Alums enjoy the show as Libertyville hangs on against Warren
The 11th Annual Alumni Night turned out to be a pretty exciting start to the 2016-17 wrestling season for host Libertyville on Wednesday night.
Trailing rival Warren 18-9 after six matches in this newly-aligned North Suburban Conference dual meet, the Wildcats leaped into action just in the nick of time to capture a narrow 29-27 victory over the Blue Devils.
Starting at 170 pounds, Libertyville took an early 3-0 lead when Bennett Whitney pulled away from Nick Burke in the third period to capture a 9-3 decision.
After beating Grayslake North and Wauconda in its season-opener, Warren (2-1, 0-1) tied the score at 3-3 when 182-pounder Brandon Hergenreder held off Ryan Cleary in a 3-2 decision.
The Blue Devils started to flex their muscles in the next two bouts as seniors Jared Pompilus (1:05) and Andrew Demos (1:28) both recorded quick pins in the first period to stake Warren to a 15-3 advantage.
But Libertyville 285-pound junior Charlie Schmidt responded with what proved to be a crucial pin of his own with only seven seconds remaining in the first period to cut the lead to 15-9.
Warren sophomore Austin Nash followed that match with a 7-2 decision over Peter Kafkis at 106. But then the Wildcats stole the momentum by winning four bouts in a row, as 113-pounder Brandon Murphy's 5-0 decision over Keyante Howard got the ball rolling in Libertyville's direction before 120-pound teammate Drew Onufer added a 19-6 major decision over Richard Howard to cut the lead to 18-16.
The Wildcats took the lead for keeps when impressive freshman Danny Pucino posted a 16-6 major decision over junior J.T. VanderVere at 126 to give Libertyville a 20-18 edge.
After missing much of his freshman season due to shoulder surgery, 132-pounder Michael Gunther started off his sophomore season with a convincing technical fall in 5:02 to boost the lead to 25-18 and cap a 16-point run with four matches left.
Warren hung tough as Kendell Bell posted a 10-4 decision over Will Bertaud at 138 to cut the gap to 25-21.
Then 2016 Warren state qualifier Grant Zamin literally held on for a 1-0 decision in a classic defensive struggle against 145-pounder Jack Damenti to make the score 25-24.
But junior Tyler Padilla's 10-1 major decision over Warren's Ornell Napier at 152 really put the Blue Devils behind the eight-ball, trailing 29-24 with one bout to go.
And while Warren 160-pounder Chris Love did record a 4-2 decision over Ryan Damenti in that final match, it just wasn't quite enough as the Wildcats pulled out the 29-27 victory with both squads winning seven matches.
"Both teams knew that the other team had some real power, and until that 5-pointer (by Whitney) that first match could have gone either way," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. "We knew we had power at the lower weights, and our guys are exciting, aggressive, and looking for points."
Onufer gave it his best effort in trying to record a technical fall over Richard Howard, but he had to settle for the major decision.
"We all train together and we work hard together, but we really didn't know what to expect," said Onufer. "We just had to wrestle our hardest and try to dominate the mat."
Warren coach Jake Jobst was disappointed with the narrow loss but also saw a lot of positives to take from the meet.
"I knew it was going to come down to the last match and it came down to bonus points, but I thought we wrestled really well and we gave ourselves a chance so that is kind of what we were hoping for," Jobst said. "Zamin and (Jack) Damenti are two of the top guys in our conference, and you can't be any happier with the win for Zamin, especially against a quality kid."
The oldest alumni in attendance was 1958 graduate Ted DeRousse, who became the 25-year Hall of Fame wrestling coach for Antioch.
Four-time NSC champ Jeff Keske was also at the meet along with Steve Montgomery, who placed fourth at 275 in 1974 when teammate Eggert took second at 126 for the Wildcats.