Wildcats top Grant, make state
Getting a big early lead proved to be the winning formula for the Libertyville wrestling team Tuesday night.
The Wildcats stormed ahead of Stevenson 28-0 in their Class AA team sectional semifinal before posting an impressive 44-14 victory over the Patriots.
Grant (21-3) toppled Wheeling (21-3) 33-30 in its semifinal match, but the Bulldogs fell behind Libertyville (21-2) 18-0 after five bouts in the finals.
Grant was able to rally back to within 18-13, but the Wildcats would close the door with a 14-5 major decision by 152-pounder Joey Callen clinching the sectional title.
Libertyville forfeited the final two matches to post a 33-30 victory over the Bulldogs to advance to the Elite Eight team tournament Saturday at Wharton Field House in Moline.
The Wildcats will face the Granite City sectional champ in a quarterfinal match at 9 a.m.
Libertyville has a great chance to make its first Final Four appearance in school history.
Starting the finals at 189 pounds, Libertyville's Logan Miller posted a 2-1 decision over Jake Brown for a 3-0 lead.
Then a 5-2 overtime decision by Libertyville's Jake Hogan and a 2-1 decision by heavyweight Tom Nield made the score 9-0.
At 103 pounds Matt Bystol pinned his opponent in 2:53 before 112-pound teammate Louis Mazzetta's 11-4 major decision put Grant behind 18-0.
"Every match went as well as it possibly could and no one wound up getting pinned," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert, who has 398 career wins. "We won three close matches right away and that helped a lot because each one of those matches could have gone either way."
A major decision by Jason Montemayor (119), a technical fall by Izzy Montemayor (125), and a major decision by Shelby Temple (130) started the Bulldogs' comeback.
But Libertyville 135-pounder Everett Indart stopped the momentum with a pin in 3:20 to give the Cats some breathing room with a 24-13 lead. Then Libertyville's Trey Ayala posted a technical fall at 140 for a 29-13 lead with four bouts left.
"Our guys came in here knowing Grant is a tough team and we did a great job," said Ayala. "All of our guys were unselfish and they were able to keep it close to save some team points."
A technical fall by Grant's Tyler Becker (145) cut the gap to 29-18, but Callen's major decision would put the Bulldogs away with a 33-18 advantage and two bouts to go.
Grant sophomore state qualifier Lee Munster (140) did not wrestle for the Bulldogs in either round.
"We lost some tight matches there, but each and every kid battled their hearts out," said Grant coach Ryan Geist. "I wouldn't trade them in for anything, we were competitive, and we gave ourselves a chance."
The semifinals started at 171 with the Wildcats winning the first six bouts to build their commanding 28-point lead over Stevenson (14-9).
The Patriots never made a serious push after that point as a major decision by Ayala at 140 made the score 38-7.
"They just got some pins at some weight classes where we couldn't afford to get pinned and we just couldn't get back on track," said Stevenson coach Shane Cook. "He (Eggert) made some good moves with his lineup and our kids did not respond like we hoped they would have."
• Wheeling could rightly consider its the unluckiest of all teams in dual team wrestling state tournament.
During the past six seasons, the Wildcats have delivered regional championships only to be sent to sectional venues where state powers Grant and Libertyville always seem to be stationed as well.
Tuesday night was no different for Neal Weiner's club, who met No. 7 Grant (21-2) in a Class AA semifinal match at Libertyville. And once again No. 22-ranked Wheeling (21-3) was unable to get past the North Suburban Conference champions.
The Bulldogs used 3 straight victories from the middle of its lineup, including an important 3-1 decision by seldom-used Nick Guenther at 135 pounds, to take the lead for good at 29-18 en route to a 33-30 triumph.
"We came in here and asked the guys to compete as best they could against a perennial top 10 team, and we made a good run at (them), but we came up just a little short tonight," said Weiner.
On paper, it had appeared Wheeling could make a serious run at ending its bad luck against the NSC. The Wildcats, after all, boasted six individual state qualifiers, including 103-pound state champ Max Nowry.
However, things did not begin well for the reigning MSL champs. Grant opened by winning three of the first four bouts, leading off with 171-pound state qualifier Josh Deluca (39-9) who recorded a fall just before the second period to get his club going.
Wheeling junior and first-time state qualifier Danny Vargas (39-7), who would have liked to match Deluca's pin and 6-point bonus on the scoreboard was unable to do so as a stubborn Jake Brown held the talented 189-pound Vargas to just a 2-0 decision.
Dave Monroy (215) then followed with a fall, and teammate Andrew Zapfel (285) helped extend the Bulldogs' lead to 15-3 with a 5-1 decision over Eric Tolendano.
"We've recently lost a couple of guys and we weren't really at full strength tonight, but you have to have a lot of respect for Grant and with the way they wrestled," said Vargas.