Eagles slam Northwestern to advance to upper state championship

George Maholtz had the quickest pin of the evening for Eastside, defeating his opponent in under 30 seconds. Eastside knocked off Northwestern by a score of 53-15.

In a matchup between the two top-ranked wrestling programs in the state, No.1 Eastside downed No. 2 Northwestern to advance to the Class 4-A upper state championship.

The Iron Eagles found themselves in an early 12-7 deficit, but four straight pins from some of Eastside’s higher weight classes helped the Eagles secure what turned into a 53-15 win.

“Every day for the past month, our coaches have drilled into our heads that Northwestern was the team to beat,” said Eastside’s George Maholtz, who won his match with a pin under 30 seconds. “We knew they were going to come into our house and want to take it from us. We’ve been focused on getting better ahead of this matchup.”

“We came into this one ready,” said Eastside’s Peyton Schrader, the No. 1 4-A wrestler in the state in the 157 weight class. “We haven’t faced a team of this quality all season, so we were ready for the challenge.”

The Iron Eagles scored the final 43 points of the match after Northwestern took a 15-10 lead. Eastside’s Baron Leonard — the top-ranked 4-A wrestler in the 215 class — made quick work of the Iron Eagle’s final challenge of the night, earning a pin in 40 seconds.

“These are two great teams, so we knew a lot of the individual matchups were going to be close,” said Leonard. “They have a lot of ranked kids on their team, but so do we.”

The atmosphere at Eastside was vibrant. The home stands had few seats left once the match began. The rowdy students and supporters stayed loud all match long, helping power Eastside through to the upper state championship match.

“When you get a full crowd like that, it’s hard to lose,” said Leonard. “Everybody’s cheering for us. It’s amazing that we were able to fill it out like this.”

“Each match tonight was good wrestling,” said Eastside head coach Jack Kosmicki. “Neither of these teams have any bad wrestlers. I’m proud of these guys, because they’ve put the work in at practice every day, even when it wasn’t fun. They’ve earned it.”

Eastside will welcome Greenwood to town on Wednesday with a trip to the state championship on the line. The Iron Eagles are seeking their ninth straight state title. The match is slated to begin at 7 p.m.