Vandals go 2-1 in winning school’s 11th state wrestling trophy

After pulling off an emotional, come-from-behind win in the semifinals of the IHSA Dual Team Finals, Vandalia’s wrestlers came up short in the championship match.

The Vandals defeated Chicago Hope in the dual team quarterfinals, 52-18, then edged Tolono Unity, 33-30, in the semifinals before falling to Coal City, 32-25, in the championship.

The trip to the IHSA dual team finals was the 24th for a Vandalia squad, and this year’s team won the school’s fourth second-place trophy among its 11th finals trophies.

After posting a convincing win in the quarterfinals, the Vandals fell behind in the semifinals, with Tolono Unity winning six of the first seven matches.

But Unity would win only two of the final seven matches, with the final one being by forfeit after the Vandals had secured the win.

In the championship, the Vandals won the first two matches, but Coal City won the next five and three of the next seven for the championship.

Despite coming up short in the championship, Vandals coach Jason Clay is still very pleased with this season.

“It was totally awesome,” Clay said.

“We won every tournament we went to, except for the last won, we won 40 dual team meets, went 42-1 and finished state runner-up to a good team and a team that I have respect for in the way they do things, and their coaches and their kids.

“It’s a good little rivalry we’ve got going now, so, hopefully, next year we can get one up on them and keep that trend going,” he said.

“We beat them at Christmastime and came up a little bit short this time. Obviously, we could have won, but you’ve got to give them credit, too, and it doesn’t take anything away from this season,” Clay said.

“I mean, we had three state champions with Max (Philpot), Tyson (Waughtel) and Sophie (Bowers), and another state finalist in Preston, who had a tough match in the finals, and then three other state placers,” he said.

“So, more state qualifiers (11), more state placers, more state champions than we’ve ever had in a season.

“First time winning Abe’s (Rumble), first time winning the Princeton (Invite), won the Litchfield Tournament, won the CM Tournament,” Clay said.

“We were 40-2 in dual meets.

“It was a special season, a special group of kids, and it’s going to go down in history, for sure,” he said.

The Vandals’ effort in the win over Tolono Unity showed what this year’s team was all about.

“Every time we go at it, they bring it,” he said. “Even though we had beaten them by almost 30 points early in the season, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and we were starting at a good spot for them,” Clay said.

“They won a couple of toss-ups early, which really creates some momentum.

“Thank goodness Ross (Miller) pulled out the win go get us on the board, then Dom (Swyers) got a win, and then we turned the corner and started getting bonus (points) on them.

“Then, obviously, we had to make a move to be able to pull it off. We felt like the move was Robbie (McCoy), and he came off the bench, got in there and got it done,” Clay said.

The Vandals then finished off the win with pins by brothers Preston and Tyson Waughtel.

“That’s one of the things you’ve got to love about dual team wrestling, everybody on the roster has a chance to contribute,” Clay said.

The championship match was the final time that Clay would coach the Vandals, having announced earlier that he would be stepping down from the head coach position after 19 years at that post and four years as an assistant prior to that.

Clay will continue to serve as the district’s athletic director and head football coach.

“That’s still kind of all processing,” Clay said.

“I felt for the kids (trying to win a championship). I know they wanted it and obviously I felt like they probably wanted to do it for me, too, but it wasn’t in the cards,” he said.

“It would be different if I was going far away. I know that I’ll be able to watch them wrestle next year and be able to help out if needed,” he said.

“But, it’s time to pass the torch, and I’m excited to see what the kids can do.

“We lose a lot of good kids, but we also have a lot of really good kids coming back, and we have some really good junior high kids coming it.

“It will be interesting to see it all kind of come together and how much these kids develop,” he said.

“The lion’s share of our lineup was freshmen and sophomores, younger kids, and I think there’s a ton of development physically and in terms of wrestling that can happen in the next six to nine months to prepare for next season.

“And it will be interesting to see how they mature and get a year older, and the things they can do to get better,” Clay said.

With all of that being said, it’s not easy to walk away from the program.

“You know, I was handed a loaded (team) when I came in, too,” he said. “We got second in the state in my first year and easily could have won it.

“So, I think it feels good to feel like you’re handing it off and they’re in a position to win state next year,” Clay said.

“There were some ebbs and flows over 19 years. There are some years with it was kind of a struggle to keep it going and try to be at a high level,” he said.