The Portage Indians varsity wrestling team topped Lake Central tonight by a score of 35-28. The Indians went out on a high note in the final home match of the regular season. Portage improves to 13-8 with the win, 5-0 in the Duneland Athletic Conference.
The seven senior wrestlers and two senior managers were honored on the mats before the start of the match. Three seniors picked up wins in the last home meet. Luis Acuna (135), who is ranked sixth in the state, improve to 14-1 on the season with a win over Jordan Woodrick. At 152, Anthony Espinosa took care of business against Dominic Cicchirillo. Espinosa, who now holds a 21-8 mark, intends to study criminal justice at Indiana University. Josh Wright, who defeated Isac Popovich at 189, is a three year letter winner in football and in wrestling.
The other four Indians who will graduate this spring are Paul Shane (119), Jesse Duque (112), Jacob Parrish (heavy weight) and Vincent Fischer (215). Shane plans on continuing his wrestling and golf careers in college, while Fischer will play football and track at St. Joseph’s College. Duque dropped to a still-impressive 18-9 on the season with a tough loss to Matt Lechowicz. Parrish, a six time letter winner in football, wrestling and track, will attend Indiana State to play football and major in chemistry in the fall.
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The two team managers honored for their dedication were David Ybarra and Ashley Duda. Ybarra defines the word dedication. He spent seven years as a football manager, six years as a basketball manager, one year with wrestling, one year with softball and will manage baseball this spring. David is also participating in the Outstanding Young Man competition at PHS. Duda is an experienced wrestling manager who has been with the team for five years.
In addition to the three seniors, Mike Wilson, Roberto Espinosa, Jake Wright and Eric Peek all picked up wins for the Tribe. The Indians will partacipate in the Hobart invite on Saturday morning in their final tune-up before the Jan. 29 LaPorte Sectional. If Portage can pick up a Sectional crown, they will return home one more time on Feb. 2 for the team regional. The sectional draw, which determines who the Indians will play, will take place Thursday morning. Tune in to Portage Indians Sports Corner tomorrow on www.blogtalkradio.com/powwowradio for the results of the draw.
Story by Brandon Vickrey, Pow Wow Sports Editor
