D-C streak ends at 7

Mike Lukowski was certainly happy he was able to win his second straight Fox Valley Conference 189-pound title. The Dundee-Crown senior outlasted Huntley's Tony Benning 4-3 to claim the title.

But, Lukowski's excitement was tempered because the Chargers were unable to win an eighth consecutive FVC crown.

Crystal Lake Central halted D-C's title streak at 7 by outscoring the Chargers 300-250.

The FVC championship concluded at Woodstock High School Saturday.

"It was a tough win," said Lukowski. "I just kept pushing and pushing. I finally got a shot at him at the end and used my quickness to get the deciding points. It is nice to win an individual title, but it is very disappointing not to win the team title. We won conference my first 3 years and thought we had a good chance to win again."

The victorious Tigers claimed 5 individual champions. At 103, Trevor Jauch defeated Aaron Ryan of Jacobs 16-6; Ryan Jauch pinned Jake Fredricksen of Woodstock in 1:10 to win the 125-pound title and Mike Buhr defeated Cody Muscat of Dundee-Crown 7-1 at 130.

Central's Joey Kiel beat Austin Tanner of D-C 11-2 and Trevor Parlberg defeated Jordan Bakley of Huntley 7-2.

"It was a total team effort," said Central coach Marc Tadelman. "We told the kids we had to win the conference on the mat and they did."

Other than Lukowski, D-C got first-place efforts from Jeremy Lee (112) and Chris Rust (145). Lee edged Christian Malauf of Central 3-2 while Rust defeated Jared Bland of Crystal Lake Central 10-1.

"I lost in the finals last year and it means a lot to win the conference championship this season," said Rust. "I didn't let up the whole match and just kept putting pressure on my opponent."

Joining Muscat and Tanner as runner-ups for the Chargers were Ryan Horcher (152) and Jermaine Lee (119).

Brendan Barrett of Prairie Ridge scored a point late to knock off Horcher 1-0 and Alec Hargrove of Cary-Grove defeated Jermaine Lee 8-4.

"We wrestled fairly well, but Central was phenomenal," said Dundee-Crown coach Al Zinke. "They had a little more depth than us and we have a few holes."

Prairie Ridge, behind championships from Barrett and Sam Campbell (160) finished fourth with a score of 131.

Barrett, who lost to Horcher earlier in the season, was confident he could avenge the loss.

"(Horcher) is a great wrestler," said Barrett. "I was just looking for the right moment to escape. I didn't come here to lose."

Campbell, who will play football collegiately at Division II Concordia-St. Paul, knocked off Crystal Lake Central freshman Austin Marsden 7-4 in the title match. It was Campbell's second straight conference title.

"He is really a tough kid and I knew I had to be the aggressor," said Campbell. "I was aggressive the whole match and didn't sit back at all."

PR 275-pounder Eddie Smith was second, losing to McHenry's Jordan Walsh 8-2 in the title match.

Cary-Grove placed fifth with a score of 121.5. Champions for the Trojans were Hargrove (119) and Paul Rands (215).

Rands pinned Justin Thrailkill of Crystal Lake South in 2:54 to win his second straight FVC title.

"I knew I had to be physically and mentally strong," said Rands. "This will get me ready for the regionals."

Cary Grove's Josh Nelson finished second at 135, losing to Ryan Lund of Grayslake Central 6-4 in the title match. Lund was the Rams' lone champion.

"I just wanted to be smart and not be stupid," said Lund. "I lost in the championship match the last 2 years. I wanted this one."