Wheaton North edges Batavia for tournament crown

Wheaton North junior Devin Donovan received a message from his wrestling coach between periods of his championship final at the Batavia Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

"Coach (Travis) Cherry wanted to know if I could get a major (decision)," Donovan said of his final against Plainfield South junior Adrian Cervantes. "I kept up the pace and continued to keep scoring and scoring. I knew I had it at that point."

The Falcons entered the championship and third-place matches trailing host Batavia by a half-point.

The schools were able to crown only a lone champion among their four finalists apiece, but Wheaton North won eight consolation finals to edge the Bulldogs, 196-192, for the title in Batavia.

"This is my first time as a coach winning a tournament," Cherry said. "The last three years we have been second or third here. Bonus points are huge from the first round to the championship."

Wheaton North sophomore Bo Neidballa had a first-period fall in the third-place match at 195 pounds to give the Falcons a crucial cushion over Batavia.

"That (pin) kind of sealed the deal," Cherry said.

Plainfield South, Alton and Lemont were the only programs to crown more than one champion.

Downers Grove North, Burlington Central, Addison Trail and Buffalo Grove were fifth, ninth, 11th and 13th among the other programs in the Daily Herald coverage area.

Anthony Indelli, Frankie Indelli, who could not compete in the finals due to an injury, and Brendan Gambill all dropped championship matches for the Falcons.

But Wheaton North picked up critical points with wins in the fifth-place consolation bracket by Chase Balosky (113 pounds), Jaylin Griffin (126), Riley Lomenick (145), Duncan Nelson (152), Bob Wall (220) and heavyweight Nick Yanan to turn back Batavia.

Batavia had all 14 wrestlers place eighth or better, but the Bulldogs had only five athletes win their final matches of the day.

Jamie Suarez also played an indispensable role in the Falcons' 4-point win over Batavia with his third-place triumph at 120 pounds.

"This is definitely a team win," Cherry said.

Addison Trail heavyweight Karim Fuentes is on the cusp of gaining entrance to state-ranked competitors at the heaviest weight class.

The Blazers' senior had an overwhelming first-period against Simeon counterpart Rashawn Smith to win the final championship of the afternoon.

Fuentes' takedown, 2-point near-fall sequence to close out the first capped an 8-point first three minutes that paved the way for his title.

"What I was trying to work on was my drags," said Fuentes, who added Batavia to an earlier championship effort at Lake Park over the holidays. "This is going to be about me scoring more points than anyone else."

Downers Grove North sophomore Nate Cummings' 9-3 championship win over the Falcons' Anthony Indelli opened the finals at 106 pounds.

The marquee match of the finals was the 220-pound collision between top-ranked Plainfield South senior Eric Johnson and Batavia fifth-ranked competitor Dylan Uzumecki.

The Bulldogs' sole returning state qualifier had Johnson in a compromising position in the first period, only to have his designs on an early takedown nullified.

Johnson escaped Uzumecki early in the second period for the only point of the match in extending his season-long winning streak to 34 matches.

Uzumecki fell to 30-2 on the season.

"(Uzumecki) isn't happy about losing, and he shouldn't be," Batavia coach Scott Bayer said. "He could have won that match."

Batavia was looking to win its home invite for the first time in seven years, but Mike Doranski was the only champion for the Bulldogs.

The 132-pounder had a monster second period, securing both a 2- and 3-point near-fall, to earn a 14-6 major decision over Burlington Central freshman Nick Termini.

"In the second period I really tried to turn it up," Doranski said. "Deep in the third period, it was the overall conditioning and the drive to continue scoring and get the major (that was the difference). I was really pushing for that last takedown. I was thinking of the team."

The Bulldogs' Josh Fischer and Derek Nutley dropped championship verdicts at 113 and 182 pounds, respectively.

Seth Winkle gave Batavia a ray of hope to eke by Wheaton North with a third-place technical fall at 138 pounds. But the Batavia junior was still thinking about his loss in the semifinals.

"(The team score) was even bigger in my mind during the semifinals when I was wrestling a Wheaton North kid," Winkle said. "(Losing the team title) stings a lot."

Frankie Indelli handed Winkle a major-decision loss, only to be injured at the tail-end of the win.

"I knew we had an outside chance to win coming in," Bayer said. "Obviously, I am disappointed we didn't win the championship. But (Wheaton North is) a quality program. It's an opportunity to learn from. We exposed some weaknesses."

Burlington Central placed five wrestlers on the day.

Austin Macias endured the first loss of his freshman campaign in the finals the year before at Batavia. But the Central 120-pounder was in complete command throughout his one-sided win in the championship against McHenry junior Lucas Busse.

The Rockets' sophomore added Batavia to earlier invite titles at Harvard and Wheaton Warrenville South to flavor his season resume.

"I wrestled a lot smarter in the championship (match)," said Macias, who won for the 23rd time against a lone defeat. "I haven't been taken down much this year. I took a lot of shots today."

Buffalo Grove senior Jake Greenberg put the proverbial monkey wrench in the Batavia hopes at a team title with his 10-6 win over Fischer in the 113-pound final.

"I kept pushing the pace," Greenberg said of his first career invite title. "I have been under the weather for a few days this week. It feels good to get back out there and get some wins under my belt. I knew what was at stake. I wasn't going to lose that match."