Better than ever

LOCKPORT -- Kevin Bialka was just excited to be on the mat again.

After wrestling in just one match nearly two months ago, the Lockport High School standout almost missed out on the rest of his junior season due to a knee injury.

But following knee surgery during Christmas break, he began preparing for his return with the Porters in time for the postseason.

Bialka's return to the mat on Thursday in a dual meet with Lincoln-Way East was a complete success after he claimed an 11-3 victory at 152 pounds over Tom Igyarto, who was 26-5 on the season.

Thanks in part to Bialka's big victory, the Porters captured a 39-21 SouthWest Suburban Conference victory over the Griffins.

"I took my first step on the mat and felt. 'It's good to be back,' " Bialka said. "I've been doing things like running the camera, so I was just itching to be back on the mat. And it felt good to wrestle a quality opponent and get a good win.

"I've been back for about three-and-a-half weeks. We have a week until regionals and I feel good technically, but I need to get my endurance back, that's my biggest step. Hopefully, I can get my wind back so I can place high at state."

Lockport edged East by 8½ points to take third place in last Saturday's SWSC meet, so the rescheduled meet between the two figured to be close.

But the Porters used a good start and a strong finish capture an easy win over the Griffins to help prepare them for next weekend's regional competition.

Lockport opened with three straight wins to grab an 11-0 advantage with Tony Tonelli setting the tone by beating Bret Worker 17-1 by technical fall in 1:48 at 119.

Abe Omar followed with an 8-4 win over Dan Keating before Matt Weber claimed a 4-2 triumph over Matt Thompson at 130.

The Griffins picked up wins in the next three matches to close the gap to 13-11 before Bialka recorded his key victory.

East's Mike Murphy beat Ahmad Salah 5-2 at 135, A.J. Knoll pinned Tom Canavan in 3:31 and Alex Rivera added a 13-4 win over Andrew Weiss.

After Bialka's victory over Igyarto, Mark Stenberg increased the lead to 19-13 when he captured a 15-1 win over Cody Kerrigan.

The Griffins pulled within 19-17 when Clarence Shoot picked up a 13-4 triumph over Nick Dominguez.

But the Porters answered with two wins to go up 28-17 as Bill Mitchell edged Pete Merenowicz 6-4 at 189 before Alex Rodriguez pinned Colin Langenderfer in 2:32.

East picked up its final victory at 285 when Chris Narel posted a 15-5 win over Mike Tetlow.

Lockport closed the meet out with wins as Billy Kendall beat Steve Degrazia 16-1 by technical fall in 4:08 at 103 before Jameson Oster pinned Kyle Vaulman in 1:17.

"This was a good meet for us," Porters coach Joe Williams said. "You need something between conference and regionals, so I'm glad this got rescheduled. East beat us last year, so our kids knew that anything could happen.

"I thought we had the upper hand, but there were some matches that could have gone either way. Obviously, Kevin coming back from his injury for his second match was big and I thought Billy Mitchell also had a good win."