Wheeling gets team test in sectional

Those who have followed the Class AA dual team wrestling competition have basically seen the same movie over and over again the past five to six years.

That's because North Suburban Conference wrestling giants Grant (20-2) and Libertyville (19-2) have clearly dominated the sectional series in this area since 2003-04 by combining to defeat each and every Mid-Suburban League club which has the unfortunate privilege of feeding into the same sectional as these two bullies.

Wheeling, this year's MSL champion, has advanced to five straight dual-team sectionals -- only to be eliminated each time.

Tonight in Libertyville, all three will battle with upstart Stevenson (14-10) for who advances to Saturday's Elite Eight at Wharton Field House in Moline. The IHSA moved the event from Northern Illinois University's Convocation Center in DeKalb after Thursday's shootings killed five students.

Semifinals begin at 5:30 p.m. with Wheeling facing Grant and Libertyville meeting Stevenson. The winners battle for the sectional title at approximately 7 p.m. to face the Granite City champion in the state quarterfinals.

Wheeling (21-2) is led by 103-pound state champion Max Nowry (42-0). State qualifiers Joe Kent (145, 39-6), Matt Smith (152, 32-7), Danny Vargas (189, 38-7), David Aranda (140, 28-9) and freshman Luke Smith (112, 38-5) will look to record bonus points with majors, tech-falls and falls along the way, while trying to avoid similar results.

"So much is about matchups and who made weight (and where), there's a lot of gamesmanship after the coin toss to decide what weight (we start at) and whether it's odd or even," said Wheeling coach Neal Weiner, whose team lost 38-36 in the sectional final last season to Grant. "All we're going to tell the guys is to compete as hard as they can."

Not to be forgotten in what could be a dual decided by one or two important head-to-head match-ups, are freshman Mike Smith (30-11, 119) and upper weight seniors Eddie Brito (17 wins, 215) and heavyweight Eric Toledano (21 wins), each capable of swinging this battle in favor of the Wildcats.

While two-time state qualifier Abel Rangel (160) is likely out with a shoulder injury, his younger brother Joel has stepped in well.

Grant is led by three-time state qualifier and 2008 runner-up at 125 pounds Izzy Montemayor (40-4) and 2007 state champion Lee Munster (140, 28-2).

The Bulldogs, who were hit hard with graduation losses from last year, may be without injured Dave Monroy (189). But Josh DeLuca (171, 38-9) is a state qualifier.

Libertyville, which beat Stevenson earlier (32-22) and easily has one of the toughest schedules in the northern half of the state under its superb long-time coach Dale Eggert, has state qualifiers in Trey Ayala (135, 37-7) and Matt Bystol (103, 37-7).

Co-captains Bobby Vagun (152) and Taras Martyniouk (145) lead Stevenson.

At Leyden, the host Eagles (23-2) will be favored to defeat New Trier in its sectional semifinal. But Montini (31-1) would likely await in the final. The Broncos face West Aurora (19-6) in the other semifinal.

Montini, the Class A champs in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and AA runnerup to Sandburg last season, has a power-packed lineup led by two-time state champ and Ohio State-bound Garrett Goebel (52-1). The Broncos also have state runner-ups Jack Gregerson (130, 33-4), Isaiah Gonzalez (145, 40-7) and Carl Foreside (171, 50-4).

Leyden advanced Bahvik Patel (103, 34-10), Matt Soch (152, 33-11) and Nick Cassano (171, 34-10) to the state tournament.

Seniors Isaiah Recinos (119, 33-6), Mike Coccoza (130, 30-13), Mike Feldman (160, 31-11) and heavyweight John Burke (33-8) will be eager to erase disappointing results at Fenton individual sectional.