Antioch charges downstate in Class 2A
To put it plainly, Antioch totally outclassed St. Patrick on Tuesday night at the Class 2A Woodstock dual team wrestling sectional.
Starting at 113 pounds, the Sequoits jumped all over St. Patrick as they built a 16-0 lead after four matches.
A forfeit win at 138 cut the lead to 16-6, but Antioch (15-15) reeled off five straight victories after that point to build an insurmountable 39-6 lead with four bouts left.
With the win in hand, Antioch coach Wilbur Borrero chose to forfeit the final four matches to avoid any chance of injury as the Sequoits posted a 39-30 victory to advance to the Elite Eight on Saturday in Bloomington.
Crystal Lake Central defeated Niles Notre Dame 33-28 in the other Woodstock sectional meet to advance to state.
Antioch will face Chicago Bowen in the quarterfinals at U.S. Cellular Colliseum at 9 a.m. This is the Sequoits’ second trip to state in three years.
If the Sequoits can get past Bowen, they assure themselves of becoming the first wrestling team in school history to earn a state trophy.
The only team points of the meet for St. Patrick (19-10) came on its five forfeits. They fell behind Antioch 3-0 when Pat Unida opened the meet with a 5-2 decision over Jalen Reyes at 113.
Then Antioch 120-pounder Chris Ruth added a 6-3 decision before junior teammate Mike Gussarson (40-7) pinned his opponent in 1:01 to give the Sequoits a 12-0 lead.
A 12-4 major decision by Mike Morales (31-19) at 132 made the score 16-0 before the forfeit win at 138 cut the lead to 10 points.
“At 113 and 120, we weren’t expecting to win and those two kids really did a nice job,” said Borrero, whose team only beat St. Patrick 39-35 in an early season dual meet at Maine South. “We didn’t bring any (individual) state medals back and I think that has inspired our kids.”
Antioch’s onslaught continued with a pin by 145-pounder Ken Strohman, an 11-3 major decision by 152-pounder Zach Keller, and a pin by 160-pounder George Gonzalez (35-6), who moved up two weight classes for a commanding 32-6 advantage.
Antioch senior Zach Epker (14-4) held on for a 10-9 decision over Anthony Ferraris at 170 before senior teammate Zach Freundt (42-11) added a 19-11 major decision at 182 to seal the team win.
“I think our kids just came out to wrestle today and the way we started was important,” said Borrero, whose team placed third in the rugged North Suburban Conference. “These seniors have worked hard to get where they’re at, and I can’t say enough about the senior class.”
Five seniors and Gussarson competed on Antioch’s 2010 squad that was eliminated downstate in the quarterfinals.
“I thought we wrestled really great and everybody came out and did their job,” said Gonzalez. “We’re hoping to place (at state), and we would be the only team in school history to place.”
Perennial power Montini is considered the heavy favorite to capture the Class 2A state championship Saturday night.