One fierce finale at Palatine's Berman Classic

Considering the size and prominence of the field at the 55th annual Berman Holiday Wrestling Classic, it should come as no surprise that many of the No. 1 seeds weren't around at the end to celebrate winning the ulitmate prize.

No less than 8 of the 14 top seeds never made it atop the podium after two superb days of competition, but a handful of area wrestlers did manage to validate their impressive resumes with championship belts Tuesday evening inside the Palatine High School fieldhouse.

Before the state's top-ranked team, Minooka, carried off the big trophy, No. 1 seed Demetrios Mitchell of Hersey won his second straight title here, while Jake Schramm (Hinsdale South), Jimmy Nehls and Danny Balderas of Downers Grove North, as well as Dan Kiebler (Leyden) and Jack Allen (Hinsdale Central) joined Mitchell on championship row when all was said and done.

Allen (285) and both Nehls and Balderas all helped their respective clubs earn top-six finishes with Central edging North for fifth place overall (154-144). Hersey (138.50) grabbed eighth-place honors ahead of Glenbard East (122).

St. Charles East (108) and Leyden (105) both finished just out of the top 10 with their 11th- and 12th-place finish.

Minooka, which entered the tournament without the state-ranked duo of Leo Ruettiger and Blake Montella, managed to hold off hard-charging Lockport 207-188 to win its first team title here since 2006 despite a less than sparkling evening session which saw the Indians win just one title match after sending five through to the finals.

"This is why we come to a tournament like this," said Hersey coach Jim Wormsley, "because of the quality competition at each weight class and depth of talent as well."

With a who's who of wrestlers and teams, even on a heavyweight's oversized singlet, both Wormsley and St. Charles East coach Steve Smerz could only marvel at the terrific matchups throughout the afternoon and evening sessions.

Mitchell, who was coming off a title run at the Dvorak Invitational last week, pushed his record to 29-0 after surviving a tough semifinal match with Shaun'Que McMurty (Lockport) before putting the pedal down on Pete Krahulec (Lincoln-Way Central) to record a fall at 3:58.

"Demetrios isn't letting any of his success go to his head as he continues to work hard to become a better wrestler," said Wormsley, who watched his other top seed, Jeff Koepke (28-5), fall in his semifnal before coming back to take third at 160.

"I am just taking everything in stride, because the ultimate goal is to win it all at the end of the year," Mitchell said.

Balderas (19-2) emerged from his No. 4 seed in a top-heavy 171-pound division to win it all when the senior defeated No. 3 Sam Pennisi (Glenbard East) 3-2 in a well-fought, exciting bout.

Balderas, who upended top seed Derek Nagel (Lemont) 11-5 in his semifinal, outlasted Pennisi (18-1) after taking a 4-2 first period lead before watching his opponent draw even at 6-6 when a second stall warning resulted in a penalty point with 30 seconds remaining in regulation.

"That was a big moment in the match, because it was so important for me to hold together after that penalty point, and not to let it effect me thereafter," said Balderas, who grabbed the lead for good with six seconds to go.

Teammate Nehls (20-1) shut out Brandon Rubino (St. Charles East) 5-0 for the 119-pound gold medal, using an early takedown to set the tone.

"I knew it would be important to score first, then push the pace, then hopefully tire (Brandon) out down the stretch," said Nehls, who credits his conditioning and strength on top as two of the reasons for his title on this day.

"Jimmy is so good on top, and when he got that early takedown, we knew after that he could win because of his ability to be so strong on top," said Downers Grove North coach Chris McGrath.

It was No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the 112-pound final, and when it was over, Schramm (18-2) had bumped off the top seed, Matt Ornoff of Mundelein, in a match between a pair of returning state medalists.

"That was a dominating effort out there tonight from Jake," said Hinsdale South coach Mike Matozzi following an 8-1 decision by the senior, who entered the tournament as the No. 7 rated wrestler in the state, behind No. 2 Ornoff. "Jake maybe wrestled his most physical match of the season tonight, and combined with his great technique, he was able to dictate the pace."

Perhaps the most anticipated match of the final session was at 215 pounds, where Kiebler, 15-1 and ranked No. 4 in the state, took on the No. 2 rated 2A wrestler in Dan Howell (19-1) of Oswego.

Kiebler opened with a stealthy takedown off a fireman's to help the big senior build a 4-1 lead after two minutes. He then held off a furious late rally which saw Howell close to 5-4 with a minute to go.

Kiebler, who took a couple of hard shots to his head during a rough and tumble second period, extended his lead to 6-4 with an escape, and that's how it ended.

"I was looking forward to a potential match with (Howell) once I saw the brackets (Monday) morning, and it was a real honor to be out there with such a talented guy, and to come out ahead," said Kiebler, who showed flashes off his terrific attacking skills while sprinkling in some defense to counter Howell, who came home with a second-place medal at the state tournament last February.

Kiebler's teammate Kevin Lewis (17-3) fell short in his bid to win it all when the Eagles captain ran into Matt Leibforth (Lemont), who showed why he is the No. 2-rated 2A wrestler at 140 with after an impressive 9-3 victory.

A tough final session all but ended the hopes for Smerz and his Fightning Saints of a top-eight finish after his wrestlers won 2 of their 7 matches during the evening sessions.

"This is a great tournament to help measure yourself at, and to see what the guys will need to work on from here on out," Smerz said. "But one thing for sure that we need to improve on is winning the close matches if we hope to continue to advance from the regionals, sectionals and beyond."

Rubino (19-4) was joined by teammate Nick Ruffino (18-4) as runners-up, while senior Nick Scimeca (21-3) defeated Hersey senior Sean Bonner (27-7) in the third-place match at 152 pounds.