Barrington stays right on track

Champions in the Mid-Suburban League and now in a Class 3A regional, Barrington remains on course for a serious run at a team wrestling state trophy after shattering the hopes of like-minded Deerfield on Saturday in Lincolnshire at the Stevenson regional.

The Broncos, 16-2 in duals this season, survived some nervous moments in the early stages before overpowering the competition with a surge from their big men to open up a lead that was too much for state power Deerfield to match. Barrington ended up with a 78-point winning margin (233.5-155.5) to ensure safe passage into its third consecutive 3A dual team sectional later this month against Grant.

Lake Zurich, with sophomore Sean Lynch leading the way, earned the third-place team trophy with 123 points. That was 20 more than Cary-Grove, which qualified four wrestlers to Friday’s Barrington sectional.

“Things were a little tight for awhile,” said Barrington coach Ken Hoving. “We knew that Deerfield would be right there with us, as well as Lake Zurich, which is a team that we were always worried about because they are usually so dangerous in the second half of the season after they get all of their guys back from football.

“But we really put some distance between us and everyone else when in the semis from 170 on, we went 5-0 (with 3 pins). It was all capped by a great win in wrestlebacks from our freshman, Travis Cysewski. After that, I was able to breathe a little easier.”

Cysewski (6-8) was later taken off on a stretcher as a precautionary measure after landing awkwardly on a throw from Brandon Arteaga (Lake Zurich, 31-12) in the third-place match at 132 pounds.

“This team is built on a unique bond and incredible unity,” said Broncos senior and 189-pound champ Ryan Wilt (28-7), who began the tournament as the No. 3 seed but dispatched a trio of victims to capture his crown and advance to sectional with 11 of his teammates. “There was a lot of uncertainty at the start because we had a new head coach, a lot of juniors and freshmen in our lineup — and after losing a lot of talented seniors from the year before. But we have a great coaching staff, and this team is really tight. Today we took care of business to reach our goal of winning a regional title and put ourselves into a position of advancing into the dual-team state tournament.”

Things got started in a big way with the 106-pound final between Adrian Gonzalez (31-2) of Barrington and freshman standout Mike Cullen (36-2) of Cary-Grove.

During the first week of the season, Gonzalez beat Cullen 1-0 on his way to a championship belt at the Moore-Prettyman tournament. But since then, Cullen has been superb — and Gonzalez had been too, before slipping up last weekend in the MSL final against Conant’s Bobby Alexander.

Many thought Cullen might send his counterpart to a second consecutive defeat. But the Barrington senior had other ideas.

Gonzalez put Cullen to his back with a quick move after starting the second period down, then built a 4-0 lead before holding off a late rally to get the 4-3 victory.

“Mike is so good on his feet, and such a great wrestler, but when I felt the opportunity to surprise him, I went for it,” said Gonzalez, who won his second straight regional title. “We’re going to meet next week, and likely again at the state tournament, and I can tell you each match will be different than the other.”

“We would have liked to have seen Mike push the tempo more,” said Cary-Grove coach Ryan Ludwig, “and definitely go for the tilt a little earlier than he did when he got close at the end. Adrian is a great wrestler, with a lot of experience, but will get back at it, watch some film and get ourselves ready for next weekend.”

What looked like a bright day for the Trojans ended up turning a little cloudy for them after Mike Underwood (30-10) fell in the 126-pound final to Brian Egan (Buffalo Grove). And Matt Fina (26-15) was unable to stop the Sean Lynch (Lake Zurich); Lynch ran roughshod over all three of his opponents to win it all.

The Trojans’ lone survivor after the aforementioned trio was Max Kersten (24-15) at 182.

“We’ll regroup and get ourselves together for Barrington,” Ludwig said.

Egan (28-8) joined teammate Matt Zabrin (35-1, 160) atop the podium for Buffalo Grove. Jordan Rathje (31-3) fell in the final to Deerfield senior Lenny Bloom (35-1) at 145; Bloom prevailed 6-3 to win his second straight 145-pound championship.

Egan burst to life from the onset, recording a major decision victory in his opener, then a t-fall in the semis leading up to a strong six-minute effort against Underwood.

“Brian has always been a very good wrestler, but the difference for him this season is confidence, and right now, he has plenty of that,” said BG coach Dave Durlacher.

Chase Ori (120, 21-10) and Eddie Haro (285, 20-20) also advanced for the Bison.

Palatine advanced Sergio Hernandez (18-14) at 220.

Lake Forest qualified Chance Shea (30-6), who defeated Patrick O’Malley (27-8) of Cary-Grove in their third-place match 8-6.

Lynch capped a day of flawless work with his dominant performance in a technical fall over Fina at 4:07 to seal his spot at Barrington, where he’ll be one of the top four seeds.

“I really feel that I’m getting just about where I want to be after getting started a little late coming back from football,” the sophomore said. “Lately I’ve been working on the little things to stay sharp, to get myself ready to go next weekend while using last year as a little bit of extra motivation.”

Lynch entered last year’s sectional 19-4 but lost his opener before eliminated by Rathje in the backdraw.

“Sean had a great day, as did a bunch of other guys, but one of the things that I am most proud of is what a terrific group of kids we have this season,” said Lake Zurich coach Dan Strickler, whose group set a program record with 7 sectional qualifiers. “I told everyone that regardless of how many titles we win, or how many we advance or don’t advance, I will still be proud of all of them just because of the type of kids they all are. It’s a fantastic group, and one that works hard, pulls for each other and makes coaching a lot of fun.”

In addition to Lynch, Strickler has high-profile athletes in senior Scott Hoff (34-5, runner-up to Zabrin) and two other second-place finishers, Gresh Henderson (120, 22-7) and Michael Peters (126, 18-13).

The host Patriots enjoyed a memorable day, with senior Justin Weber (34-4) winning at 152, and another senior, Mark Jolcover (29-9), coming all the way back in wrestleback to grab a third-place medal at 106, much to the delight of coach Shane Cook.

“Mark missed all of last season when he suffered a fracture of his (C4 and C5 vertebrae), but he came back, worked so hard, and was rewarded with his third-place finish,” said Cook, who figured the homefield advantage may have played a role in Jolcover’s OT victory over Jerry Nigro (Lake Zurich) as nearly all of the Pats’ program was on the edge, cheering on their teammate in the final stages of his triumphant win.

Weber’s 9-3 decision over Nick Shealy (Barrington, 26-11) was masterful. The affable senior never allowed his offensive-minded opponent to get any quality shots during their six-minute bout.

“I knew that Nick was strong and able to pin guys, so I tried to neutralize his strength and just work hard, adding to my lead when I could,” said Weber.

Shealy and Daniel Davidson (23-14), who fought state-ranked Artie Bess (33-1) to the end in the 220-pound final, were the Broncos’ two second-place medalists. The champs also got championship efforts from Jared Parvinmehr (113, 31-2), Cameron Thomson (170, 34-1), Mark Shealy (182, 31-4) and big man Ben Calamari (285, 30-5), who ended the proceedings with a fall at 5:20.

Kevin Conrad (126), Michael Lurz (160) and Coord Wiseman (145, 30-8) all came back to earn third-place medals.

“Obviously, it wasn’t the desired way to qualify, but it still feels good to go to sectionals for my first time,” said Wiseman, lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Rathje in the semis, then used a fall and 5-2 decision over Garret Glueck of Cary-Grove to survive the knock-out rounds and advance in what looks to be a highly competitive 145-pound bunch next weekend.