Grant takes showdown over Round Lake
With only one more week left in the dual-meet season, Thursday night was basically the battle for the North Suburban Conference Prairie Division wrestling title.
Visiting Round Lake and Grant were tied for first place with 4-0 records -- but the state-ranked Bulldogs prevailed 49-20 to clinch at least a tie for the division crown.
Starting at 215 pounds, the Panthers (14-5, 4-1) hung tough with Grant (15-1, 5-0) in the early going as a pin by Vince Nicoline (24-7) staked Round Lake to a 6-0 lead.
Grant 285-pounder Andrew Zapfel answered with a pin to tie the score at 6-6 before Round Lake 103-pounder Frank Contraras (17-4) pinned his opponent in 2:28.
Then Round Lake 112-pounder Jose Jimenez (25-5) added a technical fall in 5:37 -- and the Panthers led 17-6.
Sophomore Jason Montemayor (23-3) got the Bulldogs on track with a 6-1 decision over Erich Ramirez at 119 before 125-pound teammate Rocky Bustos won by forfeit to cut the lead to 17-15.
In the match of the night, Round Lake 130-pounder Dillon Pousson (27-4) appeared headed for defeat against Izzy Montemayor, as Montemayor held a 7-3 lead with about 20 seconds left.
But Pousson got a reversal and a near pin to capture an 8-7 decision in a bout between two 2007 state qualifiers who had not wrestled head-to-head since about age 10.
"He (Montemayor) shot in on my leg and I kind of sat back and used his momentum to kick him up with my right leg for the reversal," said Pousson, who is SIU-bound. "I wasn't really going for the pin after that, but I was just holding him down to run out the clock and get the win."
Trailing 20-15, Grant's Shelby Temple (23-4) recorded a 5-1 decision over Adam Barnard at 135 before Grant sophomore Lee Munster (13-0) posted a technical fall at 140 to give the Bulldogs their first lead at 23-20.
Munster won the 119-pound state title last year, but he also lost to Pousson in the regular season.
Grant rolled through the remainder of the meet as pins by 145-pounder Tyler Becker (24-5) and 152-pounder Tyler Dempsey made the score 35-20.
At 160 pounds, Joe Loris added a 5-1 decision over Javier Villa before a technical fall by 171-pounder Josh DeLuca (26-4) and a forfeit win by 189-pounder Josh Lewandowski ended the meet.
"We had some kids wrestle really well, but in some matches we didn't wrestle to our potential and Round Lake wrestled really well," said Grant coach Ryan Geist. "I thought Izzy wrestled a great match, but with Pousson you are always playing with a little bit of fire because he has a lot of unorthodox moves he uses and Izzy just got a little sloppy."
The Panthers were still without the services of injured 2007 state qualifier Ray Bryant at 152 and teammate Brandon Cartwright at 285.
"I thought our kids wrestled really tough, but it would have been closer with our full lineup," said Round Lake coach John Jobst. "But Grant is always tough, and they just have a lot more athletes and depth than we have. But I'm really pleased with how we wrestled."