220 with a fall at 5:33 over Hobart’s Jon Ramirez.

More impressive is that this is the junior’s first year of wrestling.

Kyle Dalka added a 6-3 decision over Lowell’s Scott Pitrowski at 285.

Griffith’s Nate Reitz won at 113; Hobart had two individual champs — Aaron Ayala at 126 and freshman Scottie Sopko at 160. Munster’s Dominic Fimbianti improved to 29-1 on the season with a decision 14-5 major decision at 182.

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