In our 5th season the Junior Raiders attended the IKWF State Series with 15 qualifiers and made the state of Illinois take a double take at what these boys accomplished! 12 of 15 boys came home with All State Honors. 7 of 15 kids were in the semi Finals. 6 out of 7 wrestlers in the semis made it to the finals (tied with the Harvey Twisters for the most Finalists)and 4 individuals were crowned State Champions. Begin the action was Juwan Robinson who was on the big stage for the 2nd time in 3 years and beat Alex Harvey (Rochelle WC) (Dec 7-4) to claim his second state title in the 138lb senior division. Wrestling at the same time on the big stage was Fidel Mayora who beat David Ferrante (Red Raiders Wrestling Team) (Dec 6-2) to capture the Novice 101lb state title. Next up was Ronald Tucker who was on the big stage for the second year in a row but this time would not be denied of his 1st state title beating Chase Tatum (Tiger Town Tanglers WC) (Fall 2:21) to win the Novice state title in the 215lb division. Dylan Burnoski had been to the finals 2 years in a row before getting knocked out in the 1st round of last years event, made it to his 3rd finals match and beat Austin Rudsinski (Lincoln Way WC) (Dec 4-2) in a rematch of last weeks Sectional finals to win the senior 84lb division. Jimmy Pierandozzi made it to the finals match but lost to Joshua Ogunsanya (Harvey Twisters WC). Baylor Fernandes lost in a very close match, in the final period of the 115lb senior bracket to Brett Hammel of West Hancock 10-7 . Here are the 6 All State wrestlers places. Alex Villar 4th place 74lb Novice, Matt Ramos 4th place 70lb Novice, Ashton Breen 8th place 89lb Novice, Donovan Ford 4th Place Novice, Kaleb Thompson 6th place 79lb Novice, and Tyler Krause 8th place 89lb Senior. A special mention to Tyler Krestel, Corey Sapp and Vince Ochoa who qualified for this event and although did not place put it all on the mat! We took 2nd place in the Novice Division and 6th in the Senior division which put us in 2nd place overall with 9 less wrestlers than Martinez Fox Valley Elite. Words cant explain what these boys accomplished this weekend, we were the talk of the event and confirmed one thing………..these boys are GOOD! Go Raiders