CL South's Fontanetta gets off to 9-0 start

Crystal Lake South junior Joe Fontanetta is a card-carrying member of the dramatic turnaround club.

As a sophomore, Fontanetta went 12-12 and placed second at 135 pounds in the Fox Valley Conference frosh-soph tournament.

A year later, Fontanetta a 9-year wrestling veteran dating back to his start with the Crystal Lake Wizards youth club, was a perfect 9-0 to start the week at 160 pounds.

But that 9-0 includes 8 victories by pinfall. His other win came when his opponent had to injury default.

"It's mostly been based on the practice room," said Fontanetta of his improvement. "We're drilling hard and we do a lot of conditioning. We're in real good shape. Our practice partners push each other hard. It feels good to be on the other end of it this year. The matches are coming my way."

Fontanetta feels he's at his best on his feet.

"I'm pretty confident on my feet," said Fontanetta.

Confidence as a whole has skyrocketed for Fontanetta.

"I'm way more confident," he said. "I feel like if I do lose it's because I did something very wrong and not because the other guy beat me real bad."

With the season rolling toward the halfway point, Fontanetta has some long term goals in mind.

"I'd like to make it Downstate," he said. "But my first goal is to try and get there."

First-year South coach Ross Ryan has seen an additional aspect of Fontanetta's development skyrocket.

"He's stepped up as a leader on and off the mat," said Ryan.

Fontanetta isn't the only South wrestler excelling, however. As a team, the Gators were 7-2 to start the week and a perfect 4-0 in Fox Valley Conference action.

"The kids are really motivated," said Ryan. "We've got a young group, but we're excited about the progress we've made."

Besides Fontanetta, Gerard Galston was 8-1 at 112, while Cullen Smith was 8-1 at 103 pounds. Kean Loupee was 7-2 at 145 pounds.

South Elgin update: The Storm moved to 3-0 in Upstate Eight Conference action with a pair of wins over Streamwood and Elgin recently.

"While we are off to a good start in the conference we have a long way to go before we will be happy with our conference record," said South Elgin coach Mark Cameron. "We have many tough matches ahead this season and our guys know they must be better than they were (against Elgin and Streamwood) to stay competitive."

South Elgin started off slow against Streamwood, but pulled out a 42-39 win.

"Wrestling against Streamwood in the first round, I was a little disappointed in the lack of intensity we had to start the evening," said Cameron. "Our kids were just not as ready mentally as they should have been for the start of the meet. We did manage to squeak out a win when we were not wrestling well, which is a big step forward. It is always good to win when you are not at your best."

Kyle Platt (125) had a big pin victory in the Elgin meet. Dan Hoelting (160), Nick Gillespie (140), Kevin Gianaris (103), Xavier Salazar (112) and Tyler Toczek (130) were all 2-0 against Elgin and Streamwood.

South Elgin then turned around and wrestled in the Hoffman Estates tournament.

"I have to say overall I think most of our guys wrestled well, they just went up against some tough competition," said Cameron.

Gianaris (103), Nick Carlson (135) and Gillespie (140) had victories in the tournament. Carlson finished sixth.

"Our kids gained some valuable experience," said Cameron. "Nine out the 13 wrestlers who went to the meet were competing in their first individual tournament at that level. We look at it as an opportunity to learn and improve. Our goal is to improve each week. We have some things to work on, but, overall, I am pleased with the progress we have made to this point in the season."

Burlington Central update: After splitting a Big Northern Conference meet with Rockford Lutheran (win) and Harvard (loss), Central came back with a strong fifth-place showing at the Sterling tournament.

"Not too bad," said Central coach Tony Rigitano.

Curt Mastio won the Sterling title at 145, while Shane Burke was second at 112. Freshman Tim Maroder was second at 152, while Drew Halstead was second at 171. Taylor Schuck took third at 160 and Kevin Marshall was third at 103.

Central had 12 wrestlers in the meet and had 10 place.

"We're pretty pleased about that," said Rigitano. "It's always a good tournament to be in."

