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Festive Senior Night Ends in Victory for the Mat Cats

By Joe Ginley '12 , 02/17/19, 12:15PM EST

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The regular season concluded in festive fashion for the Saint Ignatius wrestling program on Saturday evening.

The Mat Cats celebrated the accomplishments of six seniors and earned a resounding win over Strongsville, 56-21.

“This is a very strong senior class, particularly with leadership,” said Head Coach Mark Sullivan. “This is a good group to lead the young wrestlers in the room. For the most part, they came in unheralded, and improved every year. They should be very proud of their improvements.”

Following the Senior Night ceremony, the match began at 106. Johnny Novak got things rolling with a great win. The junior wasted little time in pinning his opponent, securing six team points via a pin at 51 seconds into the match.

Timmy Putka added more points at 113. The freshman battled to a first-period draw against his foe, Mitch Shuba. The two battled evenly until early in the second when Putka started to exploit small openings. Putka earned a point via an escape to get on the board, and added two more points on a takedown late in the second. Putka almost secured a pin in the third period, but settled for 3 points on a tech fall. Putka walked away in the end with a 6-1 victory. 

The 120-pound dual proved to be one of the most interesting bouts in the early goings of the match. Jack Bush built an early lead, but Kenneth Lambert came roaring back in the second. The strong Mustang snatched a 7-6 lead early in the third. Bush tied it with 1:05 left in the contest before Lambert took control on a pair of well-executed moves late, earning a 13-7 win. 

The Wildcats got back on the board with two wins via forfeit. Matthew Whipkey accepted the win at 126 and Patrick McGraw took the victory at 132.

In the final match of his Saint Ignatius career at Sullivan Gym, DJ Huff enjoyed an impressive showing. The senior worked his tail off from start to finish. Huff built a strong 6-2 lead in the early going, extending it further to 14-2 at the start of the third. Huff nearly secured a pin in the final period, but took a 3-pointer instead, walking off the mat proudly with a 19-2 tech fall victory at 138.

“DJ came in at a high level, but had some devastating injuries. Now, he’s shown his resilience by coming back strong this year,” Sullivan said. “He’s probably wrestling at about 80% right now, but hopefully by Saturday, he’ll be closer to 100%. But that was a nice win.”

Huff walked away feeling triumphant after the victory.

“This was a huge night,” Huff said. “Coming into the night, I had my usual peaches before the match. I came out there and was expecting a good, hard-fought match from everyone. Strongsville has a decent team, so I was expecting our seniors to go out there and control their own matches.”

The Wildcats experienced their second loss of the evening at 145.  Evan Arko battled hard, but was felled by Ben Blickle. On the plus side, the Wildcats responded immediately at 152. Just like Huff, Zach Morgan ended his home career on a high note. The talented senior won on a dramatic pin, rallying the Saint Ignatius crowd behind him. The Wildcats’ win expanded the overall lead further.

“It was great,” Morgan said. “We all went out there and worked hard. We’re looking forward to next week. Hard work pays off. We’ll find out.”

The Mustangs gained six points on a forfeit at 160, narrowing the gap to 32-15. But Josh Dinya ensured the margin would not shrink any further on his watch. The junior roared out of the gate, but his foe stretched the battle into the second period. That’s when Dinya unleashed his full arsenal, pinning his opponent for a huge six points for the Wildcats. Dinya’s win represents his continued progress throughout his junior season, which will hopefully be capped off with postseason success.

The 182-pound match proved to be a thriller, pitting Andrew Chime against Chris Miller. In the early stages, Miller built an advantage. The strong Mustang rolled to a 6-3 lead by the 1:30 mark of the second, before Chime boomed like a clap of thunder. The sophomore had been searching for gaps in Miller’s defense, probing and earning points. Chime then exploited a small opening and got Miller on his back, finishing him off for a very impressive pin. Chime brought a raucous Saint Ignatius crowd and the Wildcats’ bench to its feet.

Patrick Clink followed Chime’s lead at 195 and earned a win via pin. His feat took plenty of hard work and good positioning, but Clink wore down his opponent. Clink came up with a great pin with 5 seconds left in the second, clinching six points for the Wildcats.

Strongsville returned the favor at 220. Mason Smart did his best in a good match, but Wes Jones of the Mustangs used good positioning to clinch a pin and six points for the visitors.

The match ended with a victory for the Wildcats at 285. Seamus McCarthy started strong in the contest before his opponent suffered an injury and was forced to accept a medical default.

All in all, the night was a success for the Wildcats.

“In the last match of the year, the first thing is to stay healthy. You want to go out and wrestle well and see improvement from the guys, which we did,” Sullivan said. “I thought a lot of our guys wrestled very well. Now, our mindset is to get ready for Sectionals. We stayed healthy at this match, and that was the main goal.”

Now, the focus is on Sectionals for the men of Ohio City.

“The main thing now is to prepare for Sectionals,” Sullivan said. “We have a hard couple of days of work before a few days of rest to keep them 100%. We had a nice crowd tonight, we appreciate the support from Saint Ignatius and our fans. We’re thankful for that.”

Huff and the Wildcats will be working this hard to prepare for the Sectional Tournament on Saturday at Brecksville-Broadview Heights.

The Mat Cats will look to send a number of grapplers to the District Tournament the following week. In the meantime, the Wildcats will be looking to get in the right mindset to conquer all opponents.

“All of our technique is done. The only thing we can change now is conditioning and attitude,” Huff said. “We’re working on our conditioning and attitude in the next week.”