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The East Peoria wrestling team won three matches in convincing fashion Jan. 21 in Lincoln.
The Raiders defeated Springfield Lanphier, 66-18, Urbana, 42-21, and the host Railsplitters, 40-26, in non-conference action.
Lanphier’s line-up was extremely thin. Nine of East Peoria’s 11 victories against the Lions were by forfeit.
A quintet of East Peoria grapplers won all three bouts.
In the 120- and 126-pound weight classes, Casey McWhirter had pins against Lincoln and Urbana.
Raider Auston McGraugh had to wrestle only once to go 3-0. He won a 9-7 decision against the Railsplitters’ 132 contestant.
Jeremy Gumm produced a pin vs Lincoln and a 7-2 decision vs. his foe from Urbana in 152.
Kade McDonald pinned a Tiger at the 1:20 mark and also received two forfeits in 195.
Lucas Joseph of East Peoria registered pins at 1:46 and 3:25 against Urbana and Lanphier, respectively, in 285 and 220. He also prevailed in a 15-4 major decision in 285.
Jonathan Axelrod, Austin Harper, Ethan Skalla, Drew Foster and Tony Hall all won twice for the Raiders.
EP 42, Pontiac 34
On their Senior Night Jan. 23, the Raiders outscored the Indians.
Both teams won seven matches, but East Peoria ended up with a narrow edge.
McGraugh, Skalla, Foster and Gumm had four straight wins for the Raiders between 132 and 152. Three came by pin, and Skalla was a winner by an 18-15 count.
McDonald and Joseph both pinned Indians. McDonald’s took only 55 seconds.
McWhirter contributed a 9-3 decision in 120.
The home match was only East Peoria’s second of the season.
EP 43, Metamora 28; EP 60, Limestone 15
The Raiders completed a 5-1 Mid-Illini Conference dual season with a pair of road victories Jan. 25.
East Peoria won eight matches against the Redbirds and 11 vs. the Rockets to join Canton and Washington atop the league.
Skalla, Justin Doty, McDonald and Joseph had pins against Limestone.
McWhirter claimed an 18-2 technical fall and Harper a major decision, while McGraugh won by decision.
Russell Newport, Gumm, Hall and Justin Bicknell all received forfeits as the Rockets fell to 2-4 in the M-I.
Host Metamora also left with the same mark after Raider pins by Harper, McGraugh and Gumm.
McWhirter claimed a 9-0 major decision, while Foster prevailed in an 8-6 final.
Doty, McDonald and Joseph all were winners by forfeit in three straight divisions (182-220).
Conference
The Raiders were the overall runner-up after the dust settled Saturday in Canton.
Washington won the tournament with 219.5 points. East Peoria was second with 158 and Canton accumulated 154.
For the season, the Panthers had 15.5 points, the Raiders 14 and the Little Giants 12.5 after a rare three-way tie in duals.
The East Peoria wrestling team won three matches in convincing fashion Jan. 21 in Lincoln.
The Raiders defeated Springfield Lanphier, 66-18, Urbana, 42-21, and the host Railsplitters, 40-26, in non-conference action.
Lanphier’s line-up was extremely thin. Nine of East Peoria’s 11 victories against the Lions were by forfeit.
A quintet of East Peoria grapplers won all three bouts.
In the 120- and 126-pound weight classes, Casey McWhirter had pins against Lincoln and Urbana.
Raider Auston McGraugh had to wrestle only once to go 3-0. He won a 9-7 decision against the Railsplitters’ 132 contestant.
Jeremy Gumm produced a pin vs Lincoln and a 7-2 decision vs. his foe from Urbana in 152.
Kade McDonald pinned a Tiger at the 1:20 mark and also received two forfeits in 195.
Lucas Joseph of East Peoria registered pins at 1:46 and 3:25 against Urbana and Lanphier, respectively, in 285 and 220. He also prevailed in a 15-4 major decision in 285.
Jonathan Axelrod, Austin Harper, Ethan Skalla, Drew Foster and Tony Hall all won twice for the Raiders.
EP 42, Pontiac 34
On their Senior Night Jan. 23, the Raiders outscored the Indians.
Both teams won seven matches, but East Peoria ended up with a narrow edge.