Central had 4 wrestlers reach the finals. Marshall lost to the eventual champion by 1 point. That individual won the 103 championship with a pin in 15 seconds. Schuck lost 3-2 to the eventual champion on a late escape. That wrestler scored a 15-0 technical fall in the second period to win the title.

"We had five guys lose to the eventual champion," said Rigitano. "We are right there. Curt (Mastio) had a good tournament and beat the returning champion in the first round."

Streamwood update: The Sabres also competed in the Sterling tournament and had 4 wrestlers place.

Freshman Joey Kubica won the 135-pound championship. He's the first Streamwood wrestler since Scott Kruk to win a Sterling title. Kubica is now 11-3.

"Joey beat a kid in the semis that won the title last year," said Streamwood coach Bill Peach. "It's was a good match (14-13). It was back and forth and Joey pulled it out. That kid was a senior and Joey beat him."

Nick Lockwood was fourth at 140 and is now 6-5. Jeff Mason was fifth at 119 for Streamwood and is now 11-4. Eleazar Petrov was sixth at 171.

"Most of our guys won at least one match there and we had four guys place," said Peach. "Joey winning as a freshman was nice to see. He beat some good guys to make it to the finals and win."

St. Edward update: The Green Wave kept itself plenty busy recently with a run of 5 matches in a week's time.

"We hung in there," said St. Edward coach Shane Kottkamp. "Most of our duals are in the first half of the season. Our kids are able to get a lot of experience. Most of our tournaments like Yorkville, Geneva and Kaneland are in the second half of the season. Most of our guys aren't used to doing this much wrestling so fast."

Will Lytle continues his fast start to the season. He was 11-0 to start the week at 145 pounds. Shane Finnane (285) and Dan Duffy (160) each had 6 wins to start the week.

Dundee-Crown update: Something that doesn't happen too often occurred recently when D-C lost 2 matches in a week's time.

The Chargers lost a Fox Valley Conference dual to Crystal Lake Central (the same team that handed D-C its lone league defeat last year) and then lost to Libertyville in a quad.

"We were a little thin (lineup), but we also didn't wrestle well," said D-C coach Al Zinke, whose team wrapped up the first half of the schedule with a 10-2 dual mark (3-1 FVC). "We got blown out in both matches. We didn't wrestle well in either one. We were winning 3 matches against Central going into the third period. We have some work to do."

Veterans Mike Lukowski and Ryan Horcher each won 4 matches last week. Both still only have 1 loss this season.

Chris Rust was also 4-0.

D-C will compete in the Harvard tournament this weekend and will then head to the prestigious annual Dvorak tournament at Machesney Park Harlem next weekend.

Huntley update: The Red Raiders were 6-5 overall and 1-3 in FVC action to start the week.

"We've had some nice individual results," said Huntley coach Kurt Rohlwing. "But we've also been right there with some good teams. We lost a tight one to Cary-Grove and Woodstock we won six of the nine matches, but couldn't overcome five forfeits. And we only lost to St. Charles North by a point."

Coty Claudio continues to make strides for Huntley.

"Coty has really stepped it up," said Rohlwing. "He wants the toughest match at either 112 or 119. He's gone up against some good wrestlers and had some very good matches. Last week he beat 2 sectional qualifiers from last year."

Regional assignments: The IHSA recently released the 2008 wrestling regional assignments. St. Edward, the lone area Class A school, is part of the Lisle regional.

In Class AA, Bartlett heads to the Lake Park regional. South Elgin will host a regional that includes Dundee-Crown, Elgin, Larkin, South Elgin and Streamwood. Cary-Grove, Prairie Ridge and Crystal Lake South are in the Fox Lake Grant regional, while Jacobs, Huntley and Burlington Central are in the Sycamore regional.

Rankings: Three area wrestlers held top 12 rankings this week according to Illinois Matmen (www.illinoismatmen.com). Elgin's Terrell Walker was sixth in Class AA at 160, while D-C's Lukowski was third in Class AA at 189. Cary-Grove's Paul Rands was fourth in Class AA at 215 pounds.