Moline, Rock Island, UT share Big Six title
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By Shannon Heaton | Saturday, January 26, 2008 |
For three weeks, the Western Big Six wrestling scene largely was a tossup, with Moline beating Rock Island, United Township beating Moline and Rock Island beating United Township.
This weekend in Quincy, all three metro teams took care of business against the host Blue Devils and Galesburg. Rock Island did so with a pair of wins Friday night, and the Maroons and Panthers did the same Saturday. Moline defeated Quincy 39-35 and Galesburg 60-7, while UT defeated the Streaks 55-23 and Blue Devils 46-29.
The wins meant that, for the second time in three years, Moline, Rock Island and United Township all will share the Big Six title. For the Panthers, it’s seven straight titles won or shared.
“We talked about staying focused and finishing out the regular season. Quincy’s a solid team that is missing some guys in their lineup. They would be a tough team if they could fill out their lower weights,” UT coach Chad Davis said of the Blue Devils, who forfeited four matches to both the Maroons and Panthers.
While UT mostly wrestled even against the Blue Devils after the forfeits, Moline had to come from behind, getting two forfeits to start the dual and two to finish it.
“The forfeits hurt us, wrestling-wise, because we weren’t that aggressive,” Maroons coach James Ealy said. “The kids were all thinking this one was in the bag, and we gave up a lot of big points. They (Quincy) won six matches, five of those were pins, and the other one, our guy gets teched (technical fall).”
Moline was down 11 points, 35-24, going into the 285-pound match, where sophomore Jeremy Howell — who had been upset Thursday night in the Maroons’ dual at Alleman — knocked out a 3-0 decision over Quincy’s Cory Turner.
“That sealed it for us,” Ealy said. “It was a good bounce back for him after the Alleman loss. It showed a lot of resilience in Jeremy to come back strong from it.”
For UT, seniors helped bring home the title. Nick Meyers (171) got two pins on the day and Christopher Owens (189) got a third-period pin that proved critical in the Quincy match.
“For our seniors, this was the way they wanted to go out, to continue the streak,” Davis said. “They were really vocal with our younger guys, taking leadership roles. They kept their focus and really helped our younger kids stay focused.”
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