McGraugh, Skalla, Foster and Gumm had four straight wins for the Raiders between 132 and 152. Three came by pin, and Skalla was a winner by an 18-15 count.
McDonald and Joseph both pinned Indians. McDonald’s took only 55 seconds.
McWhirter contributed a 9-3 decision in 120.
The home match was only East Peoria’s second of the season.
EP 43, Metamora 28; EP 60, Limestone 15
The Raiders completed a 5-1 Mid-Illini Conference dual season with a pair of road victories Jan. 25.
East Peoria won eight matches against the Redbirds and 11 vs. the Rockets to join Canton and Washington atop the league.
Skalla, Justin Doty, McDonald and Joseph had pins against Limestone.
McWhirter claimed an 18-2 technical fall and Harper a major decision, while McGraugh won by decision.
Russell Newport, Gumm, Hall and Justin Bicknell all received forfeits as the Rockets fell to 2-4 in the M-I.
Host Metamora also left with the same mark after Raider pins by Harper, McGraugh and Gumm.
McWhirter claimed a 9-0 major decision, while Foster prevailed in an 8-6 final.
Doty, McDonald and Joseph all were winners by forfeit in three straight divisions (182-220).
Conference
The Raiders were the overall runner-up after the dust settled Saturday in Canton.
Washington won the tournament with 219.5 points. East Peoria was second with 158 and Canton accumulated 154.
For the season, the Panthers had 15.5 points, the Raiders 14 and the Little Giants 12.5 after a rare three-way tie in duals.
“Everyone wrestled to the best of their ability,” EPCHS head coach Phil Johns said.
East Peoria repeated as a second-place finisher.
“Seeing how many changes we had in the line-up, that was a major accomplishment,” said Johns, whose team handed Washington its only loss.
McWhirter, Gumm, McDonald and Joseph all attained individual conference championships and a spot on the all-M-I first team.
“They looked really good,” said Johns of the quartet, which has a combined 116 wins this season.
McWhirter (30-8), a sophomore, pinned Metamora’s Kyle White, who came in with a 27-7 record, in the 120 final.
He also posted a 12-3 major decision over Jordan Bowman of Pekin in the semifinals.
Gumm (25-8), a junior, collected a 12-4 major decision in the 152 title bout against Morton’s Ryan Wertzler.
He also pinned Washington’s Justin Clem in the quarterfinals and won a 10-4 outcome against Matt Rettig of Metamora.
McDonald (25-14) needed just 31 seconds to pin Joe Geiger of Morton to achieve first place in 195.
The junior also pinned semifinalist Shawn Boland of Limestone.
Joseph (36-0), a junior, remained the area’s lone unbeaten wrestler after a pin with three seconds left in the first period of the 220 final against Canton’s Mason Guerra.
Joseph won his second league title in a row after rising to the top of 215 as a sophomore.
He also pinned Steeler Trout of Washington in the semifinals.
There were five other medal winners — Harper, Foster, Doty, Axelrod and McGraugh — from East Peoria.
Harper (28-10) was second in 113.
He got to the final against Washington’s Travis Rice by recording a pin of Metamora’s Austin Tran at 3:13.
Foster (22-15) won three of his four bouts to place third in 145.
He had pins of Washington’s Aaron Strubhar and Hunter Dunn before a 6-0 shutout of Luis Robletto of Metamora.
Doty also went 3-1 on the day to nab third in 182.
He pinned three opponents — Canton’s Bryce Taylor, Pekin’s Dan Lohman and August Moss of Limestone.
Axelrod (106) and McGraugh (132, 22-15) both were fourth for the Raiders.
Eight of the Raiders in the varsity line-up for the conference tournament are freshmen or sophomores and none are seniors.
“They did the best they could,” Johns said of the underclassmen. They came up with a lot of heart. The experience they had will pay off in the long run.”
Postseason: East Peoria is part of Saturday’s nine-team Class 2A Washington Regional. Action begins at 9 a.m.
“They’re all starting to peak at the right time,” said Johns of his wrestlers.
The top-three individuals in each weight class advance to the Feb. 10-11 Sterling Sectional.
“I’d like to get as many guys out of regionals as I can,” Johns said.
The regional champion team proceeds to the Feb. 21 Sycamore Dual Team Sectional.
