Libertyville takes NSC tournament

It wasn’t easy, but the Libertyville wrestling team got the job done again Saturday in North Suburban Conference wrestling meet.

The Wildcats led rival Warren 170-162 headed into the final round, and they were able to pull away from the Blue Devils to capture their third straight NSC crown by a 186 to 174.5 margin behind five finalists.

The victory marked the 19th time in school history that Libertyville has raised the championship plaque at the powerful NSC meet.

Stevenson came up big with a third-place score of 141.5 while Prairie Division champion Wauconda and Antioch tied for fourth with 134 points.

Lake Zurich was a close sixth with 131 points followed by Grant (122) in seventh, and Mundelein (114) in eighth.

The final outcome might have been even closer, but Warren was competing without No. 2-seeded 189-pounder Shakiem Chapman, who was injured, and 215-pounder Jovan Dubose, who didn’t make weight.

Libertyville’s push to the three-peat was led by 112-pound champion Pat Fitzgerald’s 3-1 overtime victory against Grant’s Ben Soumar and 152-pounder Sayad Banifazl’s 4-3 decision over Warren’s Aaron Brewton in the finals.

“Coming in I knew we would have a real hard time against them (Warren) and this year we only had five guys in the finals so we had to do it in the wrestlebacks,” said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. “There is not much to say other than it worked out and it was good competition to get ready for regionals.”

Warren did have a champion after 160-pound senior T.J. Parker (32-3) defeated Wauconda’s Pete Kootstra 8-4 in the finals.

The Blue Devils got second-place finishes from Craig Mason (103), Brewton, Danny Hicks (171), and Josh Dust (285).

“We have four starters out of the lineup and still taking a respectable second place is pretty good after placing fifth last year,” said Warren coach Jim Ouimette. “I’m very happy for T.J. Parker to come out his senior year and win it.”

Winning is the only thing 125-pound Stevenson senior Danny Sabatello (33-0) has known this season as Sabatello rolled to the title with a technical fall over Libertyville’s Charlie Meyer.

“Coming into the conference tournament my goal was just to dominate the whole thing and it’s really good to get this experience,” said Sabatello, who is ranked No. 2 in the state. “I’ve just got to keep coming out strong every tournament and make sure I’m peaking for the state tournament because that is what is most important.”

Antioch’s two 2010 state qualifier’s both won crowns Saturday as 145-pounder George Gonzalez (37-4) got the Sequoits going with a 5-3 finals win over Lake Zurich’s Zach Ullman.

Then Antioch 189-pounder Zach Epker (33-2) added a 12-6 decision over Libertyville’s Richard Vachula.

“We’re happy about this week, but it’s not about this week, it’s about next week,” said Antioch coach Wilbur Borrero, whose team is at the Class 2A Grayslake North regional next weekend. “Richmond-Burton is the team that we’re going to have to find a way to knock off and we only brought 12 kids here today.”

Wauconda’s squad also had two champs as 103-pounder Devin Tortorice (30-4) and 215-pounder Brian Kent went the distance. Kent defeated Libertyville’s Luke Miller 7-1 in their finals match.

“We had three top seeds and two of them won and it was exciting to see our 171-pounder (Nate Magiera) who is a freshman take third place,” said Wauconda coach Tom Nance. “Some of our younger kids were a little intimidated so hopefully they will learn from that and be ready to go at regionals.”

Lake Zurich’s team also had two first-place finishes including surprising freshman Sean Lynch (17-3), who upset Mundelein junior Matt Ornoff in the semifinals before edging Stevenson senior Max Nolan 8-7 in the finals.

The Bears also got a first-place finish from 135-pounder Alex Nigro, who posted a 4-2 decision over Lakes’ Tyler Booth.

“It was a lot of hard work to get here, and I’ve got three more to win after this,” said Lynch, who wrestled with Ornoff at The Wrestling Factory at Carmel. “I definitely need to work on conditioning because I kind of gassed out in the end there and I need to be able to wrestle a full six-minute match.”

Mundelein also shared the wealth with two champions, including 2010 state qualifier Payton Cruz (33-4), who nipped Lakes’ Kyle Gibson 1-0 for the 140-pound title.

Mundelein 171-pounder Pablo Mata beat Hicks 6-2 in overtime for his championship.

“We ended up with six all-conference (top five) so that was good,” said Mundelein coach Tom Buenik. “Payton and Pablo looked really good and Pablo gutted it out with the flu so I’m glad he got a conference championship as a senior.”

Vernon Hills was without the services of No. 3-ranked 135-pound senior Gideon Yim, who was out with a shoulder injury.

But the Cougars did get a championship performance from 285-pound junior Jeremy Brazil, who nipped Dust 3-2 in sudden death overtime.

Lake Zurich sophomore Mike Copp was another big surprise Saturday with a second-place finish at 119 while Libertyville got a third-place finish from 145-pounder Kevin Tavakoli.

Warren got thirds from Israel Santiago (112) and Martin Martinez (119) while Stevenson teammates Mark Futterman (152), and Brandon Weber (215) added third-place finishes for the Pats.

Grant had three third-place finishers including Nick Kramer at 103, Devin Monroy at 140, and Tony Cashmore at 160.

Other third-place finishers were Antioch’s Mike Gussarson (125) and Ornoff (130), who topped Libertyville’s Luke Gaeth 9-4.