BELLEVILLE -- This time the "perfect storm" had a happy ending for the Belleville West Maroons
Heavyweight Marquis Cherry helped turn the tide with a clutch victory and the Maroons dominated in the lower-weight classes as West clinched a fifth straight Battle of Belleville title with a 38-27 win over Belleville East on Wednesday at Althoff High School.
East (4-2), which led 17-6 following a pin by Danny Lowe at 220, still held a five-point lead heading into the 106-pound bout.
But when freshman J.D. Bass pinned Lucas Bernal in 5 minutes, 25 seconds, West had the lead at 18-17 -- and the momentum -- for good.
Sophomore Titus Taylor followed with a pin in 1:20 of Lucas Day and when highly touted freshman Nathan Smalling scored a win, West led 29-17 with just three matches left.
"I've been in the perfect storm so many times when it didn't go your way. It happened this year when we wrestled Vandalia and lost by a point. That's kind of the way I felt tonight in the upper-weight classes,'' Maroons coach Al Sears said. "Things just weren't going our way early.
"The thing we did well was something that we preach to the kids and that's lose small and win big. We didn't give up many four- and five-point decisions tonight.''
Trailing 29-17, East got back to within six points when Reggie Edwards won by pin at 126, but two-time Class 3A state runner-up Mech Spraggins all but clinched the title for West with a pin in 1:53 of the Lancers' Ryan Sullivan.
"It's great to be able to win the Battle of Belleville again. It's always one of our goals,'' Sears said. "We found out some things about our team tonight. We've got a lot of work to do from now until the end of the season.
"I was very pleased though with the kids (Bass, Taylor and Smalling) in the lighter-weight classes. They're all young age wise, but they've all wrestled a lot of matches over the years.''
East coach Maurice Brown was pleased with the quick start as Dylan Gray (160), Matt Striegel (170) and Kyzen Smith (182) all posted impressive wins to give East an 11-3 lead.
The lead probably should have been bigger as Jauffrey Vaughn held a late lead, but fell 16-12 to Claude Shelby at 152.
"We had a game plan and he (Vaughn) kind of lost focus a little bit on what it was,'' Lancers coach Maurice Brown said. "We knew we had the advantage in the upper weights, but we didn't get a big enough lead.
"Overall though, it was a good night of wrestling and I think the fans saw some very good matches. You never like to lose, but I thought our kids gave a good effort.''
The best match of the night was at 145, where the Maroons' Nate Higgins defeated Skyler Procasky 5-2.
West defeated Althoff 62-12 while East posted a 56-22 win over the host Crusaders.
The young Crusaders, forfeiting at four weights, were led by a pair of wins each from Dakota Finley (160) and undefeated Kameron Harris (182).
Harris (10-0) is ranked third in the Class 1A state rankings.
East (4-2), which led 17-6 following a pin by Danny Lowe at 220, still held a five-point lead heading into the 106-pound bout.
But when freshman J.D. Bass pinned Lucas Bernal in 5 minutes, 25 seconds, West had the lead at 18-17 -- and the momentum -- for good.
Sophomore Titus Taylor followed with a pin in 1:20 of Lucas Day and when highly touted freshman Nathan Smalling scored a win, West led 29-17 with just three matches left.
"I've been in the perfect storm so many times when it didn't go your way. It happened this year when we wrestled Vandalia and lost by a point. That's kind of the way I felt tonight in the upper-weight classes,'' Maroons coach Al Sears said. "Things just weren't going our way early.
"The thing we did well was something that we preach to the kids and that's lose small and win big. We didn't give up many four- and five-point decisions tonight.''
Trailing 29-17, East got back to within six points when Reggie Edwards won by pin at 126, but two-time Class 3A state runner-up Mech Spraggins all but clinched the title for West with a pin in 1:53 of the Lancers' Ryan Sullivan.
"It's great to be able to win the Battle of Belleville again. It's always one of our goals,'' Sears said. "We found out some things about our team tonight. We've got a lot of work to do from now until the end of the season.
"I was very pleased though with the kids (Bass, Taylor and Smalling) in the lighter-weight classes. They're all young age wise, but they've all wrestled a lot of matches over the years.''
East coach Maurice Brown was pleased with the quick start as Dylan Gray (160), Matt Striegel (170) and Kyzen Smith (182) all posted impressive wins to give East an 11-3 lead.
The lead probably should have been bigger as Jauffrey Vaughn held a late lead, but fell 16-12 to Claude Shelby at 152.
"We had a game plan and he (Vaughn) kind of lost focus a little bit on what it was,'' Lancers coach Maurice Brown said. "We knew we had the advantage in the upper weights, but we didn't get a big enough lead.
"Overall though, it was a good night of wrestling and I think the fans saw some very good matches. You never like to lose, but I thought our kids gave a good effort.''
The best match of the night was at 145, where the Maroons' Nate Higgins defeated Skyler Procasky 5-2.
West defeated Althoff 62-12 while East posted a 56-22 win over the host Crusaders.
The young Crusaders, forfeiting at four weights, were led by a pair of wins each from Dakota Finley (160) and undefeated Kameron Harris (182).
Harris (10-0) is ranked third in the Class 1A state rankings.
