Wrestling: Minooka, Plainfield Central Flex Muscles

Orange and black. Green and white.

Those were the dominant colors at the Class 3A Moline Sectional. And they belonged to the two dominant wrestling teams—Minooka and Plainfield Central. The Southwest Prairie Conference rivals traveled more than 125 miles on Saturday to stage what turned out to be a dual meet.

Minooka crowned six individual champions and won the team title with 219.5 points. Plainfield Central had three individual champs and placed second with 165.5 points.

The Indians move on to face Chicago Marist on Tuesday, Feb. 22, in dual-team sectional competition.

Corbet Oughton (112 pounds), Bobby Zabel (130), Blake Montella (135), Leo Ruettiger (140), Jake Residori (152) and Kalvin Hill (160) won titles for Minooka. Oughton, a sophomore, edged Moline’s Adam Hay 7-6 in one of the top bouts in the final round of wrestling.

Danny Ruettiger (103, second), Mike McNulty (119, third), Jake DeKlerk (125, second), Josh Pullara (171, third), Mitch Morris (189, third) and Jordan Brod (285, second) also advanced as the Indians qualified 12 of 14 individuals in a show of their firepower on the mats.

Plainfield Central picked up titles from Nick Nasenbeny (103), Jeremy Brown (125) and Jordan Ellingwood (189). Ellingwood, a sophomore with a record of 38-7, defeated East Moline’s Seth Davis 11-2.

The Wildcats also advanced Terry Kubski (135, third), Ryan Soraghan (140, third), Gregory Cameron (215, third) and Mike Farr (285, third).

Plainfield South had two individual sectional qualifiers—Miguel Silva (103, third) and Jake Meeder (152, second). The Cougars placed seventh in the nine-team regional field with a team total of 57.5 points.

Next up: Individual sectional wrestling. Action begins at 5 p.m. Friday at Granite City. On Saturday, sessions will be at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.