Rockets nail down 1st Class AA regional title

Burlington Central wrestling coach Tony Rigitano makes sure his team is in excellent physical condition.

That rigorous conditioning allowed the Rockets' Curt Mastio (145 pounds) to avoid an upset and grind out a 13-9 decision over Belvidere North's Ben Kunsak to remain undefeated at 36-0 Saturday at the Class AA Sycamore regional.

The early morning workouts and extended weight training sessions also allowed both Kevin Marshall (103) and Shane Burke (112) to start the Rockets off with championship-match wins.

But most importantly, the hard work paved the way for Burlington Central to take its first Class AA wrestling team championship. The Rockets (166.5) edged regional host Sycamore (152) to earn the victory. Belvidere (126) finished third, with Huntley (115) adding a strong showing with fourth-place finish.

BC will wrestle in the Rochelle team sectional on Feb. 19.

"The kids have done a great job," Rigitano said. "They do everything we ask. This means we're making strides."

Central has made major strides since Rigitano took over the program three years ago. In his first season, one wrestler made it out of the regional. Last season, four went to sectionals. This year, eight individual wrestlers qualified for next Saturday's Class AA Rock Island individual sectional.

Mastio suffered a huge scare when he trailed Kunsak (26-8) at the beginning of the third period. Mastio tied the match at 8-8 with a reversal with 43 seconds remaining, but allowed an escape. Then the second-wind kicked in. Mastion got a reversal with 7 seconds to go and a near pin as time expired to take a 13-9 victory.

"He did some things to keep me out of my game," Mastio said. "I'm in peak condition. I knew if I was going to keep pushing him, he was going to tire out."

Central also got a first-place finish from Taylor Schuck (25-4, 160), who scored an 11-3 major decision over Sycamore's Billy Byrd (27-15).

Both Garrett Fiorito (18-18, 119) and Zac Kein (24-15, 130) notched second-place finishes, while Zac Schrieber (19-21, 125) and Drew Halstead (23-14, 171) earned thirds.

Burke (30-5) scored a 13-4 major decision over Huntley's Coty Claudio (27-15). The margin of victory came as quite a surprise to Burke, who had been following Claudio's success all season long.

"I expected it to be a good match and keep it close," Burke said. "Then I started to put my moves together. I didn't expect anything like that."

The Red Raiders had some success of their own.

Tony Benning (189) barely cracked a sweat while pinning Marengo's Ryan Gaines (17-9) in 18 seconds. Benning (36-4) has 33 pins on the season and has only gone to the third period 5 times.

"I wrestle to pin," said Benning, who finished second at regionals last season. "That's what I expect every match."

Added Huntley coach Kurt Rohlwing: "He goes in for the kill. He's a pin machine."

Jordon Bakley (171) also scored a fall, pinning Sycamore's Jake Lancaster (25-14) in 3:15. Bakley (36-7) was third at 160 in regionals last season.

"It's something to glow upon for the rest of tonight," Bakley said.

Huntley's fourth-place showing was a major improvement over last season, when the Red Raiders were seventh out of 8 teams. Also advancing for Huntley was Brock Larkin (17-9), who finished first at 140, and Pat Patterson (27-13), who was third at 145.

Jacobs (102.5) finished fifth as a team and advanced 5 wrestlers to next week's sectional.

Nick Harris (18-9, 140) and Dan Olsen (26-10, 152) each took second in their respective weight classes.

Aaron Ryan (31-7, 103), Joe Ladick (20-13, 112) and Shane Delaney (4-1, 160) all scored victories in third-place matches to make the qualifying cut.