St. Charles East, Metea lead UEC semifinalists
There is certainly not a dearth of potential all-state wrestlers in the Upstate Eight Conference this season.
Friday night at Geneva, St. Charles East, the defending tournament champion, and Metea Valley, on the cusp of its first Valley Division title in program history, advanced seven competitors to the semifinals on Saturday.
"A lot of mistakes," Metea Valley coach Claudio Torres said. "We tell the kids that it's all about the postseason. The mistakes we're making now, we have to be able to correct them in the next two weeks."
Metea Valley has the top seeds at 138, 145 and 182 pounds in David Veitch, Kenan Carter and Dylan Ervin.
"Coming into this conference (tournament), we're definitely looking to be No. 1," said Veitch, who advanced with a first-period fall in the quarterfinals. "The whole lineup needs to step forward to win it."
St. Charles East holds an 86-75 lead on the Mustangs.
Batavia, the undefeated River champion, is in third with 71 points.
Former DuPage Valley Conference rivals Glenbard East and West Aurora are tied for fourth with 64 points.
Carter and Ervin also ended their quarterfinal matches with a pin and technical fall, respectively.
But it was Josh Mondesir from the Mustangs' sister school, Waubonsie Valley, who pulled off the most stunning verdict of the night.
The Warriors' 220-pounder, who entered his match against top-seeded John Garcia of West Chicago 8 matches under .500, pinned the Wildcats' senior early in the second period.
The strength of the Warriors' program is in the upper weights as Mondesir followed three consecutive quarterfinal wins by teammates Mason Kroening, Nick Sondag and Max Ihry at 170 to 195 pounds.
"Those are the guys with the most experience," Waubonsie Valley coach Brad Caldwell said. "They are battling each other every day in practice. That (Mondesir fall) was definitely a highlight for him so far."
The Wildcats' other top-seeded competitor, Trey Lally, had a second-period fall as one of three semifinalists for the program.
"That's how I usually win most of my matches," said Lally, a 160-pounder.
Glenbard East has bookend top seeds in 106-pounder Nick Donovan and heavyweight D'Andre Johnson, both of whom cruised into the semifinals with early falls.
Donovan improved to 33-3 on the season with his second-period pin.
It has been a season of adjustments for Neuqua Valley.
The Wildcats have struggled with numbers, experience and confidence this season but did manage to advance second-seeded D.J. Warkthein at 195 pounds, and third-seeded Austin Singer at 145.
St. Charles North sophomore Kolbe O'Brien is looking for his second UEC title in as many years.
The defending champion at 106 pounds, O'Brien needed only 71 seconds to advance into the semifinals.
O'Brien will meet St. Charles East sophomore Joe Ruffino in the second semifinal on Saturday.
"I have not lost to anyone in conference this year," said O'Brien, who presumably will face off with Ruffino next week at the schools' weather-delayed match. "I'm pretty good on top: I hit (my quarterfinal opponent) with a half (nelson) and put him away early."
Steve Collins' overtime win at 138 pounds earned the North Stars a second semifinalist, and the triumvirate was completed when Chad Reynolds also triumphed by a point at 160.
"At this time of year it often comes down to surviving for another day," St. Charles North coach Ben Hummel said. "I'm happy to get three into the semifinals. I would say that we have to wrestle better (today)."
All of the top seeds from the Tri-Cities advanced in the championship bracket.
West Aurora siblings Isaac and Chachi Jacquez are on a mission.
The Blackhawks' back-to-back elite-ranked wrestlers at 113 and 120 pounds overwhelmed their quarterfinal foes with a pin and technical fall, respectively.
Chachi Jacquez won the DuPage Valley Conference tournament last year, only to have his postseason fall apart with a broken hand days before the Class 3A Waubonsie Valley regional.
"It's a huge motivation," Chachi Jacquez said of missing the playoffs last year. "I want to be back there (on the conference podium). I have a tough (potential championship match) against (St. Charles East junior Anthony) Rubino."
The two are ranked in the top-five in the state.
The Jacquez brothers are a combined 75-2 on the season.
Another potential barnburner is at heavyweight: Batavia senior Mitch Krusz has lost only once this season. Glenbard East senior D'Andre Johnson is ranked No. 2 in the latest illinoismatmen.com poll.
"(A Krusz-Johnson final) will probably be one of the matches of the tournament," Batavia coach Scott Bayer said.
Dylan Uzumecki also had a fall moments before Krusz terminated his match for Batavia.
Uzumecki, a fellow senior, is the second seed at 220 pounds.
Batavia advanced five wrestlers to the semifinals.
West Aurora was one behind the St. Charles East and Metea Valley benchmark with six advancers.
Keone Derain and Ramon Lopez are the St. Charles East spearheads; the top seeds at 152 and 170 pounds had no issues in easily advancing.
Geneva senior Colin Parsons had a shutout as the Vikings' lone top-seeded competitor improved to 28-6 at 132 pounds.
There will be nine semifinalists from the five U-46 high schools competing on Saturday.
South Elgin is in sixth place in the team standings after winning five quarterfinal matches on Friday night.
Larkin and Elgin each advanced a pair; Bartlett and Streamwood were shut out of championship-bracket performers.
Storm junior Izzy Villarreal had a fall and 7-3 decision to earn the first South Elgin semifinal berth at 106 pounds.
Villarreal has a semifinal date with top-seeded Nick Donovan of Glenbard East.
"I have to stay focused all the time," Villareal said. "(In the quarterfinal match) I just did what my coaches told me: 'work hard, never give up, never get tired.'"
Junior Luke Schulz advanced in the 132-pound bracket with an 11-3 major decision for South Elgin.
The other South Elgin semifinalists are Josh Menendez, Zach Crosby and Matt Cravins at 138, 182 and 285 pounds.
Larkin is looking for a top-10 berth behind its two qualifiers in the championship bracket: sophomore Hugo Barraza and Leo Martinez.
The former earned a 13-7 victory at 126 pounds after a first-round bye; Martinez had an escape for the only point of his quarterfinal at 152 pounds.
"I tried to go out hard," Barraza said. "Hopefully, (on Saturday) will wrestle hard, wrestle smart and try to get to the (finals)."
"I think we should place four or five guys (out of six competitors)," Larkin coach Steve Hoyt said.
Nathanial Romero had three takedowns and two near-falls to advance for Elgin at 132 pounds.
It was the 20th win for Romero this season.
Matt Gedritis' 4-0 quarterfinal win for the Maroons was accomplished with a first-period takedown and third-period reversal.
"Being aggressive right off the bat (was the difference)," the Elgin senior said. "My guy started to back up, and I had to take advantage of that (for the takedown)."