‘15 years of wrestling is gone’
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| Princeton’s Earl Towne works on top of Newman’s Brent Gross in Saturday sectional wrestlebacks. He won the match 11-5. (BCR photo/Carla Towne) |
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BYRON — Wrestling sectionals can be very cruel and Princeton senior Earl Towne found out first-hand just how cruel they can be. Only one win away from earning a coveted trip downstate to the IHSA Class A tournament, Towne’s dream came undone in drastic fashion.
In a 145-pound finals wrestleback match against Joe Devolder (35-10) of Orion, Towne (32-9) looked to be in position for an opening period takedown, but got caught and was pinned at the one minute, 47 seconds mark.
“I got in and stalled for a second,” said Towne afterwards, as he disconsolately paced up and down an empty hallway at Byron High School. “As soon as I felt his pressure, I knew something was going to happen. I didn’t expect that (pin).”
Had he won, Towne would have been Princeton’s first state qualifier since Matt McClure, also at 145, in 2009. This year, the IHSA is advancing four sectional wrestlers to Champaign instead of the traditional three.
“What can you say?” Princeton coach Steve Amy said. “He got caught.”
What made the loss even harder to take was the fact Towne looked extremely impressive in avenging a mid-season loss to Brent Gross of Sterling Newman in the previous wrestleback match, 11-5.
“That felt good to get the payback,” Towne said. “He beat me with the spadle last time and I knew what I had to do to avoid it.”
Towne came back from a 4-2 deficit with a second-period takedown and near-fall to go ahead 7-4. The rest of the match was all Towne’s in dominating fashion.
Against DeVolder, Towne carried that aggressive style into the first period, making the pin even more stunning.
In his first wrestleback of Saturday’s action, Towne had a takedown in each period to take an easy 6-4 win over Alex Blaser of Aledo, in a match not as close as the score indicated.
“He wrestled smart, but it looked like he was wrestling not to lose,” Amy said. “Still, it was a good job winning the match.”
Towne won his first match Friday and the lost to eventual runner-up Talon Paul. Matt McDonnell of Morrison won the 145-pound championship. DeVolder was fourth.
Towne wasn’t the only quality senior who became a casualty of that weight class. Matt Cole (33-3) of Erie-Prophetstown lost in the other wrestleback final. A difference between the two, though, was that Towne peacefully mourned his loss, while Cole could be seen kicking a hallway wall and verbally bemoaning his high school career coming to an end.
“Oh, it’s rough,” Towne said. “15 years of wrestling is gone.”
Two other seniors went to the mats for Princeton and neither managed a win Friday or Saturday. Logan McCauley (19-21) at 152 and Ben Staton (13-17) at 285 were pinned in both of their matches.
“This was a good group to have,” said Amy, who began his first year at Princeton when this year’s seniors were freshmen. “It was nice to have them all four years.”
Defending state champ Sterling Newman led all teams with six state qualifiers, followed by Dakota, Lena-Winslow and Stillman Valley with five.
In the most highly anticipated match of the tournament, Reid Sealby of Byron defeated Mitch Keppy of Riverdale in the 285-pound championship bout 6-4. Both Sealby and Keppy will be football teammates at Iowa next season.
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