Conant grabs team title at Leyden

When two of the best big men in the state met Saturday afternoon inside Leyden’s Chuck Farina fieldhouse Saturday afternoon during the 36th annual Leyden Wrestling Invitational, something had to give.

And when it did, you could practically feel it.

Heavyweights Jeremy Brazil of Vernon Hills and James Buss of De La Salle — the top duo at 2A and 3A this season — came together in a battle of unbeaten behemoths in a much-anticipated final at 285 pounds. The matchup helped keep fans around for their full entertainment value with a wonderful six-minute match in which Buss prevailed 7-2.

Moments after the excitement of the Buss-Brazil bout was over, Conant raised the team championship trophy, using a sensational round in the semifinals to grab the lead away from the host Eagles while keeping South Elgin at bay en route to a 9-point victory (182.50-173.50) over Leyden to give second-year head coach Chad Hay the first team title in his brief tenure.

“What a terrific day for the guys, and our program,” said an elated Hay, who had several photo opportunities with Cougars fans after the outcome was decided. “We had a little team pow-wow before the semis, and everyone really went after it in their matches. It’s great to see the team respond that way, and to keep things going with individual titles from Bobby (Alexander) and Travis (Sylvester) — his first. And to see one of our seniors, Gino Prestia (170), come back and get a third-place finish with a pin to help get us those extra bonus points which end up meaning so much in the end.”

Sylvester (18-6) completed a perfect three days of effort when he recorded an impressive 10-0 major decision victory over David Pierce of Vernon Hills 18-6 to win the 145-title. One match earlier, teammate Mitch Alexander (16-4) was defeated by Leyden senior Jesse McCabe (20-6) at 138 pounds.

“This has been a pretty good weekend for me,” said Sylvester, who went 2-0 in Mid-Suburban League action on Thursday and Friday before 3 straight victories Friday and a tech-fall in the semis earned him a spot in the championship.

McCabe joined his brother Jake (132, 16-5) atop the podium in his home gym to earn championship rings on the same day for the first time during their four-year careers at Leyden.

“This is it — it’s my last year, and it was really important to win an individual title,” said Jesse McCabe, who was able to neutralize Alexander’s talent as a scrambler, perhaps partly because the Conant junior still isn’t 100 percent healthy after suffering a shoulder injury at the Lake Park Invite.

“That escape to go up (5-4) and takedown after that was the match,” said McCabe.

“We recently put Jesse and Jake together in the room,” said Leyden coach Jason Potter, “and with each having the same style, it’s helped them both the past two weeks to train and prepare for their competition. They each deserved their championships, but unfortunately we did ourselves in with a poor effort this afternoon.”

Conant and Leyden slowly pulled away from the pack Saturday, with South Elgin staying within striking distance. The Storm’s dynamic duo of Cory Pych (113 pounds, 17-6) and Cody Pych (170, 23-2) dominated their divisions and cruised to first-place finishes. It was the second straight for Cory, who pinned his way to his title.

Cody, a state qualifier last season and rated No. 6 in the state this year, rolled over a trio of victims, much like his brother did as they impressed coach Mark Cameron. South Elgin was without 220-pounder D.J. Greene due to injury but managed to stay in the title hunt until the final round.

“Cody was in total control, and especially in his final (with Shaq Pittman, Proviso West) and when he needed to end the match, he went out and got the pin,” said Cameron.

Despite an toughened-up nonconference schedule, Cameron says he’s seen his team improve each week, becoming more prepared for the coming weeks leading up to the conference tournament and beyond.

The North Suburban Conference was well represented in the grand march, with Brazil and Pierce, along with teammate Dan Klima (152) leading the way for the Cougars.

Stevenson and Lakes both sent three into the finals, with the Patriots cheering the championship belts won by Justin Weber (152) and Alec Berger (126).

Berger (12-5) who didn’t wrestle last season as a junior, mashed the competition with a pair of technical falls before using a 10-1 major over Sam Karim (Ridgewood) to secure his title.

Weber (22-4) rated No. 4 in the state before Saturday, took a 7-2 victory over Klima (22-4), who was looking to earn a second consecutive title here.

“Justin’s commitment to wrestling after three years of football has been a major reason for his success thus far, and he has just grown leaps and bounds because of his great work ethic, and desire to excel,” said Stevenson coach Shane Cook, who has just three seniors in his lineup this season and only one (Weber) who was a regular last winter. “(Klima) is an excellent opponent and one that Justin might see again later on, but to score 7 points against someone of his caliber says alot about how far he’s come this season and how well he wrestled in his championship match.”

The Patriots finished fifth overall with 138 points, 1.5 points behind Vernon Hills.

The dramatic ending match between Buss (22-0) and Brazil (24-1) took awhile to get going as they tested each other in the first period, which ended scoreless.

Buss who finished third last season in Champaign, reversed his opponent after starting down, and built a 7-1 lead when he horse-collared the Cougars senior late, resulting in a near-fall to end the second period.

“I can’t believe how strong Jeremy was,” said Buss, who showed class and sportsmanship after the match. “I knew I had to stay away from getting locked up, so I tried to do so and wrestle as hard as I could for six minutes.”

Buss was later named MVP of the tournament.

“It’s the type of match we’ve been looking forward to,” said upbeat Vernon Hills coach Jerry Miceli. “It was a great test for (Jeremy) and one that he’ll certainly learn from as he goes forward.”

Brazil had recorded 24 straight falls prior to his loss Saturday.

In finishing ninth overall with 76.5 points, Lakes netted three second-place medals — two at the lower weights with freshmen Levi Smith (120, 20-7) and Jose Collado (132, 18-7); junior David Gregory (20-8) lost to Kenard Washington at 160 pounds.