WHEATFIELD — Visiting Hobart wrestling team hit its Northwest Crossroads Conference counterpart Kankakee Valley like the proverbial ton of bricks, outscoring them 58-18 on the home mat of the Kougars.
The Kougars were out-manned and out-wrestled with KV dropping four matches to forfeits and four to pins of the 14 varsity weight classes.
Only the Calebs — Solomey at 132 pounds and Swallow at 160 pounds — wrestled their way to wins over their opponents. Solomey, a senior, defeated Devin Wible, 5-1, and Swallow outscored Alan Turich, 11-4.
The most anticipated match-up didn’t happen. Undefeated junior Cole Solomey at 138 pounds was slated to meet Jonny McGill, but McGill instead wrestled Jacob Wheeler at 145, who fell 10-0 in a major decision. Solomey, a state qualifier in 2021, is currently 28-0 on the season.
Zack Eggers at 113 pounds also received a win by forfeit.
On the losing end for KV besides Wheeler were Devin Huff, who lost to Seth Audtin 5-0; Brandon Earl, who was pinned in the third by Daniel Mata; Noah Sessions, who fell in the first to Donovan Ruiz; Dylan Wireman, who was pinned in the first by Aiden Costello; and Cameron Anderson, who fell to Jake Simpson in the first.
Brickies competitors Hunter Juris, Justin Sawyer, Ashton Buttistella and Alex Pickett all benefited from forfeits by the Kougars, who will compete against NCC rivals at the conference meet at Lowell on Saturday.