By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Prep Wrestling: 14 Area Athletes to State:
It was as clinical as head coach Mark Chiri could have asked for.
He saw his New London Tiger wrestling team — led by the Super Lopez Bros., Marcel and Dominic — punch five individual tickets to the State Wrestling Tournament headlining the KILJ-area on District Saturday.
Marcel, again showing why he’s 1A’s most feared 120-pounder, upped his season ledger to a sterling 56-0 with two more technical fall victories; 23-8 over Jacob Pierick (Collins-Maxwell) in the first round and 26-9 over Paul DeJong (North Mahaska) in the finals.
He’s heading back to the Well after already claiming back-to-back state titles.
A threepeat is on his mind now.
Not to be outdone his little brother Dominic rolled to two tech. falls as well, 20-5 over Martensdale-St Mary’s Devin Schall and 25-10 over Jakson Cobb (Wayne) in the finals.
Teammates Josh Glendenning (two falls), Currey Jacobs (two falls) and Boden Pickle (one fall) also looked to be in top form for the Tigers who will look roar loudly in our state’s capitol.
At District 8 of Class 1A, Mediapolis’ Quinten Aney made sure he wouldn’t miss out on the fun.
Aney started hot with a fall win (1:05) over Cale Seydel before embarking on a top-8 matchup against No. 6 (1A-132) Quincy Happel (Lisbon) in the finals.
Happel got the upper hand on the eighth-ranked Aney, but the Bulldog stayed steadfast in his journey winning his wrestleback via fall (1:59) over Wapello’s Elijah Belzer.
Aney, a state medalist last year, is heading back to improve on his 8th place finish last season.
How about WACO’s Landon Provino?
The Warrior 285-pounder turned more heads on Saturday earning a monster fall win (0:35) over Northeast-Goose Lake’s Nate Lorenzen in the first round.
Provino then had the task of grappling 1A’s No. 3 ranked 285-pounder in Lisbon’s Brant Baltes and while he lost that match, he avoided having a wrestleback when Lorenzen, whom he already defeated, won his consolation match.
In 2A, the terrific pair from Columbus-WMU made their mark early and often as Lane Scorpil (113) and Chance Malone (285) both punched tickets to state as district champions.
Scorpil picked up a fall (2:32) in the first round over Mose Yoder (Mid-Prairie) before coasting to a 4-0 decision in the finals over Albia’s Brodie Conner.
Malone also earned a first round fall, making quick work of E-B-F’s Skyler Young (1:34) before coming from behind late in the finals nabbing a 4-1 decision over Mid-Prairie’s Gannon Callahan.
Scorpil, No. 2 at 113 in 2A, and Malone, No. 9 at 285, both have their eyes on the podium next week.
For Notre Dame-West Burlington-Danville, it was business as usual punching five individual tickets to the Well beginning Thursday.
Second-ranked 120-pounder Blaine Frazier is making his third trip in as many seasons.
Frazier picked up a fall (1:26) over Dawson Bonnett (Albia) in the first round before sneaking by Davis County’s Dawson Townsend by decision, 4-1.
A podium is the next step for the talented junior.
152-pounder Grifen Molle, who suffered his first defeat last week to Parker Terronez (Assumption) made sure that was a mere aberration.
Molle went full demolition man on Terronez in the finals, earning a fall win (4:42) to punch his return ticket to Des Moines.
Molle was a medalist for the Nikes, who wrestled 3A, last year.
Three other Nikes are state qualifiers:
- 170-pounder C.J. Walrath (two falls)
- 160-pounder River Belger (one fall)
- 145-pounder Sam West (wrestleback winner, SV-1 3-1)
Mount Pleasant’s Sam Carrasco had a gutsy showing, falling to Albia’s Paul Ballard in his opening round match before coming back to destroy Davenport Assumption’s Chase Diaz via major decision 11-3.
He did not get a chance to wrestleback and ended his season 23-13.
Here’s a full list of our area competitors at state:
1A
- Marcel Lopez, New London
- Dominic Lopez, New London
- Josh Glendening, New London
- Boden Pickle, New London
- Currey Jacobs, New London
- Quinten Aney, Mediapolis
- Landon Provino, WACO
2A
- Lane Scorpil, Columbus-WMU
- Blaine Frazier, NDWB-Danville
- Sam West, NDWB-Danville
- Grifen Molle, NDWB-Danville
- River Belger, NDWB-Danville
- C.J. Walrath, NDWB-Danville
- Chance Malone, Columbus-WMU
Boys’ Basketball: 1A Regional First Round Action Begins Tonight:
The 1A Boys’ Regional Tournament Trail gets underway in full tonight as first round action begins for several area teams.
Tonight the KILJ Tournament Trail brings us to New London, where the defacto Super Conference champions will take on Lisbon in their playoff opener.
The Lions enter tournament play at 11-8 and have won three of their last five, including closing out the regular season with a dominant 56-16 win over Midland last Tuesday.
Lisbon is led by junior Kole Becker, who is scoring 17.2 points per game on 51% shooting from the field and 44% shooting from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, their might not be a hotter team in 1A than New London, who enters the postseason at 16-4, winners of six straight and 11 of 12.
Sophomore guard Blaise Porter has elevated his game over the last month, now pouring in 22.8 points per game, to go along with 5.2 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.
Forward Kade Benjamin is second on the team averaging 18.6 points per game and 8.5 rebounds.
New London has taken the only other matchup between the programs, a 67-46 win back on February 25th of 2017.
Tonight’s game will begin at 7:00 p.m.
You can listen on FM 105.5 and online at kilj.com.
Action will start with the KILJ Tournament Trail Tip-Off Show at 6:45 p.m.
Other regional first round action tonight:
- Van Buren County at Central Lee
- Iowa Valley at Hillcrest Academy
- Mediapolis at Louisa-Muscatine
- WACO at Springville
- Winfield-Mount Union at Notre Dame
Prep Bowling: Boys’ Sate Qualifying Today:
The Mount Pleasant boys’ bowling team is at Lancer Lanes today as they aim to send several to the State Bowling Tournament.
The Panthers will compete today against Burlington, Cedar Rapids Washington, Clinton, Independence, Keokuk and North Scott.
The girls’ will bowl tomorrow at Colonial Lanes in Iowa City.
There the Panthers will compete against Burlington, Clinton, Keokuk, Oskaloosa and North Scott.
The State Bowling Tournament will start on February 22nd at Cadillac XBC in Waterloo.
College Football: UNI Football Set to Kickoff This Week:
The UNI football team is getting set for an unusual season but the expectations remain the same.
The Panthers open an eight game spring season Friday night at home against South Dakota State.
UNI has made it to the FCS playoffs 12 times in Mark Farley’s 19 seasons as head coach.
The Panthers enter the season ranked third in the FCS Poll.
South Dakota State is ranked fifth.
Kickoff from the UNI Dome is set for 7:00 p.m. on Friday evening.