Sterling duo ready to shine at state

The Sterling wrestlers, as well as Dixon's Kylian Lally, will head to Champaign for the Class 2A portion of the tournament that begins today at Assembly Hall in Champaign.

First-year state wrestlers, as Anderson and Lilly were a year ago, sometimes struggle with the unfamiliar, if not overwhelming, atmosphere in the cavernous Assembly Hall. There is simultaneous action on six mats. Multiple referees' whistles are blowing. Locating the scoreboard that goes with each mat is sometimes an issue. So is finding your coaches for guidance.

"Going in this year, both of them have experienced that," Sterling coach Charlie Bishop said. "They know where they're at. They've been on that floor. It's a whole new atmosphere. Hopefully we'll catch some guys who haven't been there and it will have a positive impact for us."

Anderson (26-8) was particularly effected by the bright lights, and he admitted as much. He lost both of his bouts, one by pin, one by a 5-4 decision.

"I had lots of fun last year," Anderson said, "but I was scared, getting out there on that mat."

Anderson knows very little about his preliminary-round opponent, Dameon Adams (31-3) of Cahokia. They do have a pair of common opponents, however. Anderson noted he handled a pair of state-qualifying 113-pounders, Steven Bradford of Bloomington and Kolton Taylor of Mahomet-Seymour, with relative ease, while Adams labored to get those wins.

"I like the draw very much," Anderson said.

Like Anderson, Lilly (33-5) knows very little about his first-round opponent, Brandon Boyle (28-7) of Johnsburg. Lilly viewed one of Boyle's matches online but, other than that, will be going in blind. He says that's not a bad thing.

"My dad thinks when I haven't wrestled somebody, I wrestle a lot better than if I know what they do," Lilly said. "I just go out there and wrestle my match. I don't have to worry about what they do. I just do what I need to do to win."