Wildcats still have that winning mystique
Like the old Oakland Raiders, Libertyville's commitment to excellence continued on the wrestling mat Friday night at Stevenson.
The visiting Wildcats started off strong and never looked back as they built a quick 21-0 lead before rolling to a lopsided 56-3 North Suburban Conference Lake Division victory over the Patriots.
Starting at 119 pounds, junior Matt Bystol got Libertyville (5-1, 3-0) going with a technical fall before teammate Louis Mazzetta posted an 8-2 decision over David Lamberti for an 8-0 lead.
Stevenson (7-4, 1-1) could not stop the Wildcats' early momentum as 130-pounder Kyle Manolovic pinned Max O'Hara in 5:51 after O'Hara had nearly pinned Manolovic late in the second period.
Libertyville's Sam Shay followed that with a 12-7 decision over Jordan Sherman before senior teammate Pat Callan built a 14-4 lead over Nick Pagano en route to a 15-7 major decision for the 21-0 lead.
"I just knew I had to go out and wrestle hard because my team counts on me," Callan said. "I think I've improved a lot from where I was freshman year to where I am now and I don't think I can do much better."
Stevenson's Nathan Millman (10-1) got the Patriots on the scoreboard with a 15-9 decision over Sam Robinson at 145, but Libertyville's Nick McDowell (152) would start the Wildcats rout with a 12-3 major decision.
Josh Ronne (160 pounds) added a 5-0 decision over sophomore Brandon Weber before a pin by Pat Kenny at 171, a major decision by Ryan Mertz at 189, and a pin by Luke Miller at 215 made the score 44-3.
Sean Tavakoli added a hard-fought 1-0 decision over Stevenson's Turron Washington at 285 before freshman teammate Pat Fitzgerald held off Stevenson freshman Alec Berger by a 5-4 count at 103.
Shane Michelsen closed out the Wildcats' great dual meet with a pin at 112 to account for the final score.
"We have a lot of things going our way, that's for sure, and we found a way to pull out some tough matches tonight," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. "Callan came out on top of (Pagano) twice in scrambles and that made all the difference in the world. Toughness has not been a problem for our team."
The Patriots had hoped for a better performance, but inexperience and youth were a detriment Friday night.
"Libertyville is not only one of the strongest programs in the area they're one of the strongest programs in the state and (Dale) Eggert gets the most out of the kids he has," said Stevenson coach Shane Cook. "We found out today that we still have a long way to go to get to that level and it just wasn't our night."