Lisle survives roller-coaster ride

Talk about ups and downs. Lisle started Saturday's action at the Class 1A Plano sectional with five wrestlers alive in the semifinals.

Each of those five wrestlers proceeded to lose, meaning they dropped into the wrestleback rounds, where a loss at any point denied that wrestler a spot in the state meet.

Each of those five won through the wrestlebacks and competed for the consolation title.

Of those five, three made it to the state meet: 103-pounder Brad Blechschmidt, 160-pounder David Pawlowicz and Kevin Murray at 215 pounds.

"It was a relief," Lisle coach John Davis said. "I let out a nice breath after the 103-pound match. As coaches, we want to develop young men as they go through. But as a wrestling coach, it's also your goal to get to Champaign too."

Blechschmidt got the finals off to a good start when he shut out Harvard's Cesar Martinez 4-0.

"I'm happy for Brad," Davis said. "He's a freshman and it's a great accomplishment for him. He had a great tournament. He lost a close match in the semis, but he pulled through and wrestled hard through the wrestlebacks."

Blechschmidt advanced to state meet competition as a junior high student. This weekend's experience was something a bit different. In fact this season has put forth a number of first-time experiences, though Blechschmidt has dealt with them very well. He enters the state meet with a 27-6 record.

"He's been pretty smart," Davis said. "Sometimes he gets into trouble. But he's got a pretty decent shot and he's been riding fairly well. If we keep him moving and learning those things, he's going to be OK. But he's got a lot of improving to do. He's only a freshman."

Moving through the backside of the draw brought pressures of its own for Blechschmidt. A loss at any point and his season would have been finished, though the Lions are still alive in wrestling dual meet competition.

"I wasn't expecting to go this year," he said. "I'm really surprised."

Pawlowicz survived a 7-6 match with Alden-Hebron's Peter Crocco to book his spot in next week's state finals. Murray pinned Plano's Uciel Carrizales late in the second period.

"With the way we started, losing give semifinal matches, to come back and get three in, that's a good way to finish," Davis said. "The kids fought. They wrestled fairly well all tournament."

Driscoll will have two wrestlers in next week's finals. Jake Randich finished a dominant tournament when he defeated Coal City's Charles Nugent 10-2 at 189 pounds. Randich won by pin in his previous two matches.

"I felt good and pretty conditioned," Randich said. "I knew I wasn't going to have a really tough match. But I wanted to stay after it."

Randich said he felt more pressure heading into his semifinal, which he won when he pinned Herscher's Skylar Mills.

"You never know, you might get caught or something," Randich said. "And then you're wrestling for third."

Driscoll also has Chris Heading traveling to the state finals. Heading lost his 119-pound title match to Harvard's Brian Lovell.

"Each of those guys was one win from placing at state last year," Driscoll coach Matt TreDenick. "This year the goal for Randich is to go and try to win it. Heading? He had a tough match against Lovell, but he will be going to try to get a medal."