YHS Wrestling Looks to Senior Leadership

One thing the Yorkville wrestling team doesn’t have to worry about is letting victories go to its head.

That’s one of the many benefits of having terrific senior leadership. The Foxes have six seniors who are combining to play a crucial role for the team this winter. In fact, they helped the team complete its best stretch of the season, going 5-0 during a busy week that propelled the team to top of the conference.

“We have tremendous senior leadership,” Yorkville coach Joe Fornell said. “In addition to knowing what they need to do, they’re helping the younger classes, showing them how to correct their mistakes and to work hard.”

Yorkville improved to 3-0 in the Northern Illinois Big 12 East conference with a 39-26 victory over Kaneland on Thursday. The Foxes beat Sycamore, 29-27, on Dec. 8 and had little trouble with Morris on Dec. 1, beating the Redskins, 41-21.

“We’re ranked No. 1 in the conference, so that’s good for us now,” senior Clayton Bass said. “We got a big win against Sycamore and then beat Kaneland, so it’s going pretty good, better than what I think a lot of people expected.”

The Foxes hosted Sandwich on Friday and came away with a 52-14 victory before Saturday’s perfect quad that saw the team post three victories over Crystal Lake Central (47-22), St. Rita (41-25) and Washington (66-10).

Success at a Saturday quad was something Fornell was looking for after the team struggled previously in similar settings. The team dropped matches to Joliet West and Libertyville in a Dec. 3 quad and then didn’t fare much better on Dec. 10, losing on a tiebreaker to Homewood-Flossmoor, dropping a 43-33 decision to Leyden and only mustering a 41-25 win over Lincoln-Way East.

“We’ve had some ups and downs and haven’t quite figured out how to wrestle to the best of our abilities on Saturdays,” Fornell said. “But our schedule is pretty rough so there are going to be ups and downs for the kids.

“It’s all about peaking at the end of the year and that’s something we’ve always done in our program, so now we’re striving to get the guys to excel in January and February when it matters most.”

Identical twins Clayton Bass and Connor Bass are two of the most successful senior leaders for the Foxes. Both have placed at state and are two-time state qualifiers. Clayton (152) is 14-2 while Connor (145) is 7-2. Connor finished second in the state at 135 pounds last year, ultimately losing to Marmion’s Bryce Brill, 14-5.

Seniors Brock Diehl (120) and Jacob Hurt (132) also offer a lot to the team, while fellow senior Steven Pozeg (170) has been as tough as they come this winter with a 14-2 record. And then there’s senior Seth Gonzealez at heavyweight. Gonzealez’s record remains perfect at 14-0. He was a state alternate a season ago.

Having these six seniors wrestling consistently gives the Foxes a great core to work and has formed the foundation for their success. Yet, they can only do so much individually in their bouts. Since a team endures 14 bouts per dual meet, 14 different wrestlers have to do their part to meet team goals.

“We want to know who is right for each spot and will go out there and fight for the team the whole time,” Connor Bass said. “We’ve battled some injuries with some guys and some JV guys have had to step up.”

Two other wrestlers who have figured prominently for the Foxes are junior Bobby Schillinger (182) and sophomore Gunnar Hjorth (113). Schillinger is 11-4 this winter while Hjorth is 10-5. Others who have earned opportunities and continue to be tested are Brandon Brown, freshman Joe Katula, Jake Reinert, Dan Scott, Brennan Sharp and sophomore Tyler Wilkinson, among others.

“We have a couple of weak spots, but we’re working on that by finding their individual weaknesses and working hard in practice to get everyone to perform at their best,” Gonzealez said. “We have that team goal of pretty much beating Marmion out of regional so we’re working hard everyday.”

There’s a great deal of pride with this year’s team and a lot of that has to do with the rich history of the program. The Foxes have won four state championships, winning their first under coach Dennis Hastert in 1976. Hastert would move on to a career as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. They won back-to-back titles in 1993 and 1994 and most recently took second place in 2009.

“We have a whole board listing state qualifiers and placers so we’re just trying to step up and get our names up there and take our chance,” Connor Bass said. “Being here, there’s higher expectations and higher standards so you work harder and try to outdo the guys that came before you.”

None of the great former Yorkville wrestlers have ever won a title at the Al Dvorak Memorial Wrestling Invitational. That includes A.J. Messenger who won a state title at 171 last winter and standout Jed Lightfoot (2010), who served as Clayton Bass’s role model. The two-day tournament runs Dec. 22-23.

“It’s such a big tournament, and we’ve never had champ so we’re hoping to pull out a couple this year,” Connor Bass said. “With the group of seniors we have, we could have a couple of champs so we’re looking to take advantage of that opportunity.”

The team will follow the Dvorak with another tournament on Dec. 28 at Wheaton Warrenville South before returning to conference play with a big meet against DeKalb on Jan. 5.

“The guys know when we wrestle duals it’s more team and working hard for your team,” Fornell said. “In the tournaments it’s time to be selfish a little bit and push yourself and see how far you can go to bring home some hardware for yourself.”