Grant tips Libertyville in NSC crossover
The sixth annual Libertyville alumni night turned into quite a showdown between the host Wildcats and Grant in their wrestling season opener Wednesday night.
Starting at 195, which is one of 10 new weight classes, Grant held a slim lead for basically the entire dual meet until Libertyville 160-pounder Sal Ayala pinned his opponent to deadlock the score at 22-22 with two matches remaining.
But a technical fall by Grant 170-pounder Tony Cashmore made the score 27-22 before Libertyville’s Austin Koziol recorded a 6-0 decision to close out the meet, giving the visiting Bulldogs a 27-25 North Suburban Conference crossover victory.
Koziol came through with a big takedown with 24 seconds to go in the third period, but he was unable to record the pin for what would have been a dramatic 28-27 team victory.
“Ayala’s pin gave us a shot, and we knew they had Cashmore coming up,” said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. “What he (Koziol) did at the end, I was hoping he would do earlier.”
The Wildcats’ only lead was at 3-0 when 195-pounder Joey Nield opened the meet with a 5-0 decision over Cole Harvey.
The Bulldogs’ Quinton Quarles followed with a 7-3 decision over Kevin Barbian at 220 before Grant 285-pounder Dan Haeffele edged Chris McDermand 1-0 to make the score 6-3.
Grant 106-pounder Nick Koch recorded a pin in 5:52, but Libertyville 113-pounder Steve Polakowski held off Nick Kramer with an 8-5 decision to cut the gap to 12-6.
The tight battle continued with Grant 120-pounder Ben Soumar posting an 11-3 major decision before Libertyville 126-pounder Pat Fitzgerald beat Grant freshman Noah Drabek 9-3.
“Dale (Eggert) has some young wrestlers and we had a couple of kids step up,” said Grant coach Ryan Geist. “Nick Koch’s pin at 106 was huge and our freshman (Drabek) looked good at 130.”
Charlie Meyer’s 13-0 major decision at 132 cut Grant’s lead to 16-13 before Grant’s Nick Fanella posted a hard-fought 3-2 decision over Josh Hirth at 138 to make the score 19-13.
Then Libertyville 145-pounder Austin Pettinato defeated Devin Monroy 6-3 before the Bulldogs’ Ryan Volpe posted a key 3-1 decision over Mike Coutre at 152.
Grant is missing a few wrestlers, including 160-pounder Charles Williams while Libertyville’s Kayne MacCallum is recovering from knee surgery.
“I’m only a junior so I’ve never seen us beat Libertyville and it was really nice to see us get a victory like that right at the end,” said Cashmore. “Our practices are way more intense than they were last year.”
Both the Wildcats and Grant will be competing in the powerful Barrington Invitational this weekend beginning Friday morning.