Reversal of fate favors Marchok
CHAMPAIGN — The question was all over the internet, and whispered in the stands at the start of the 75th state wrestling tournament on Thursday afternoon.
Could Schaumburg’s Josh Marchok win his second straight title? Could he handle the heat and pressure of not only losing his lone match of the season in the sectional final to Wheaton North’s Mike Swider just a week earlier, which dropped Marchok out of the No. 1 spot he’d held all season long?
Those close to Marchok for the last three years, though, are keenly aware that for someone to dominate in wrestling like he has the past two seasons is rare, and an impressive thing to behold.
Marchok (43-1) has done the near impossible since capturing his first state title here last year, and he added to the legend late Saturday night at the Assembly Hall before a revved-up crowd waiting to see Marchok vs. Swider, Part II.
In the end, the Schaumburg senior had his hand raised after an impressive 4-3 victory ended the Swider’s title bid, and silenced the naysayers who believed Marchok would fall again.
“Matt Phelps, my assistant, told me he knew in the tunnel that Josh was ready tonight, and that’s about all I needed to know before his match,” said Saxons coach Mike LeVanti. “I have to give Swider a lot of credit for his year, and the game plan he and his coach put together. But tonight Josh was perfect and in the end the best guy out there tonight.”
The two-time state champ, who has wreaked havoc on unsuspecting opponents with his uncanny speed, quickness and balance, was at his best on this special night. And he was all too happy to erase the previous weekend’s 4-3 loss.
“Maybe I was too content or something, but that wasn’t me at my best in that sectional final, and Swider took advantage of it for the win,” said Marchok. “I know a lot of people had been talking about that loss, and what I was made of, and could I come back this weekend. But to be honest, it has never been about wins and records — especially this weekend, when the focus was only about getting the chance to win another state title.”
It was clear before the final that Marchok was in his own zone when he popped out of the tunnel long before officials called the two combatants out to check-in and glared across the old building as if there was nothing there but his favorite meal.
It turned out to be Swider (44-1) who conceded the first takedown at 2½ minutes. He got back close with an escape with 10 seconds left in the period before watching his hopes begin to slip away when Marchok encouraged the crowd to ooh-and-ahh with another takedown at five minutes.
“Josh was moving a lot better than last weekend, and made a bigger commitment to his shots also,” said Swider.
Moments later, the affable Marchok roared like a lion when the final whistle blew. The repeat state champ rushed over to LeVanti and raised the coach seemingly high enough to touch the roof.
“It was vintage Josh out there tonight,” said Levanti, “and all I can say is how proud of him we all are, and how much of a pleasure it is to coach a young man like him.”
Marchok finishes with an astounding 155-15 career record.
Others area athletes who enjoyed their visit and ended with a walk up the podium steps late Saturday night, in addition to Marchok, were Fremd’s Ronnie Hauser, Buffalo Grove’s Jordan Rathje, Barrington’s Coord Wiseman, Hersey’s Hunter Rollins and Conant’s Bobby Alexander.
Ÿ Fremd senior Hauser was the brightest star of them all, finishing a wonderful three-week run with a fourth-place finish.
“Ronnie has been on of late — he’s been aggressive, and his confidence has been sky high, and it’s great to see him end his four-year career with us they way he did,” said Fremd coach Ralph Cortez.
Hauser (37-8) took the long journey back to medal contention with a trio of victories in the consolation round, highlighted by his 4-2 victory over a high profile opponent from Glenbard North (Johnny Gosinski). That sent the senior into his third-place bout with Mike Mizaur of Mt. Carmel.
Mizaur, picked to be one of the leading contenders to win it all, defeated the Vikings star for third-place honors.
“I wanted a match with a big-name guy (like Gosinski) — and at this point of the tournament, I wanted to keep going right on through and into the third-place match if I could,” said Hauser, a state qualifier as a freshman.
