Lewis making believers at 145 pounds
Kevin Lewis and Leyden coach Jason Potter were likely the only two down on the floor of the 54th Berman Holiday Wrestling tournament who figured the junior could spring a surprise when he took the mat in his quarterfinal bout against top seed Matt Holmes of Lakes.
Six minutes later, Lewis had made believers out of many more.
The junior stunned the No. 2 Class AA- rated wrestler in the state 14-12 in a wild match to stay alive at 140 pounds while joining teammate Adam Schammert (160) as the lone Eagles in today's 11 a.m. semifinals at Palatine.
Lockport leads the 26-team field with 131.50 points, with Minooka (116), Hinsdale Central (104), Lincoln-Way Central (82) and Hersey (78.5) rounding out the top five.
Backdraw matches will begin today's tournament at 9:30 a.m. Championship bouts are scheduled to begin at or around 5 p.m. with third-, fifth- and seventh-place matches set for 3 p.m.
Lewis (18-3) who last year finished eighth overall here, delivered his knockout punch of Holmes (16-1) after recording a fall in his opening match against Cody Pooler of Downers Grove North, a match which both Lewis and his coach felt was not one of his best efforts of the season.
"Kevin didn't have a real solid first match, but when you have a kid like him who has terrific athletic ability but not much experience, you kind of learn to live with things because you know that he has the potential to do something fantastic like tonight," offered Potter.
After falling behind 2-1 early to a take-down, Lewis nearly caught Holmes on a couple of occasions and eventually built a 10-4 lead with a near-fall late in the second period.
"I thought about going for the (pin) but thought better of it and then just tried to add points along the way and then hold on," said Lewis, who next meets Adam Heimer of Lincoln-Way Central.
Another player in the fast lane is Hersey senior Demetrios Mitchell (28-2), who is coming off a superb effort at the famed Dvorak Invite and appears ready to take another huge step forward at 145 pounds.
"I guess it's just a lot of hard work in and out of the room and the fact that I am gaining more experience with every match that I wrestle," said Mitchell, who finished third at the Dvorak and pinned both opponents on Monday to earn a spot in the semis against Jack Dechow of Richmond-Burton on Tuesday morning.
A brief look around the area inside the championship bracket lists Palatine senior Tom Laskowske (20-3) among the final four in an extremely competitive 103-pound weight division.
Laskowske withstood the stress of an OT match with Mundelein's Matt Omoff to come out ahead 5-3 with a takedown near the edge to help book his spot against No. 2 seed Anthony Sciaccotta of St. Patrick, who struggled in the second period before taking out Stephfon Scales of Hersey 7-2.
"The difference for me in that match might have been my conditioning and endurance," said Laskowske, who finished out of the medal running here last season after Sciaccotta ended his tournament in the backdraw.