Wrestling: Lockport outlasts Lincoln-Way East
By Steve Millar For Sun-Times Media January 10, 2013 10:48PM
Lincoln-Way East's Cole Mroczkowski (blue) wrestles Lockport's Vince Dietz at 145 pounds. | Jean Lachat~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 12, 2013 2:38PM
It hasn’t been an easy season for Lockport’s Demetre Smith, who suffered a separated shoulder early in the season and has struggled at times.
With the postseason around the corner, Smith got a big confidence boost Thursday night.
Smith’s pin at 170 pounds jump-started the host Porters, who went on to a 43-29 win over Lincoln-Way East in a SouthWest Suburban Blue dual.
“I’ve been struggling quite a bit,” Smith said. “Our team started off slow (Thursday) and I wanted to get us a win.”
The Porters trailed 14-0 entering Smith’s match against Phil Mancari. After no scoring in the first period, the two were tied at 2 entering the final period when Smith came through with the fall 12 seconds in.
“I wanted to do work on my feet,” Smith said. “I let him up and I just took advantage when I had a chance for the pin.”
The dual was tight after East’s Sean Sibley won at 106 to cut Lockport’s lead to 24-23, but the Porters won the next four matches: Shayne Oster (120) by fall, Brian Rossi (113) by technical fall, and Dan Radcliffe (126) and Austin Strzelczyk (132) by major decision.
“We need to get bonus points when we can,” said Strzelczyk, who earned a 12-4 win over Zach Hoffman. “We wrestled tough, but we could have done better.”
With Friday’s huge dual against Lincoln-Way Central looming, Lockport coach Josh Oster said some of his team lacked focus.
“It was mixed,” he said. “There were some matches where we weren’t at our finest. The dual (Friday) is what we’ve really been focused on. I’d like us to be a little more consistent.”
Tyler Johnson (182) and Jack Moles (220) earned pins for Lockport. Luis Montoya (195) won by forfeit.
For East, Mitchell Murphy (160), Jake Johnson (138) and Nick Allegretti (285) had pins, while Kyle Langenderfer (152) had a technical fall and Cole Mroczkowski (145) won by decision.
