Boys wrestling: Warren’s Noble, Stewart advance to state championship matches
CHAMPAIGN — Caleb Noble and Aaron Stewart have been lauded as one of the best attacking pairing in the area since the two formed what would be a state championship duo a year ago for Warren.
The duo advanced into Saturday night’s final at the State Farm Center after their marvelous work in their 3A semifinals before an appreciative crowd.
Noble (43-2) will have the chance to avenge an earlier loss to No. 1 Caden Cordell (48-0, Normal Community in the 113-pound final while No. 1 Stewart (42-2) meets RJ Robinson (Homewood-Flossmoor, 40-6) in a 175-pound final.
Noble would watch Cordell pushed at times from freshman phenom Oleksandr (Sasha) Havrylkiv (33-3) in their semifinal after Havrylkiv stunned No. 3 Rocco Hayes (Sandburg, 44-2) with a takedown seconds from the end of their quarterfinal.
"I knew I had to do something at the end so I just went for it," said Havrylkiv, just after his 6-5 thriller.
No. 1 Evan Gosz (Fremd, 46-2) will be in his second straight state final at 144 after back-to-back hard fought matches -- the first against No. 3 Donavon Allen (Marist, 41-3) which required plenty of heroics during a 4-3 victory.
The senior, three times a state medal winner, would explode at the end of his semifinal with No. 4 Ryan Hinger (Sandburg, 43-5) en route to a 12-3 major decision win.
"Both of those matches were nerve-wracking. Each opponent is so tough, but I stayed composed and calm, and just waited for my chances in each match," said Gosz, who will wrestle his good friend Zach Stewart (33-2) from Marmion Academy, who recently bumped up from 138 to make this weight class an all-star group.
Brady Phelps, himself a three-time state medal winner at Schaumburg, cruised into the 120-pound final where he will meet No. 1 Dom Munaretto (St. Charles East, 50-1) in what will be their third meeting of the year.
"I felt good all throughout this day. And in this semifinal, I just came out strong, attacking and pushing the pace," said Phelps, 42-4, now with a 142 career victories.
"Brady had that look in his face today (so) I knew he would be in good shape," added Saxons coach Mike Levanti.
No. 2 William Cole finds his name on the guest list of tonight's Grand March after his 1-0 victory over rival Abisai Hernandez (Mundelein, 41-7) in their 285-pound semifinal.
"Abisai and I have wrestled so many times in our career that we have developed a great friendship. But we both know it's a battlefield in the center of the mat when we wrestle," said Cole (50-3) with a smile.
It's been 29 years years since Round Lake has had someone in the state final, and for Cole, it will be against No.1 Jonathan Rulo (34-0) from Belleville East who defeated Maine South senior Tyler Fortis (38-3) on the other side of the bracket with a 7-2 decision.
Fortis will go after a state medal Saturday, as will, among others, Vince Jasinski (Grant, 45-7) who turned in a marvelous six minutes against reigning state champion Nicholas Garcia (Marmion Academy, 24-1) before conceding a 9-3 decision.
It was the lethal and clinical finishing from Grayslake Central sophomore Vince DeMarco that would send the Rams star into the 2A final at 106 pounds after he pinned Dominic Pasquale (IC Catholic Prep, 20-8) in his semifinal long after defeating No. 2 Erik Klichurov (Montini Catholic, 46-5) in his quarterfinal.
DeMarco (47-2) will now meet Ray Long (Notre Dame, 45-4) in his final in a rematch of a Crystal Lake Central semifinal a week ago in which Long won.
"Last week was already behind by the time last weekend was over. It was all about getting myself ready for this weekend," said DeMarco, fourth here a year ago.
Antioch senior Gavin Hanrahan (26-8), third here last season, suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss to Xavier Villalobos (Rochelle, 42-5) in their 126-pound 2A semifinal -- sending the Sequoits three-time state qualifier into today's wrestle-backs.
He will be joined by Carmel Catholic senior David Farjado (22-2) who advanced with ease into his 150-pound semifinal where he dropped a 8-3 contest to Brock Ross (47-4) from Mascoutah.
The last day of the tournament will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday with wrestle-back semifinals followed immediately by the third- and fifth-place matches.
State Farm Center will be rocking when the lights dim in advance of the Grand March set to start at 5:30 p.m., with the state finals beginning at 6.