Oak Park protects its lead at Feutz
Day two of the C.O. Feutz Classic wrestling tournament at Conant High School ended in much the way it started - with Oak Park in first place.
The Huskies claimed the title with 245 total points, followed next by Providence (229 1/2), Crystal Lake Central (213 1/2) and Glenbard North (177 1/2) to round out the top four.
Oak Park claimed the top spot in four weight classes and had nine wrestlers finish in the top four.
Glenbard North had only one first-place wrestler, senior Tony Ramos, who has won the championship at the C.O. Feutz Classic now four years in a row. He took a 6-2 lead late in the first period by taking down Chris Dardanes of OPRF. Dardanes hurt his left ankle on the takedown but remained in the match only to withdraw 10 seconds into the second period because of the pain.
"It's too bad that he couldn't finish the match," said Ramos, a defending state champ. "This year I wanted to dominate everyone. I want majors, tech falls and wins. I don't want to be close to anyone. I feel that I'm on another level this year."
His win in the 130-pound weight class was followed by a second-place finish in the 135-pound class for senior Jimmy Chase, another defending state champ hailing from Glenbard North.
Chase was ahead after the first period, but lost control of the match and slowly let the lead slip away to OPRF's Nick Dardanes, who won by an 8-5 decision.
"I had a strategy to control the offense, and I was doing that at the beginning," Chase said. "I just haven't been working hard enough. He got the better of me; he wanted it more."
Defending Mid-Suburban League and regional champ Joe Patricelli of Conant finished second behind DeLaSalle's Clayton Kendall in the 189-pound weight class. Patricelli lost by major decision, 13-3, but was very cognizant of his mistakes in the match.
"I felt like I was chasing around the mat too match and was trying to keep up with him instead of me setting the pace," Patricelli said. "But I'd rather make my mistake now than later down the road in regionals and sectionals when it really matters. I'm going to take this match and use it to motivate me in practice every day."
Leyden's lone champion, junior Dan Kiebler, secured a third-period pin on Gage Harrah of Crystal Lake Central in the 215-pound class.
The two were engaged in a scoreless stalemate through the first two periods, but Kiebler went on the attack in the third to earn his first tournament title as an Eagle.
"I just stepped up on offense," Kiebler said. "I had to stop playing defense and get in there and make my move."
Leyden finished in sixth place (146 1/2), ahead of Schaumburg (131 1/2) in seventh. Rolling Meadows (95) finished 10th and Conant (92) finished in 11th.