Faire leads Sandwich to second-straight title

Sandwich’s Rigo Faire is a rather modest teenager.

He’s also quite a wrestler.

Faire pinned each of his opponents during this weekend’s 30th annual Plano Reaper Wrestling Classic, including a fall at 3:46 in Saturday’s 152-pound championship bout against Wheaton Academy’s Alex Budzisz.

He was honored with the annual Barb Meier Most Falls Award, and his effort helped the Indians defend their title.

“It was amazing. I just pinned my way through this tournament,” Faire said. “I don’t know if it was bad teams here or really good coaches that trained me really good. I just think I believe in myself a lot more and have more experience.”

Sandwich finished with 188.5 points while runner-up Plano, vying for its first title since 1985, was second with a 172. Plainfield South with third with a 171 and Plainfield East was fourth with a 167.5 among the 18-team field.

“It feels really good and I saw a lot of sportsmanship from our team because they were watching rather than wandering around,” said Sandwich’s Tyler

Sebby, who won the 195-pound title over Plainfield South’s Mark Crowley. “Now that we’re at 2A this helps boost our confidence up.”

Jesse Wood (120) and Patrick Crothers (145) were runner-ups for Sandwich while Dan Emma (113) and Kyle Eighner (220) placed fourth.

Plano might not have been able to catch the Indians, but 220-pounder Derrick

Maisonet had reason to celebrate as he took home his first career bracket. Maisonet scored a 9-3 decision over Seneca’s Brandon Webb.

“I’ve gotten a fifth here before and a second in every other tournament, but this is the first time (I’ve taken first place),” Maisonet said. “I’m just ecstatic and my mom is so happy. She’s my drive.”

Maisonet credits hard work and overtime after practice.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in the wrestling room and weight room since last year,” he said. “I’ll stay 30 minutes after practice every night. The only way you can get better is with hard work.”

Plano’s Wes Brown lost a hard-fought 3-2 decision to Sterling Newman’s Brian Bahrs for the 160-pound title. Teammates Jake Wilson (106) and Dan Comisky placed third while Abel Gonzalez (126), Ivan Lopez (138) and Killian Murphy (152) had fourth-place finishes.

Aurora Central’s Eddie Gonzalez’ day came to a sudden end, but it didn’t happen until the championship bout at 285 points. Gonzalez enjoyed a fantastic tournament but was pinned by Gibson City’s Josh Wallick.

“It’s been very exciting for me,” Gonzalez said. “This is the farthest I’ve ever gone in a tournament so that’s pretty good.”

Eric Hollenbeck added a fourth-place effort at 170 pounds to help Aurora Central place 13th.

Plainfield South’s Miguel Silva and Dan Saracco won at 106 and 170 pounds respectively to lead the Cougars to third place.

“This was the time to have to get back into tournament mode which can be a little hard at first,” Silva said.

“Overall I thought I had a tournament but still saw some things that I can do better. As a team, I think it was a good experience. We were all doing our own thing but helping the team.”

In addition to Crowley finishing as the 195-pound runner-up, the Cougars received fourth-place finishes from Joe Miner (132) and Zach Gonzalez (182).

Plainfield East had six wrestlers qualify for third-place bouts and the Bengals proved impressive by sweeping all six, including Tim O’Sullivan’s effort at 220 pounds.

“Every match is a win or loss and you can never say “I didn’t do well, but I took fourth,’” O’Sullivan said. “You’re going to be disappointed if you leave with a loss. I just wrestled hard and did what I had to do.”

Cody Hughes (113), Cinque Curry (145), Jake Mayon (170), Awais Arain (195) and Camren Parker (285) also won third-place bouts while Zach Krause lost in the 106-pound championship to take second.

“I think we did much better today than yesterday,” O’Sullivan said. “We got hyped up and bought into it. Today was beat down Saturday.