Rolling Meadows' Davidson living in the moment
Thomas Davidson appears to be back at the top of the 189-pound table after defeating long-time rival Dan Vargas last Saturday night at the MSL Championships wrestling tournament.
At least for another week.
Long after the Rolling Meadows senior held on for a 2-0 victory over the superb Wheeling senior captain to capture his first MSL title in his career, it was back to business for Davidson, who knows all too well that a Davidson-Vargas III bout might be on the horizon.
"The feeling that I had (winning) an MSL championship finally wore off on the Monday after, but (it's) all in the past (now) and now it's all about getting back into the room to and prepare for regionals this weekend," said Davidson, who has 99 wins in his three-plus year career to place him fifth in school history.
"Both Thomas and Danny are so close, that I would venture a guess that if they would wrestle 10 times, each would come away with 5 wins," offered Meadows head coach Dave Froehlich, who figures the chance for both to meet again twice more in the next two weeks is strong.
"With (us) and Wheeling each at the Dundee-Crown regional and next week at the Barrington sectional, those (two) could see other again in yet another important match."
Froehlich says he would take issue with anybody suggesting both 2-0 results were anything but boring, citing the potential for either to explode when in tight quarters makes for great drama for fans on hand.
"I have a lot of respect for (Dan) and I (agree) with coach (Froehlich) that we are both so even with the other," Davidson said.
Back in mid-December, Vargas (32-2) would defeat Davidson (32-2) on the Mustangs' mats to go up 3-0 in their series, after recording victories during their freshmen year, then last season as well. Prior to Davidson's "break-through" victory last weekend, the three-year starter had been building an impressive resume beginning with a two-year record of 69-7 (after 27 victories his sophomore year). He also has the all-time school record in falls (63) and with 23 this season has a chance of catching 2005 state qualifier Steve Szymczak's school record of 33 pins in one year.
Davidson was fifth at the MSL tourney in 2006, followed by a sectional appearance that same year. He threatened to make a real impact on the scene one year later when he roared through the Lake Park regional and into the dreaded Naperville North sectional with plenty of confidence against a group of granite no other sectional venue could match.
"I was a little scared going in," admitted Davidson. "I mean I had beaten (Adam) Schaefer (St. Charles East) earlier, and had lost to Mike Lukowski (Dundee-Crown) by one or 2 and Mario Gonzalez (Aurora West) had beaten me too, and Gordon Kickels (No. 1 in the state at the time) was killing guys at 215, so I knew he would be dangerous at 189.
"But there were all there at Naperville."
After opening with an impressive win over Jeremiah Meyers of Waubonsie Valley, Davidson ran into Kickels, who sent him into the back-draw where he would lose a tough 3-1 decision to Lukowski to end his season.
A recap of this group shows Lukowski would go on to win a state title, Gonzalez took third and Kickels fifth, all with a combined overall record of 107-11 - not including Schaefer's 39-3.
"It was tough luck, but it happens, and Thomas moved on from there and went forward in his training," said Froehlich.
The three-year football starter and all-conference center and outside linebacker made a huge step forward midway through this season, according to Froehlich, when he and the coaching staff suggested to Davidson that he open things up a little, and to get quicker on his feet and less predictable tactically.
"Last year, and early on this year, I was almost waiting for something to happen, and not changing things up when attacking, predictable, just as coach (Froehlich) said," Davidson said.
Quick, tenacious and athletic, Davidson soon found out the change in his game was exactly what the doctor (Froehlich) ordered.
"Thomas is such a bright kid and he is always eager to learn and implement what he has learned in the room, so he was open to trying some new things," says Froehlich. "Now, he is more explosive on his feet, is terrific in his scrambling, and has changed things up enough that when other teams are scouting him, they are not going to see the same thing twice."
Davidson, who takes his job as student-athlete seriously, scored a 29 on his ACT, and carries a 4.25 GPA in his honor-class filled schedule, which he will look to take to either the University of Illinois or the University of Dubuque, where he would like to continue to wrestle.
This season, Davidson has a pair of third-place medals at the Feutz and Rex Whitlach, and a championship belt from the Rockford East tournament, where he pinned his way to the title.
Posted just outside the top 10 in state polls, Davidson knows that Vargas and superb Conant senior Joe Patricelli stand in his way of a regional crown and a key first-round bye at the Barrington sectional.
"I am not looking past or ahead of anyone this weekend because there is so much at stake and it doesn't take much to find yourself in trouble," he said. "I'll just go out and do my best. That's all I can do."