Sabatello, Stevenson roar back to capture crown

Stevenson staged a heroic comeback late Saturday afternoon to capture the team title at the 35th annual Leyden wrestling invitational in Franklin Park.

The Patriots, who at one time trailed the host Leyden Eagles by 59 points, turned the momentum in their favor with a dazzling second-round performance.

The Patriots leapt past Proviso West, Oak Forest and Conant to pull within 6.5 points before the final round — before using a victory from Brandon Weber in the 215-pound final to vault over the Eagles.

Junior Mike Kuhn put the finishing touches on the Patriots' second consecutive Leyden championship by defeating Eagles heavyweight Javier Rhodes 9-4 in the third-place match to give Stevenson 194.50 points. The Patriots edged the Eagles by 4 points.

Conant (169) was third, and Proviso West (151) and Oak Forest (138.50) rounded out the top five. A depleted South Elgin club was just off the pace with 136.50 points — as sophomore Cory Pych won his first-ever high school championship with a dominating performance at 103 pounds.

“Today really showed how much of a team sport wrestling is,” said Patriots coach Shane Cook, who not only coached but did plenty of scoreboard watching trying to calculate if there were enough matches left to catch the Eagles.

“We were in a real race today, and I have to hand it to the guys who never gave up and just kept working and working right until the very end.”

“We were all a little disappointed after our 2-point loss to Zion-Benton last night, but it just goes to show how all of the extra work in the room and 6 a.m. practices pay off when you see how everyone would eventually contribute to our championship tonight,” said Weber (21-2), who was sporting an ice pack on his face after a particularly physical bout against state-ranked opponent Andy Crivellone of Richards during a 5-2 overtime victory.

The senior was joined by Mark Futterman, Ken Waks (171) and Danny Sabatello (125) atop the podium to give the Patriots four individual titles. Futterman's win at 152 cut Leyden's lead to 184-181.5, and Waks kept it close at 188-185.5.

A brilliant effort from defending state champion Sabatello (21-0) propelled the Patriots into the express lane as the Purdue-bound, top-rated senior overwhelmed two-time state qualifier and North Suburban rival Gideon Yim (26-2) of Vernon Hills in a 17-6 major decision at 125 pounds.

“With (Danny) here and Leyden's Jake McCabe to make the 125-pound division such an impressive one, that's why we come here to this tournament, and today, (Sabatello) showed why he's the man in that weight class,” said Vernon Hills coach Jerry Miceli, who watched his star concede 4 first-period takedowns to fall behind 8-1 before stunning his opponent with a second-period takedown.

“(That) takedown was a reality check for me, and it will stay with me until Monday, when I go to work in the room to clean a few things up,” said Sabatello, who came into this weekend with 150-plus takedowns this and earned the tournament's outstanding wrestler honors as voted by the coaches.

“Gideon made another step up in his game from last year,” Micelli said. “He's stronger, more physical and is even better at riding. But most important, he is the ultimate teammate and team leader, both on and off the mat.”

The Cougars' Dan Klema (28-5) won the title 145 pounds when he overpowered Jayson Drakes (20-4) of Richards by pinning him at 3:06.

“I am fortunate to have Gideon in the room with me as a workout partner, and with him working me so hard everyday my speed and quickness have improved so much since last year,” said Klema, who was a state qualifier in 2010.

Conant senior Vince Gottardo (22-2) secured his second title in three years here by pinning Tyler Booth (19-5) of Lakes at 5:08 at 135 pounds.

Gottardo, who recorded his 100th career victory for the Cougars earlier in the competition, was nearly flawless in his title march.

“It's all about having confidence in my takedowns, it's that simple,” said Gottardo, a state qualifier as a sophomore.

“Vince doesn't say much, he lets his work on the mats do the talking, but his confidence is really up there right now and it shows with his work in the room and during his matches,” said Conant coach Chad Hay.

The Cougars were tough from start to finish. In the final round, the Cougars bagged seven top 4 finishes and added 5 more combined at fifth and sixth places.

Mitch Alexander (10-6) nearly won the 130-pound title, falling 6-4 to Leyden junior Jesse McCabe in the closing moments of regulation.

“I didn't think (Alexander) would be so strong on his feet,” said McCabe, who expected a high-scoring affair but was unable to get inside the six-footer.

Alexander led 4-2 late until a penalty point for stalling made it 4-4 and set up McCabe's last-second heroics.

“Jesse won an important match for him because he showed a lot of patience and maturity in a hard match,” said Leyden coach Jason Potter. “We had 4-5 kids, who, if they could have won their match or stayed away from majors may have helped (us) stay just far enough ahead of Stevenson to win the tournament.”

Back in action from injuries, the Eagles' Jesus Pagan (119) finished third — and senior Tramon Thomas, who missed nearly a month with a sore shoulder, was third at 215.

Lakes' Kyle Gibson drew even at 5-5 at the end of the second period in his match with John Shilney (18-5), but the DeLaSalle senior prevailed when his takedown with 30 seconds remaining in regulation resulted in a 7-6 decision.

“Tyler is certainly strong and slick enough, and he has (all) the moves, he just needs a confidence boost to get him going, and hopefully that will happen after he qualified for the finals,” said Lakes coach Curt Onstand. “With Kyle, we've been all over him to open things up because he has a great shot, but he just has to use it more.”

South Elgin coach Mark Cameron was thrilled with the Storm despite missing several starters. That included state-ranked Cody Pych, who is nursing a sore shoulder and was on the sidelines with his 26-2 record at 160 pounds.

“I thought we had a terrific day,” Cameron said. “I know that both Ricky (Garcia) and Adam Lehnus (189, 22-8) were disappointed with how they wrestled in their final, but they each did very well all throughout the tournament and had a great showing with their second-place medals.”

“But the best story today for us was easily Cory, who we said to earlier that we were hoping for a championship from him, and in a dominating way. He did just that.”

The second-year 103-pounder never allowed one of his opponents to gather a head of steam. He opened the day with a fall at 1:05 and finished with another at just 56 seconds over Leyden's Alex Franco to run his record to 21-2.

“I am lucky to have a really good coaching staff working with me and the team each day, and all of my hard work is beginning to pay off for me,” said Pych, whose only 2 losses came in the first week of the season.