Four Orion Chargers advance to sectionals

Four Orion wrestlers will compete in the Princeton sectional this weekend, battling for a berth in the state tournament.

They are Mason Anderson (138 lbs.), who placed second at the Sherrard regional on Saturday, Feb. 5; Phillip Dochterman (182), second; Kaleb Sovey (106), third, and Luke Moen (120), third.

Caden Wegerer (132) finished fourth. He will go to sectionals as an alternate.

Action at the Princeton sectional begins at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, and continues at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 12. The top four in each weight class advance to the state tournament from Thursday, Feb. 17, through Saturday, Feb. 19, at the State Farm Center, Champaign.

Most of the teams in Sherrard were from the Three Rivers Conference. Sterling Newman won the regional championship with 167.5 points. Riverdale was second with 134; Erie-Prophetstown, third, 123; Princeton, fourth, 122.5; Sherrard, fifth, 103.5; Rockridge, sixth, 102.5; Orion, seventh, 88, Morrison, eighth, 71.5.

Rounding out the team standings were two schools not in the Three Rivers Conference. They were Alleman, ninth, 60 points, and Rock Falls, 10th, 18 points.

On Saturday morning, Anderson won his quarterfinal match by pinning Alan Furman of Rock Falls in 15 seconds. Anderson then pinned Blake Smith of Riverdale in 3:37 during semifinals.

In the first-place match, Will Rude of Newman stuck Anderson in 3:01.

Dochterman pinned his quarterfinal opponent, Dylan Garland of Newman, in 59 seconds. He took 2:50 to roll Andrew Torres of Alleman in semis.

With first place on the line, Kayden White of Morrison showed Dochterman the ceiling at 2:11.

Only three wrestlers were in the 106-lb. bracket. Tharren Jacobs of Riverdale pinned Sovey in 2:55. The Charger won the third-place match with a bye.

Moen pinned Tony Garcia of Alleman at 1:17 in quarterfinals, but the Charger was injured and forfeited the semifinal match. Moen dropped into the consolation semifinal with a 12-1 major decision over Jacob Gibson of Erie-Prophetstown.

In the third-place match, Moen pinned Rylan Newell of Rockridge in 1:48.

Wegerer had a long day, wrestling six matches. He started the day off with a pin in the first round, sticking Carlos Ramirez of Alleman in 2:52. He lost a 5-2 decision to Daniel Kelly of Alleman in quarterfinals.

During wrestlebacks, Wegerer pinned Korbin Oligney of Rock Falls in 2:50 and Zach Milder of Morrison in 4:32. He showed Jayden Thomsen of Sherrard the lights in 1:58 during wrestleback semifinals.

In the third-place match, Carlos Benavidez of Princeton won a 19-5 major decision over Wegerer.

Other Chargers competing on Saturday were Cole Perkins (126), Keagan Blessman (145), Nolan Loete (152), Kaden Edmunds (160), Maddix Moninski (170) and Seth Gardner (285).