Making a state-ment at Barrington
Warren’s Shakheim Chapman and Danny Hicks delivered major postseason breakthroughs, as each won a championship at the Barrington sectional Saturday, and Mundelein senior Matt Ornoff kept his record spotless with a 138-pound title as area wrestlers completed the second day of competition by earning invitations to the Class 3A wrestling state tournament.
The next round of the state series is late Thursday afternoon inside Assembly Hall in Champaign.
Chapman (38-2) never allowed Harlem’s big thrower, Sage Hecox (27-6), to manufacture one of his famous headlocks, instead keeping the big sophomore at bay throughout their 195-pound title bout en route to a 7-3 decision. Hicks (33-7) earned safe passage downstate after pinning Mike Etchingham of Prospect in the semifinals and then Tony Cashmore (37-7) in the 171-pound final, when the Grant senior was forced to take an injury default after falling awkwardly on his head on a throw by Hicks.
Cashmore was taken off by ambulance as a precautionary measure, but appeared alert on his way out, as the big crowd gave the Bulldogs star a nice round of applause.
“Those two have really been coming on of late, so I am not surprised that each of them enjoyed the success they did today,” said Warren coach Jim Ouimette, moments after Chapman closed out Hecox to avenge a painful loss to the same opponent a year ago.
“It just feels real good to not only win a sectional championship, but to also be going downstate for the first time,” said Chapman. “I can’t wait.”
Ornoff (39-0) made it two straight over Wade Lardy of McHenry when he edged the McHenry junior 1-0 to take home the championship belt at 138 pounds.
“Last week we turned Lardy a couple of times in the final (in a 7-0 decision), so I feel that Lardy came out a little more defensive,” said Mundelein coach Tom Buenik, who believes the best may be yet to come from Ornoff. “I know that Matt would have liked to have been a little more aggressive in his final, but nonetheless, he was patient, and wrestled a really smart match to get the victory.
“It has been really great to see the progression from an incoming freshman to a terrific young man who has matured in and out of the room to not only become a great wrestler and competitor, but also an all-around student-athlete.”
Ornoff earned one of the top four spots in the 12-man state bracket, and perhaps the top seed as well. He earned 60 points in the state tournament seeding protocol.
Mark Jolcover (Stevenson) and Kayne MacCullum (Libertyville) shared the spotlight with their memorable efforts to gain their first state appearance, even though each missed out on a championship trophy.
After missing nearly all of last season with a neck injury, Jolcover advanced out of his own regional last weekend and into a hornet’s nest at 106 pounds, where the elite trio of Mike Cullen (Cary-Grove), Adrian Gonzalez (Barrington) and Austin Ryan (Jacobs) were waiting. But in the early evening on Saturday, the Stevenson senior, with his teammates rocking the rafters, got by Brady Powers of Hononegah 7-5 in his state qualifying bout, then went on to grab third place overall.
“I cannot tell you what all of this means to me, and to have my entire team up in the stands cheering every minute of every match, and also having a two-time state champion (Danny Sabatello) and my workout partner and coach (Andrew Ortman) in my corner, and a great coaching staff led by Shane Cook right there with me as well,” said an emotional Jolcover, who came back through wrestlebacks to win three straight.
The Patriots’ fans had to watch another of theirs, Justin Weber (37-5), survive an upset in the semifinals to MacCullum (19-10) and a hair-raising 5-4 victory in OT over Aaron Brewton of Warren to earn his state spot.
MacCullum stunned North Suburban Conference and regional champ Weber 2-1 in the semi a call for fleeing proved the difference. That sent the Stevenson fans into orbit, and MacCullum’s followers out of this world.
“I just kept pushing the pace until that late call,” said a relieved MacCullum, who later lost to the state’s No. 2 ranked Tom Gerszewski (40-1) in the final. But that was long after he’d qualified for state, along with teammates Steve Polakowski (113, 31-9) and senior Pat Fitzgerald (120, 37-10), who makes his first trip after defeating NSC rival Ben Soumar in his qualifying bout.
“When I saw it would be Ben to qualify, I thought ‘Uh-oh,’ ” said Fitzgerald, runner-up in the NSC tournament at 126. “It’s really tough to see such a great wrestler like Ben staying home, but for myself, I am really happy to be going to the tournament in my senior year.”
Others making plans to travel to Champaign include the Lake Zurich duo of Scott Hoff (160, 37-7) and Sean Lynch (138, 22-6) as well as Grant big men, Quinton Quarles (220, 36-4) and Dan Haeffle (35-12), who dropped a 5-3 decision to Igor Romanowski (31-3) of Wheeling in the heavyweight final to conclude a whirlwind week of competition in which the talented junior helped the Bulldogs snare a regional team title last weekend.
“Dan has come in and worked so hard to get to where he is, and in his match with Calamari you could see just how quick he is on his feet — in fact he thinks he’s a 125-pounder,” joked Grant coach Ryan Geist following Haeffle’s 4-2 victory in the semifinals.
Lynch bounced back from a 9-2 loss to Ornoff in the semis to win his next match (against Devin Monroy of Grant) to advance, before falling in his third-place match with three-time state qualifier Manny Silva of Rockton Hononegah.
“That wasn’t exactly the desired way to get downstate (through wrestleback), but I did what I had to do, and now I’ll prepare for Thursday in Champaign,” said Lynch.