Ÿ Rathje (37-6), who steered himself into the semifinals, but was bounced by eventual state champion Bryce Brill, earned a fifth-place medal after defeating his MSL rival Wiseman (37-11) for the third time this season with a 6-2 decision.
Rathje ends a terrific four-year career at Buffalo Grove with 115 wins, third all-time in program history.
“Jordan went from a 103-pound skinny kid as a freshman to become a real force on the state scene,” said BG coach Dave Durlacher, who will miss one of the best midweight duos around in Rathje, and his other state qualifier, Matt Zabrin.
“Coord didn’t even make it into sectionals last season, but he is a lot stronger from his off-season training, and had a terrific year as a junior for us,” said Barrington coach Ken Hoving.
The Broncos will face NSC champ Grant on Tuesday in a dual-meet sectional at Wheeling at 6 p.m.
Ÿ Rollins (39-5) was tripped up by 160-pound runner-up Farai Sewera (Lake Park) 3-2 before going into the consolation bracket. There he went 1-1, including a 9-0 romp over Scott Hoff of Lake Zurich for fifth place.
“I didn’t win the close ones this weekend, and that’s what it came down to,” said the junior, who in addition to his 1-point defeat to Sewera, also dropped another 3-2 match to Dan Rowland (Willowbrook, 41-3) in his wrestleback semifinal.
Teammate Steph’fon Scales had hoped the third time downstate would be a charm. Instead, the superb 120-pounder saw his hopes dashed for a state medal when was sent packing after a 1-0 defeat to Eric English of Prairie Ridge.
For the third straight year, Scales fell one victory short of a medal here to end what was a memorable career nontheless for the four-year star.
Ÿ Another sparkling four-year career ended far too soon when Joe Caprio, the all-time leader in wins at Rolling Meadows, was bounced from the tournament following a heartbreaking 7-5 loss to Cody Pych of South Elgin in the second round of wrestlebacks Saturday morning.
Caprio, who won 142 bouts for the Mustangs, including his first here last Thursday, was a tremendous team leader for coach Dave Froehlich, who will say goodbye to both Caprio and standout Aaron Kohlberg, who was on course to join Caprio here until suffering a broken hand before the sectional tournament.
Ÿ With former teammate and state champion Luke Smith at matside, hoping to provide some extra incentive, Wheeling senior Eddie Scanlon (35-9) fell 1 victory shot of earning his first medal of his career when he lost a thrilling 12-11 decision to Josh Dowdy (44-12) of Granite City.
It was classic Scanlon, who fell behind early on when he was put to his back for a 5-point swing. But after falling behind further (9-2), he roared back to 11-9 with 90 seconds remaining. A tiring Dowdy was able to hold on for the win.
Ÿ Maine West’s Rico Zayas (36-8), who will lead the Warriors into the dual-team sectional Tuesday, dropped his medal qualifying bout to Wiseman 3-0 to end his regular season for coach Lance Weber.
“Rico is absolutely the toughest kid in our room, and he’ll get this loss out of his mind and turn his attention to his team on Monday, that’s for sure,” said Weber.
Ÿ Prospect senior Max Triveline was unable to replicate his sectional semifinal win over Quinton Quarles on Saturday, ending his 220-pound run for good after a 7-4 loss to the senior from Grant 7-4.
Triveline fell one match short of earning a top-six finish, and 2 wins shy of 40 for the season, going out with a dazzling 38-9 overall record.
Ÿ Alexander (38-1) provided a glimpse of what’s to come in his future at Conant, and on the state level after his impressive run to a fifth place finish, which included back-to-back wrestleback victories to seal his safe passage into the medal round. He followed that up with a 2-1 victory over David Kasper of Marist to collect his prize.
“I cannot tell you how proud I am of Bobby,” said Cougars coach Chad Hay. “He never hung his head this weekend, even when he was down in his qualifying match with (KJ Minor of Minooka) when there was that exchange which pulled their guy back to 17-12 (Alexander would finally prevail, 19-12). He’s just tough and mentally strong.”