Wrestling: Sandwich captures team title at Plano Reaper Classic

Updated: December 10, 2011 11:27PM

Even though the 2011 Reaper Classic is one of the earliest wrestling tournaments, Saturday’s final results confirmed a myriad of expectations.

Having gone from Class 2A to 1A, the tradition-rich Sandwich program has the potential to dominate despite numerous graduation losses as evidenced by the Indians’ first-place showing with 215.5 points — 41.5 points above the runner-up for the 19-school meet.

Second-place Plainfield South (174 points) has a solid foundation for its increased optimism as proven by boasting a pair of champions and eight place-winners from the two-day event.

And with a little attention to details and conditioning, host Plano also falls under the up-and-coming category having taken fourth (146), just 11 points behind Sterling Newman.

“Anyone making assumptions about what we’ll do at 1A based on last year doesn’t know the sport,” sixth-year Sandwich coach Josh McCarty said. “There are tough teams and tough individuals at every level, and the bottom line is that nothing is given to you based on previous success. You have to earn everything every time you step on a mat. That being said, winning this tourney is a key to building success this year. It gives us a return on our initial hard work and establishes the kind of work ethic we need from here on out.”

Having 12 wrestlers finish among the top six in 14 weight classes demonstrated the Indians’ depth — especially with two champions, one runner-up, plus a pair of wrestlers claiming third and two finishing fourth. Headlining the Sandwich showing was Alphonse Vruno — voted the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler for Lower Weights — whose championship at 138 featured a 7-5 decision over Sterling Newman’s Maxx Hubbard, the Class 1A 2011 runner-up at 130.

“Coming to this meet for the first time, winning my bracket and for us to take the team title is all good,” Vruno said. “I’ve been pushing myself in practice and I thought that allowed me to control the pace of the match. That’s something I want to do all year.”

Teammate Tyler Sebby accounted for Sandwich’s other first-place at 195, while Colton Bland was runner-up at 220 and third-place 106-pounder Jesse Wood earned a plaque for having the meet’s most pinfalls (five).

“This is my first varsity tournament title, so it’s a big boost for my confidence,” said Sebby, whose success included wins over three Interstate Eight Conference foes. “My goals are to get in better shape and keep on winning from here on through conference and the postseason.”

Plainfield South coach Jason Acevedo was clearly pleased to be clutching the second-place team trophy for a number of reasons.

“This is the first time we’ve placed in a tourney in like five or six years, but best of all, it was won by all our people, especially those who scored in the wrestlebacks,” Acevedo said. “Better yet, we’re not satisfied. The guys look at this only as a reward for the hard work we’ve done up to this point. We had eight place-winners which is a great start.”

Leading the Cougars’ charge were champions Kyle Friar-Allen (132) and Jake Meeder (160), who turned a tight match through two periods into a 4:38 pinfall over Plano’s Wesley Brown.

“Being the third day back from a (left-hand) injury, I wanted to get a lead and keep that lead while saving my energy for later in the match,” Meeder said. “So things went as planned and a 5-0 start to the year is what I wanted.”

Brown was one five Reapers — along with Shawn Wollenwebber (113), Jose Villareal (126), Abel Gonzalez (132) and Kelby Gann (170) — who competed in a weight class final to fuel the optimism of coach Jose Villareal. The elder Villareal, a three-time placewinner and state champ during his own days as Reaper viewed the setbacks as pluses.

“Yes we hoped for some better outcomes, but this will be that much more motivation for us to work harder and to step it up,” he said. “Having five runner-ups and two other placefinishers also proves we’ve got a good crew of kids to work with.”

Tim O’Sullivan’s victory at 220 highlighted the efforts for Plainfield East, which finished fifth (135 points) while Aurora Central Catholic was 19th with 17 points. Chicago Gage Park heavyweight Chris Ballard was voted the Outstanding Wrestler for Upper Weights.

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