Grant makes its point in regional triumph

One week after watching its dream of a North Suburban Conference wrestling title dashed by a miniscule half-point, Grant had a day to remember.

This time, the Bulldogs won the matches that mattered, giving them the edge they needed to lift Class 3A regional trophy.

The Bulldogs rode individual championships from Christian Kanzler (126), Cristian Coronado (138) and Mike Kouvelis (152) along with five third-place finishes to edge Barrington (183.5-167.0) and the rest of the field to win the team title on their home floor in Fox Lake.

"There was a positive attitude all throughout our room right away, so I knew we could come out today and win our regional," said Kouvelis (35-8), who won the Bulldogs' third and final championship with a pin in 3:34, all but ending the chances for Barrington.

"This was a great win today, over a real quality program (Barrington) which was ranked No. 9 in the state before this weekend," said Grant coach Ryan Geist. "It was a tough way to lose last weekend, but the guys learned how important third place is from that tournament.

"Last weekend, we didn't win one third-place match - while Stevenson won six. Today the guys came through in those third-place matches, to not only give us more points but just as importantly send five guys into next weekend's sectional at Barrington."

In total, Grant sends 10 competitors to the sectional, and Barringon has eight.

McHenry, which finished third with 139 points, will have six sectional wrestlers. Cary-Grove will have four, and Lake Zurich, Round Lake and Zion-Benton three apiece.

Lake Zurich's trio of Joey Stutzman (120), Tommy Clancy (152, 33-10) and Pete Baldaccini (170, 22-12) will compete at Barrington, and Round Lake will be represented by Juan Arteaga (106, 30-9), Nick Moore (152, 27-8) and Joe Greenhill (182, 36-4).

Clancy and Baldaccini were runners-up along with Greenhill, following and 8-4 defeat to Cam Pait of McHenry.

Last year's state runner-up Christian Brunner (195) is one of two to advance for Dundee-Crown. The Chargers junior won his division, pushing his record to 37-1.

"We kind of ran out of steam today," said Barrington coach Dave Udchik, who found out late that freshmen standout Markus Hartman, the top seed at 106 pounds, would be unable to go.

"It was tough not having Markus for sure, but Connor (Delahunt) stepped in at got himself into the sectionals," Udchik said. "But Ryan (Geist) and his staff are tremendous, and they got their guys ready, and they were able to win themselves some key matches all throughout the day. So credit them for their effort and best of luck at the dual-team sectionals."

The Bulldogs will face the team champ from the Glenbrook South regional on the Tuesday following the individual state tournament.

Kouvelis and his teammates Gage Datlovsky (120) and Noah Drabek (132) were members of the regional championship club two years ago which advanced to the state duals for the fifth time in program history.

On Saturday, Datlovsky (37-6) fell to four-time regional champ Michael Cullen (Cary-Grove, 33-1) in his final, while Drabek (40-4) was forced to come all the way back through the consolation bracket to earn his trip to the sectional.

"I was looking ahead to a final with Garrett (Dziedzic, Crystal Lake South) instead of one opponent at a time, and it almost cost me a chance to advance," said Drabek, who lost to Zach Ellis of Zion-Benton in the semifinals, before recording back-to-back majors to safely secure his place at Barrington in a week.

Cullen was magnificent all day, and in his final with Datlovsky, he flashed state championship form en route to a technical fall at 5:03.

"I feel the decision to compete at 120 pounds this season was the right one for me, and right now, I am physically and mentally ready for what lies ahead during the next two weekends," said the Trojans senior and three-time state medalist.

Cullen's younger brother John earned a dramatic 4-3 OT win in his 138-pound semifinal match with Carter Herber of McHenry to ensure his advancement. Later, John Cullen (25-8) fell in final with Coronado (38-3) by a 4-2 decision.

"I like to keep everyone interested," said Cullen, who could afford a wry smile after his dicey OT victory.

Cary-Grove's Michael Gomez (28-3) outlasted Barrington senior Alex Zentner (29-7) to win top honors in the heavyweight class, needing OT to edge the Broncos' rising star, who last week surprised a terrific field to win in the MSL tournament.

"Zentner is so deceiving - he's kept most of his matches this season very close with the best guys in the state," said Gomez, who won the FVC crown last weekend.

The one-two punch of Dziedzic and Eric Barone (145) were unstoppable, with Dziedzic (26-9) easily winning his opener before edging Sean Cullen (Cary-Grove) 2-1 in his semifinal.

"All three of my matches with Sean have been tough, and each one gets closer and tougher than the last, so it felt good to open things up a bit in my final and win the title with a pin," said Dziedzic, a state qualifier a year ago.

Barone (36-1) produced a dominant performance, ending with a resounding 18-6 major over Connor Boundy (Barrington, 30-5) to win a second straight regional crown.

"I felt very strong from the start of the day, and after that first takedown in that final, I didn't let up until the final whistle," said Barone, who will likely battle Fernie Silva (Hononegah) next weekend for a sectional crown.

Brunner began his postseason quest for fame in earnest with a hard-fought 2-1 triumph over Zion-Benton star Mark Miller.

"Miller and Fremd's Alex Jacobs are the two strongest guys I've faced all season long, and if I am fortunate, I'll be wrestling one of them in the final next weekend," said Brunner, who took the lead for good in the second period after a scoreless opening round.

Brunner stopped four tries from Miller (37-4) to undo his vice-like grip in an attempt to earn a 1-point escape in the third period.

Dundee-Crown's Brett Peters (14-5) will join Brunner at the sectional following his third-place finish at 220, while Jarrod Rapp (29-7) saw his terrific career come to an end after a 6-4 loss in his third-place bout with Max Guhde of Barrington.

Guhde's (24-13) big win came after teammates Travis Cysewski (160, 21-8) and Julius Smith (170, 30-5) grabbed the lone two championship rings of the day for the Broncos.

"It's kind of come full circle for me at the regionals," said Cysewski, a senior. "When I was a freshmen, I was injured badly in my third-place match and was carted off. So to get into the final today hopefully helps me realize my dream of getting downstate in two weeks."

The Broncos at one time led the tournament after Grant had claimed an 8-point lead (45-37) after the quarterfinals. But Barrington's lead of 3.5 points (115-112.5) was short-lived; Grant turned things around in its favor for good (153.5-146.0) heading into the final session of the day.

"We opened strongly today to give us the confidence we would need, and the guys just kept picking it up as the day went on to give us the title," said Geist. "And now we have a chance to do something in the state tournament later this month."