Many top seeds left squirmin' at Berman
You have to give Angelo San Juan plenty of credit.
He ignored his No. 8 seed in the 112-pound bracket with a sparkling performance during day No. 1 at the 56th Berman Holiday Classic, allowing the Glenbard East junior stun top seed Tyler Price in the quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon and send him into today's semifinals.
San Juan (15-2) will meet Grant Sutton (Richmond-Burton) at 11 a.m. at Palatine as 25 clubs chase tournament leader Lyons Township, which holds a 20-point lead over Hinsdale Central when the consolation quarterfinals open the action at 9:30 a.m. today in advance of what should be an exciting round of wrestling in the championship bracket.
“We came into (this) tournament thinking that Angelo would be a top 3-4 seed, and were kind of surprised to see him given a No. 8 seed after already beating (Sebastian) Pique and Sutton, but Angelo got his chance at the No. 1 (seed) and showed he belonged right there with the top guys in his weight class,” said Rams coach Kevin Carlson.
San Juan took the lead for good just moments into the third period with an escape to go up 3-2, then put some distance between he and Price, who won here last year at 103 pounds with a superb move and take-down with 23 seconds remaining in regulation.
“Tyler is strong and compact, so it was important for me to stay away from his (tie-ups), and for me to continue to work the angles which led to me getting that take-down to go up 5-2,” said San Juan, who entered the tournament rated No. 9 in the state.
The San Juan victory was an early warning signal to the top seeds. But the message did not get through to No. 1 Zach Lommatzsch in time, as the Downers Grove North senior fell to unseeded Shakiem Chapman. The junior from Warren pinned the undefeated top seed at 5:59 to stay alive at 189 pounds.
Chapman (14-5) will face Pippen Shelton of Cahokia, who came through the bracket unseeded as well.
“We had a rough round of results, but Shakiem's effort was a real bright spot for us this afternoon,” said first-year Warren coach Jim Ouimette, who finds his club in fifth place overall with 83 points, and trailing Lincoln-Way East (93) and Downers Grove North (94.5) in the race for a top-three finish.
Blue Devils big man Josh Dust (17-1) is on course to meet the state's best heavyweight, Jack Allen (20-0) of Hinsdale Central, if the seeds holds at 285 pounds.
Chapman's shining effort would have lost some of its luster had Metea Valley sophomore Breon Hoosier held on to his lead against No. 1 seed Derek Nagel (Lemont). Nagel fought for his tournament life before holding on for a 12-8 victory.
“That was big-time intense match,” said Metea Valley coach Claudio Torres, who after an extended conversation at the scorer's table with the referee and Lemont coaches finally were able to settle on the correct score following a topsy-turvy 20-second rollercoaster ride in the final period, which saw Nagel (16-0 and ranked No. 3 in 2A) outscore Hoosier 8-2 in the third period.
“What you saw in that match was the experience of (Nagel) versus a first-year varsity wrestler,” said Torres. “Breon is a good kid, who, with all of his off-season work at Fargo in freestyle and Greco is only going to get better. He will learn from this match today, that's for sure.”
Most other top seeds from the area managed to survive, including No. 1 Stephan Scales (Hersey, 119) and his teammate Jeff Koepke (25-1), who is on collision course with No. 1 Jack Dechow (Richmond-Burton) at 171 pounds.
Junior Conrad Bugay joined his Hersey mates in the semifinals after edging Joe Dede (St. Charles East) 5-3 in OT to stay in the hunt in the rugged 125-pound division, which features five state-ranked wrestlers, with another on the sidelines — Matt Ornoff, of Mundelein.
“I am in a great group (here) at 125-pounds, and it's the type of competition that I enjoy, so I wasn't nervous at all in OT,” said Bugay.
Lake Park sophomore Austin Schoen kept his sparkling record clean after a hard fought 6-4 victory over Kyle Carstens (Rock Island).
“It was a little ugly out there in that match, but I've been working a lot in the room on (tilts) and when I turned the corner on (him) I hit it and got an important 2 points when I needed it,” said Schoen, now 22-0 as he prepares for No. 2 Robbie Mikenis (19-0) of Lincoln-Way Central.
Bugay meets No. 1 Steve Gallardo (23-0) from St. Patrick.
Joe Kubica (145, Lake Park) and Hunter Rollins (152, Hersey) will look to bounce back in the consolation bracket today as each No. 2 seed was upset Tuesday afternoon.
Rollins (20-4) was sent packing by No. 5 Chris Kowalski 6-4 in OT, as the Lake Park senior scored the deciding take-down with 20 second remaining in the extra period.
“Chris wrestled to win all throughout the match, and especially in overtime,” said Lake Park coach Todd Raymond.
Kowalski (16-8) will meet Warren's Aaron Brewton this morning.
St. Charles East star Nick Ruffino (22-1) cruised into the quarters after a first-round pin and 6-3 decision over Mick Korte (Lincoln-Way Central) moved the junior one step closer to a second straight appearance in the finals here.
Ruffino will be joined by his brother Ryan at 103, Isaiah Vela (119) and Mike Caddy (171) in today's semifinals with the Saints standing sixth overall in the team standings with 79.5 points.
Mundelein senior Peyton Cruz (20-1) faces No. 2 Max Lozano (Downers Grove North) in a 135-pound semifinal. Mundelein's George Gonzalez (21-2), a state qualifier last season, advanced at 140 pounds as a No. 4 seed.
The Leyden duo of Andy Nguyen (140, 12-6) and Stephan Kunco (160, 16-1) are the Eagles lone survivors in the championship bracket.
Finals are scheduled for a 3 p.m. start Wednesday.