Five individual regional champions lead wrestling brigade into next week’s sectionals

QUINCY — The Quincy High School wrestling team qualified six grapplers for sectionals, while Quincy Notre Dame will be sending five wrestlers forward after top-three finishes Saturday as the postseason got started with regional action.

Overall, five area wrestlers won individual regional titles and 24 advanced to sectionals.

The Blue Devils, competing in the Class 3A Edwardsville Regional, had one individual champion. Junior Brody Baker, wrestling at 157 pounds, won his first two matches by pin and a three-point decision before scoring a 10-7 sudden victory over top-seeded Belleville East sophomore Killian Rauch in the finals. Baker is now 24-10 heading to the Joliet Central Sectional.

QHS freshman Clayton McClelland finished second at 113, winning two matches before getting pinned by Edwardsville’s Bryson Nuttall in 52 seconds in the title match. Quincy junior Wyatt Boening was second at 126, winning by technical fall in the semifinals and suffering a 10-0 major decision in the finals.

Blue Devils senior Gunnar Derhake won his first two matches by pin, but suffered a technical fall in 4:06 to Belleville East’s Terence Willis in the championship match to take second. 

Cooper Kamm, a sophomore, took third at 138 pounds, while King Johnson, a junior, took third at 285 to also advance.

At the Class 1A regional in Canton, Quincy Notre Dame had three individual champions and Illini West had one.

QND senior Oliver Moore won the 132-pound title, earning a 13-3 major decision over Macomb’s Nic Perkins in the finals. Moore takes a 27-6 record to the Clinton Sectional.

The Raiders’ Bradi Lahr won three consecutive matches by technical fall to win the 157-pound championship. The junior, who is now 40-5, beat Canton’s Daniel Kees 15-0 in 2:20 in the finals.

Illini West senior Shawn Watkins won the 175-pound title, improving to 33-4 with three consecutive pins. After a pair of second-period pins, Watkins (33-4) stuck Monmouth-Roseville’s Keegan Smith in 28 seconds in the title match.

Ryan Darnell stormed his way to the title at 215 pounds, winning all three matches by pinfall. He stuck Monmouth-Roseville’s Alex Gandarilla in 2:17 in the championship. Darnell is now 41-6.

QND junior Austin Shull was third at 138, while sophomore Cale Hilbing was third at 144.

Camp Point Central freshman Paxton Buehler finished second at 106, getting pinned by Canton sophomore Jaxsun Owens in 2:50 in the title match. Central sophomore Jackson Buehler finished second at 113, Central sophomore Case Hughes finished second at 126. Central senior Paul Schenk took second at 150, winning a pair of one-point decisions before suffering a 7-0 loss to Canton’s Grady Smith in the finals.

Central freshman Josh Collins finished third at 132 to advance.

West Hancock senior Kai Humphrey finished second at 138, winning by pinfall and major decision before suffering a 7-2 loss to Canton’s Jack Jochurns in the title match. Macomb junior Ethan Hoyt finished second at 120 pounds, losing a 6-3 decision to Canton’s Jacob Hardesty in the finals.

He will be joined at sectionals by Titans senior Malachi McKune, who finished third at 215.

Macomb freshman Jairon Royer was third at 113, while senior Cohen Green took third at 157, senior Atsard Aplogan finished third at 165, senior Kyler Cheatham was third at 190 and senior Alex Brown ended up third at 285.

Photos courtesy Matt Kamp, Edwardsville Intelligencer