Vincent's comeback victory sparks Grayslake Central
With second place on the line, host Grayslake Central was ready for perennial power Grant on Thursday night in Northern Lake County Conference wrestling action.
Starting at 120 pounds, the Rams stormed out to a commanding 36-9 lead nine matches into the dual meet. From that point on, Grayslake Central was never seriously threatened, as the Rams posted a 42-30 win to improve to 12-10 and 5-2 in the NLCC. Grayslake Central finished tied for second place with Grant (12-9, 5-2) in the final regular-season standings.
After rolling to its first Lake County invitational championship in school history last weekend, No. 4-ranked Antioch (7-0 in NLCC) won its first NLCC title with a victory at Wauconda on Thursday night.
Senior Jayson Weidman got Grayslake Central started on the right foot against Grant with a technical fall at 120, before a pin in 1:25 by 126-pound teammate Tristan Burch staked the Rams to an 11-0 advantage.
Grant's Justin Warmowski responded with a pin of his own at 132. But Grayslake Central's Dennis Carcamo posted a 14-4 major decision over Brad Berg at 138 to boost the lead back to 15-6.
Then in one of the biggest comebacks in many years, Grayslake Central 145-pound junior Cooper Vincent battled back from an 18-4 deficit against Mohammad Awaisi, as a reversal and a near-pin cut the lead to 18-9 with 1:07 left in the third period.
After an injury timeout for Awaisi, Vincent kept the heat on and wound up recording a pin with 21 seconds remaining to give the Rams what amounted to a 12-point swing in the team scoring and a 21-6 lead.
"We won some big swing matches, and Cooper Vincent getting the pin in that match was huge," Grayslake Central coach Matt Joseph said. "It was the first time as a coach (as an assistant at Lakes or head coach at Central) that I have been on the upside beating Grant since I've been coaching."
Rams' 160-pounder Cashu Model's 2-1 decision over Patrick Werve made the score 24-9, before two-time state qualifier Joey Jens (32-5) pinned Eddy Tregenza in 5:41 for a 30-9 lead.
Then Grayslake Central's No. 1-ranked junior Adrien Cramer (30-1) pinned 2019 state qualifier Ethan Geist with 11 seconds left in the second period for a 27-point lead.
Cramer will join older brother Alex Cramer (first as a junior, second as a senior) at Old Dominion where he will wrestle in the 2021-22 season.
"Everything lined up," Cramer said. "We got bonus where we're supposed to, and we worked on our footwork all week. At the end of the day, it comes down to scoring points, and if I can do that I'm in contention."
The Bulldogs started a late comeback, as a pin by 195-pounder Logan Bricker and a 12-5 decision by Justin Brown (30-2) at 220 cut the lead to 36-18 with three bouts left.
But Central 285-pounder Jonathan Trudeau pinned his man in 4:18 to seal the team win for the Rams.
Grant 106-pounder Jose Zavala got a forfeit win, before a pin by 113-pound teammate Nolan Florez closed out the meet.
"We got pinned a number of times in matches when we were winning, and those pins were unacceptable," Grant coach Lenny Grodoski said. "I think the guys that are doing the right things we feel really good about, but we've got two weeks to figure it out."
Libertyville d. Lake Forest: The visiting Wildcats remained undefeated in the North Suburban Conference, jumping out to a 21-0 lead en route to a 51-10 victory.
Libertyville improved to 6-0 in the NSC, while dropping Lake Forest to 4-2. A Friday night contest with Zion-Benton is Libertyville's final hurdle to an undefeated conference season.
The meet opened at 152 pounds with E'lan Heard picking up the first-period fall. In a battle of two all-County wrestlers, Josh Knudten pulled away late for a 7-1 win over Sebastian Starks at 160. Dane Whitney got into an early hole at 170 before getting a second-period pin. Chase Baczek knocked off 2019 state qualifier Chase Waggoner at 182, 7-0. After Adam Pressley's 6-1 win at 195, Jordan Smith beat 2019 state qualifier Truman Thuente 5-2 at 220 for the 21-0 Libertyville lead.
Lake Forest got on the board with a 1-0 decision by Jack Owen at 285. Libertyville got 18 points in the next three weight classes by a forfeit and two pins. Morgan Cottam won 8-4 for Lake Forest at 126. The most competitive match of the night came at 132 when Libertyville's Andrew Costakis broke open a 4-4 third-period match, winning 8-5 over Quinn Mulligan. Following Danny Pucino's pin at 138, Lake Forest's Bennett Duggan closed out the meet with an 18-4 decision.