Grayslake North gets it going quickly against Grayslake Central
Starting at 152 pounds, host Grayslake North wanted to build a big lead against crosstown rival Grayslake Central on Thursday night in their Fox Valley Conference wrestling dual meet.
And that is exactly what the Knights did, building a 38-0 lead after seven matches before holding off a late Rams comeback attempt for a 47-28 FVC Fox Division victory on senior night.
Grayslake North (6-10, 2-3) got rolling right away when senior Jake Wright (20-5) posted a technical fall in six minutes before a forfeit victory by 160-pound teammate Alex Moran (20-3) gave the Knights a quick 11-0 advantage.
Grayslake Central (6-14, 0-4) could not stop the early onslaught by Grayslake North as pins by 170-pounder Diego Rodriguez, and 182-pounder Zach McCauley boosted the lead to 23-0.
A forfeit win by North 195-pounder Justin Bock made the score 29-0 before Grayslake Central's Anthony Magno dropped a tough 3-1 decision to Brad Keil at 220. Then 285-pounder Sean Pearce picked up a forfeit victory and the Rams found themselves facing a 38-point deficit half way through the meet.
Unlike Class 2A Grayslake Central this season, the Knights will be competing in Class 3A for the first time when the state tournament rolls around in February. But it will be back to Class 2A for Grayslake North in the 2016-17 season next year.
“I'm really happy about tonight's meet, we haven't beaten them since my freshman year,” said Wright, who reached the Class 2A state meet as a junior. “I've only lost to ranked guys, but it's definitely going to be tougher to make it to state than it was last year.”
The Rams got on the scoreboard when freshman Nick Tarnowski won by forfeit at 106 pounds.
But they were unable to gain any momentum from that victory as North 113-pounder Carlos Garcia recorded a pin in 3:11 to clinch the team win with a 44-6 lead with five bouts remaining. Garcia was filling in for junior teammate Joe Arroyo, who reached the state meet as a sophomore.
“I thought we wrestled really well, and we knew starting at 152 we had to get a big lead because they were going to come back on us at the lower weights,” said Grayslake North coach Collin McKillip, whose team is hosting a triple-dual meet on Saturday. “Being able to have a full lineup is kind of rare these days and that is a credit to the kids.”
Grayslake Central's Austin Connelly posted a 13-1 major decision over Nolan Elsing at 120. But Grayslake North 126-pounder Blake Wilshire captured a 9-4 decision over Ryan Mikes in the next match to keep Central at bay.
The Rams showed the true strength of their lineup in the final three bouts of the meet as they got pins from senior Joe Tarnowski (17-8) at 132, freshman Alex Cramer (20-6) at 138, and senior Larry Augustine (24-6) at 145 to make the final score fairly respectable after the huge early deficit.
“Our seniors are strong, and we have a couple of freshman that just go out and battle,” said first-year Grayslake Central coach Matt Joseph, who reached the state meet under coach Rick Mann at Hersey 15 years ago. “Magno saved us three points, he went out and did what we needed him to do, and we had some kids step in and compete.”