By FRED KRONER
Junior Joe Lashuay saved his best for last.
The 160-pound Oakwood/Salt Fork wrestler won all four of his matches on Thursday (June 24) at Springfield to win his Class 1A weight class in the IWCOA wrestling state tournament.
Lashuay won his final 25 matches this season and had a team-best 27-1 record. His first-round pin at state was his team-leading 15th.
He followed that triumph with three consecutive wins by decision, outscoring those opponents by a combined 30-13 margin.
Lashuay was paired with Coal City’s undefeated Zachary Finch in the championship match and produced an 11-3 win.
“I had some nerves,” Lashuay said, “but they weren’t too bad for the last match. They wore off before that.”
In 10 postseason matches, Lashuay was 10-0 with five pins and two major decisions.
“Joe has worked hard to get himself to the point he’s at,” Oakwood/Salt Fork coach John Glosser said. “His main focus was on position and staying controlled. These are all high-level guys.
“He stayed on the attack and put the pressure on the entire time.”
The entire postseason series was sponsored by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) rather than by the IHSA. The finals were held at the Bank of Springfield Center.
Glosser didn’t believe the event lost any of its luster by not being sponsored by the IHSA.
“We personally treated it like a normal state,” Glosser said. “The brackets were loaded. There were a lot of state-placers (from previous years) there.
“They did a Grand March, turned the lights off (for the introductions) and had the music going. The IWCOA did a good job of putting something on for the kids.”
A three-year wrestling letterman, Lashuay competed at 120 pounds as a freshman and at 132 pounds as a sophomore.
This year, he was four weight classes higher and felt comfortable at 160 pounds.
“I didn’t cut weight at all and felt better than when I was cutting,” Lashuay said.
He was also in better position to stand atop the awards’ podium this year.
“I set a goal to win and this year, it was more attainable,” Lashuay said, “from lifting and wrestling in the offseason.
“I’m really blessed to make it there.”
Though he plays soccer too, wrestling is his favorite sport.
“With the coaches and the teammates, it feels like family,” Lashuay said. “I’d like to thank my family, the coaches and my practice partners, and God for giving me the ability to do this.”
Lashuay was one of four Oakwood-Salt Fork wrestlers who qualified for the IWCOA state finals.
Senior Gage Reed (113 pounds) concluded his career with a runner-up state finish.
He is the first grappler in program history to be a three-time All-Stater as well as the first two-time finalist.
He had a 24-match winning streak halted in the finals, a 6-5 loss to Elmhurst Immaculate Conception’s Saul Trejo.
A year ago, Trejo was the Class 1A 106-pound state champion and Reed was the Class 1A 113-pound state champion.
Glosser was pleased with how Reed handled being a defending state champion.
“Gage is one of the mentally-toughest post-season wrestlers I’ve ever had the pleasure to coach,” Glosser said. “He has left his mark on Oakwood/Salt Fork wrestling and on Class 1A state wrestling.”
Glosser has a philosophy about pressure that he shares with his squad members.
“If you can’t weigh it, it’s not real,” Glosser said.
Reed’s match in the finals was as close as the score indicated.
“If they wrestled 10 times, they’d probably each win five,” Glosser said. “If there had been 30 seconds more, he could have pulled this one out.”
Reed had two late-match takedowns and was on the offensive as the final horn sounded.
Though Reed was understandably disappointed with the outcome, Glosser said, “when he reflects on his career and the impact he has had on our program, he’ll be proud of himself.”
To reach the title bout, Reed had a 40-second pin, a 3-1 overtime decision and a 7-0 semifinal triumph.
Reed, who will wrestle next year at Missouri Valley College (in Marshall, Mo.), ends the year with a 24-1 record.
Trejo was 43-3 this season.
Reed ends his prep career with an overall record of 136-20. He was fifth at state (at 113 pounds) as a sophomore and the state champion last year at the same weight.
Oakwood/Salt Fork sophomore Reef Pacot placed fourth at state at 120 pounds.
He started the tournament with a 15-0 technical fall win before dropping a 5-1 decision.
Pacot then won three consecutive matches in wrestlebacks to reach the third-place bout, where he suffered a 5-1 setback to Benton’s Mason Tieffel, who has a 33-1 season record.
Pacot ends the year with a 27-3 mark.
“He had one of the toughest state brackets,” Glosser said.
Pacot’s performance in the wrestlebacks demonstrated his grit and determination.
“We tell them, ‘It’s not about the loss. It’s how you respond,’” Glosser said. “For Reef to come back, shows guts and character.
“He’ll be one of the best to come through the program.”
The fourth Oakwood/Salt Fork state-qualifier was 145-pound freshman Grant Brewer.
He was matched with the eventual state champion in the opening round, Kankakee Bishop McNamara’s Blain Christie, and lost by technical fall, 20-4.
Brewer dropped a 3-2 decision in his next bout when a potential takedown in the final 10 seconds was disallowed because he was out of bounds.
Brewer ends the year with a 16-11 record.
“He’s one of the strongest mentally-tough kids I’ve had,” Glosser said. “He never counts himself out of matches.
“He has a bright future.”
The IWCOA charted points based on the performance of state-qualifiers for each school.
Lena-Winslow was the team champion with 108 points, followed by Dakota (81 points).
Oakwood/Salt Fork and Canton tied for fourth with 52 points apiece. Third-place Elmhurst Immaculate Conception had 72 points.
A total of 82 schools scored points at the IWCOA state finals.
Glosser credited assistant coach Bryce Ivey, a former state-placer at Sterling Newman who is finishing his fourth year on staff, with the program’s ability to rank among the state’s elite.
“None of this is possible without Bryce and the work he puts in,” Glosser said. “When you put kids around someone who knows how to win, they are able to find ways to win.”
Ivey accompanied Lashuay during Thursday’s Grand March.
“That was a great experience,” Lashuay said. “It was cool to walk out with my assistant.”
Winning was a consistent part of Lashuay’s life this season. To celebrate his first state title, however, he added a treat that hasn’t been part of his regular diet recently.
“Chocolate ice cream,” Lashuay said.
St. Joseph-Ogden Wrestling
Sophomore Owen Birt won his first match at the IWCOA state tournament on Thursday (June 24), but was eliminated from the Class 1A event after two losses at Springfield.
The 195-pounder finishes the season as the Spartans’ winningest wrestler (21-13 record) and with the most pins (14).
He won his first bout by a 4-3 decision before suffering a pin in 48 seconds. In his last match, he dropped a 5-4 decision.
The entire postseason series was sponsored by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) rather than by the IHSA.
On Tuesday (June 22), also at Springfield, two SJ-O athletes competed in the freshmen-sophomore state invitational.
Garrett Denhart (132 pounds) was 0-2, losing twice by pin. At 220 pounds, Kyle Meccoli was also 0-2 and was pinned twice.
