Libertyville rolls to 3 impressive victories

There was no better way for area wrestling fans to warm up on a frigid cold day but to be inside viewing 3 of the best clubs in the state Saturday afternoon at Libertyville.

The host Wildcats (8-2), rated No. 12 in the state, would sweep No. 16 Schaumburg and No. 20 Naperville Central as well ever improving Maine West to begin the new year right for coach Dale Eggert, whose club has been idle since the mega-Dvorak tournament on Dec. 22.

"What a terrific group of teams that we had (here) today," said Eggert, who watched his team open with a strong effort to defeat Naperville Central (13-4) 33-25, before the 'Cats roared back from a 10-point deficit to score 32 unanswered points to stun MSL power (Schaumburg) 42-22, then finishing off the day by rolling over Maine West.

"There were a lot of big (wins) during that stretch (to) get back in the match against (Schaumburg) but perhaps none bigger than those back-to-back pins from Luke Gaeth (119) and Charlie (Meyer) at 125 pounds," offered Eggert.

After Josh Ronne would upend Danny Malik in a bout between a pair of state-ranked seniors (6-4) in OT to pull the 'Cats even at 9-9, Schaumburg flexed its upper weight power with a fall from Joe Lamanna (189) and dominating performance from sophomore Josh Marchok, who would validate his No. 1 ranking at 215 all day long

Heavyweight Sean Pottow would follow with a pin of his own to help push the Saxons' lead to 19-9.

"Our strength is clearly at the top of our lineup, but today (you) could see we need to solidify (things) on the other end because we couldn't hold onto our lead," said a disappointed Saxons head coach Matt Gruszka, who couldn't bare to watch his club give away a 22-point lead to Central in its final dual of the day.

Pat Fitzgerald would stop the Saxons' run when he recorded a fall at 5:47 over Nick Rud, and from there on out, it was all Libertyville.

The Wildcats would win the next 8 matches, including the third of 3 headline bouts in this dual, with Matt Bystol defeating Patrick Scully 5-1 at 130 pounds as the Wildcats extended their lead to 30-22.

Cody Olsen, Sam Shay and Kevin Tavakoli would be perfect after the Bystol victory to put an exclamation mark on the Wildcats' comeback.

"Our guys in the middle of the lineup really came through for us (against) Schaumburg, and it was good to win all 3 matches today, but we cannot rest on our success today because we have a big dual against Mundelein next week before going to Oak Park-River Forest on Saturday to wrestle one of the best in the state," said Bystol, who put his No. 3 state ranking (at 125) up against Scully, who entered the day No. 3 at 119 pounds.

Bystol would see an early season 9-4 victory over Naperville Central's Josh Tardy erased from memory after the Redhawks' junior grabbed an impressive 6-1 in the opener.

After a first period that was played mostly near the edge in a tightly wrestled chess-like 2 minutes, Bystol would finally break on top with an escape to take the lead. only to have Tardy equalize just moments into the third period with an escape of his own.

Tardy (25-4) would take the lead for good with a 5-point burst with 30 seconds remaining.

"I knew it was important for me to defend his shots (this) time around, and the longer the match stayed close the more my confidence would grow," admitted Tardy, who would go 3-0 on the day, including a much needed 6-0 decision against Shane Hafner of Schaumburg to help inspire Central's long road back to victory.

Central found itself down, and nearly out after Pat Felde, Malik, Lamanna and Marchok staked the Saxons to a robust 22-0 lead. Slowly but surely, the Redhawks would chip away at the lead until Tardy and John Graeber (135) moved the club closer (31-18) to help set up a spectacular finish.

"When you have teams as close in talent as (today) the eventual outcome can go either way depending on the draw and what weight you begin at," offered Central head coach Rob Porter, who guided the Redhawks to a 2-1 record 4 days ago against state powers Sandburg, Hinsdale South and alma mater Mahomet-Seymour.

"We proved to be pretty resilient in that last dual, and it was a great finish (for) us and makes the ride home a little easier knowing we went 2-1 instead of 1-2," Porter would add.

Andy Kovalsky (23-2) would score his second fall of the day just 30 seconds into his 140-pound bout to make it 31-24, before teammate Cam Needham recorded a much needed technical fall at 5:32 to pull Central within 2 at 31-29.

2009 state qualifier Adam Gebner proved to be the hero when he gave Central its only lead of the day with another technical fall and a 34-31 victory.

Maine West, which must have felt like it was in the land of giants, was missing two of its best in Chris Pack and Peter Giannos. The Warriors did have a bright star nonetheless in Jeff Vernola, who went through a trio of opponents, to bump his record to a sparkling 23-4 on the season thus far.

"Reaching the sectionals last year and getting close to advancing downstate made me work that much harder during the offseason which included training at (Izzy Style) and improving my technique while there," said Vernola, who will be one of the favorites to win it all at the CSL championships at 135-pounds next month.

Teammate Christian Nunez went 3-0 at heavyweight, with a pair of falls along the way.