Libertyville claims another Lake crown
Host Libertyville had a bit of a struggle on its hands Monday night when the Wildcats faced Lake Zurich in their North Suburban Conference wrestling finale.
Starting at 125 pounds the visiting Bears jumped out to a 19-10 lead after six matches as they gave the Wildcats one of their toughest Lake Division battles of the season in the twice rescheduled meet.
But Libertyville won the final eight bouts en route to a 51-19 victory and the outright Lake Division championship with a 6-0 record.
It was Libertyville's second Lake Division crown in a row and its eighth in nine years.
The 11th-ranked Wildcats (19-3) took an early 4-0 lead on 125-pounder Louis Mazzetta's 13-2 major decision before Lake Zurich (10-10, 1-4) got a pin from standout Cameron Shaffer at 130 for a 6-4 lead.
A forfeit win by Libertyville's Sam Shay gave Libertyville a brief 10-6 advantage, but a pin by 140-pound standout Kevin Fanta gave the Bears a 12-10 edge.
Lake Zurich 145-pounder Andy Lynch added a 9-0 major decision before 152-pound teammate Anthony Pace's 13-6 decision staked the Bears to a 19-10 lead.
"For the most part the kids that I expected to win did win and I feel like we wrestled well," said Lake Zurich coach Dan Strickler, whose team is still short-handed. "Wade (Self) was on the attack throughout the entire (215) match, and in the final seconds the guy on the defensive (Luke Miller) got him."
Josh Ronne's 15-2 major decision at 160 cut the lead to 19-14 before a forfeit win by Pat Kenny (171) gave the Wildcats the lead for good at 20-19.
Ryan Mertz added a technical fall for Libertyville at 189 before Miller posted a 3-1 decision over Self with a takedown with only 3.3 seconds left in the third period.
"He (Self) wrestled a tough match and in the end I just got a single, we were both tired, and I took him down," said Miller, who is only a sophomore. "We've been wrestling strong, and if we keep it up I think we can go far."
After trailing 7-3 early, Libertyville 285-pounder Sean Tavakoli pinned his opponent in 5:20 before another forfeit by the Bears at 103 boosted the lead to 40-19.
A technical fall by 112-pounder Shane Michelsen and a pin by Matt Bystol (119) closed out the dual meet.
"We tried to minimize the damage and we weren't able to do it so they got a big lead early," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. "It was a great win at 215 for our guy (Miller) and he stopped four or five serious takedown attempts."