September 18, 2025 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Brazelton carries momentum into state wrestling meet

Holden Brazelton is no stranger to what he’ll experience this week inside State Farm Center in Champaign.

The St. Joseph-Ogden High School wrestler qualified for the Class 1A state meet in February 2022, compiling a 3-2 record at 120 pounds as a freshman.

Now a sophomore, Brazelton is setting his sights on an even better showing at this week’s state meet, which starts Thursday.

And he has reason to feel confident. Brazelton has yet to lose a postseason match for the Spartans, winning a sectional title and a regional title in the last two weeks at 132 pounds.

Brazelton brings a 45-2 record into the state meet this week ahead of a first-round match against Reed-Custer junior Sam Begley (10-3). If Brazelton can get past Begley, a quarterfinal match would await against either Roxana freshman Logan Riggs (32-13) or Polo senior Wyatt Doty (40-4).

Wrestling starts Thursday at noon with first-round matches in 1A, with 1A quarterfinals set to start at 6:45 p.m. Thursday.


Semifinal matches are slated for 7 p.m. on Friday and state championship matches are set to begin at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Brazelton is the lone SJO wrestler who will compete at the state meet as he tries to become the third Spartan to win a state championship. Wesley Kibler won a 1A state title at 195 in 2015 and Griffin Meeker won a state title at 182 in 2017.

Brazelton wins title in Clinton
Brazelton was one of two Spartans who competed this past weekend at the 1A Clinton Sectional, but the only one to secure a top-four finish needed in order to advance to the state meet.

Brazelton received a bye into the quarterfinals, where he won a 16-0 technical fall against Jonny Marquez of Beardstown to advance to the semifinals. Once there, Brazelton pinned Bradi Lahr of Quincy Notre Dame in 3 minutes, 14 seconds to secure his spot in the sectional championship match. Brazelton did not yield a point to Ian O’Connor of Illini Bluffs, winning via a 7-0 decision.

Owen Birt at 220 also wrestled for SJO at the Clinton Sectional, but lost two matches to end his senior season. Birt lost a 9-2 decision to Ethan Ladd of Macomb in his first-round match before losing a 7-5 decision to Landon Wierenga of Eureka in a consolation quarterfinal match. Birt finished with a 37-10 record in his final season at SJO.

Brazelton tops podium in LeRoy
SJO had three wrestlers earn top-three finishes at the LeRoy Regional on Feb. 4, with three more placing fourth in their respective weight classes.

The solid showing, punctuated by Brazelton winning a regional title at 132, helped SJO finish third in the 10-team regional meet with 114 points. Only regional champion LeRoy/Tri-Valley (224.5 points) and runner-up Unity (222.5 points) put together a better team score than SJO.

Brazelton won both his matches to earn a regional title. He earned a 15-0 technical fall against Avery McGraw from Unity in the semifinals before pinning Cayden Poole of Clinton in 1 minute, 40 seconds in the championship match.

Senior Hunter Ketchum at 182 and Birt at 220 overcame semifinal losses to place third in their weight classes.

Ketchum pinned Wyatt Vaughan of Monticello in 3:07 in his first-round match before getting pinned in 56 seconds by eventual regional champion Hunter Eastin of Unity in the semifinals.

Ketchum rallied to pin Quinn Perschall of Olympia in 47 seconds in his first wrestle back match before pinning Vaughan again in 2:55.

Birt defeated Nolan Yeary by pin in 1:50 in his quarterfinal match, but lost to Nathanael Gladden of Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin/Armstrong-Potomac by an 8-6 decision in the semifinals.

Birt then defeated Riley Jones of Monticello by pin in 1:05 in his first wrestleback match before pinning Yeary again, this time in 3:42, to win the 220 third-place match.


Freshman Jackson Walsh at 106, junior Emmit Holt at 113 and freshman Coy Hayes at 152 all placed fourth in their weight classes for the Spartans.

Banner
Related Posts

Behrens, Vallee help Spartans continue strong start

February 11, 2021

February 11, 2021

So far, so good for the St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ basketball team. The Spartans made the short drive to Champaign on...

Rydell looks to the future

April 23, 2021

April 23, 2021

Jackson Rydell’s first football season is his last football season. The senior is playing playing football for the first time...

5 questions with TREVOR AMES

March 1, 2024

March 1, 2024

How would you describe this team? This team is special. What is a lesson you have learned this season? Having...

Cook surpasses 1,000 career points

February 18, 2019

February 18, 2019

Before the St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ basketball teams plays Monday night for a shot to reach the state tournament, facing Chicago...

Izard, Cain, Pence key SJO boys’ basketball to sixth-place finish at State Farm Holiday Classic

January 3, 2020

January 3, 2020

The small-school State Farm Holiday Classic ended on a sour note for the St. Joseph-Ogden High School boys’ basketball team....

SJO girls’ track and field wins Spartan Classic, prep for postseason

May 8, 2019

May 8, 2019

Winning meets on their own track has become a consistent theme for the St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls’ track and...

SJO baseball adapting to strange times this spring: ‘The most difficult part is not seeing the players’

April 17, 2020

April 17, 2020

Ever since Josh Haley took control of the St. Joseph-Ogden High School baseball team, success has followed. So have solid...

5 Question friday

August 26, 2022

August 26, 2022

Each Friday we will ask some SJO athletes five questions. Up first, junior football player Ethan McElroy. What made you...

Plotner’s positive attitude key to success

April 30, 2019

April 30, 2019

Jillian Plotner is having an amazing track season. The St. Joseph-Ogden junior helped the 3,200 relay team win first place...

Bree Trimble Working Out With Siblings and Father

July 7, 2020

July 7, 2020

Like all athletes, Bree Trimble plans on coming back to the Parkland College Cobra women’s basketball team as a bigger,...

St. Joseph Pony League wins tournament championship

July 13, 2021

July 13, 2021

By Jim Cotter —-URBANA—- In baseball, as is usually the case with most other sports, finishing a season better than...

Mattsey, Poe highlight SJO boys’ cross-country’s recent success, while Plotner, Rajlich do the same for SJO girls’ cross-country

October 22, 2019

October 22, 2019

All the miles, all the training and all the preparation will come to a head this Saturday for the St....

Price is right: SJO baseball off to solid start

April 12, 2023

April 12, 2023

The spring weather is starting to get nicer outside. And the St. Joseph-Ogden High School baseball team is starting to...

‘There is no one more deserving of this honor’

June 26, 2020

June 26, 2020

Glenn Fisher loves St. Joseph-Ogden High School. For decades, Fisher’s main concern was that the facilities and sports fields at...

Blackburn soars on Friday nights

September 6, 2019

September 6, 2019

Kaylee Blackburn isn’t afraid of heights. In fact, the St. Joseph-Ogden High School cheerleader is known as a high-flyer. Blackburn,...

Comments
Leave a Reply