Boys dual team wrestling: Barrington, Wheeling avenge last year’s sectional disappointments

This is story about second chances — and how Barrington and Wheeling took full advantage Thursday night in dual-team sectional action.

Last year at this time the two clubs missed out on their chance to advance into the dual-team state tournament.

Given the chance to avenge the disappointment, MSL champion Barrington beat Loyola 39-38 in Fox Lake at the Grant dual-team venue, while Wheeling, second in the MSL two weeks ago, stunned No. 7 Deerfield, 33-30, in Chicago at St. Ignatius College Prep.

The Broncos advance into the Class 3A dual-team state tournament in Bloomington where it will face Oak Park-River Forest (10-2-0) on Feb. 27, while the Wildcats take on Mahomet-Seymour in their Class 2 dual team state quarterfinal.

"Losing last year to Hononegah gave us the motivation to be better this year, but it was always one of our goals to win a regional, and have the opportunity to get downstate," echoed the Broncos’ dynamic duo of Kaleb Pratt (41-5) and Ryan Dorn (35-5) who along with five teammate earned bonus point victories to close out the Ramblers.

It was a bit of a seesaw affair that the Ramblers held a 26-22 advantage until Daniel Blanke (38-9), Same Cushman (32-10) and Aaron Jafri (29-17) recorded a pair of pins and a tech-fall to give the Broncos an insurmountable lead of 39-22.

Broncos (16-8) coach Dan Keller would then concede back-to-back forfeits that would make the final score much closer than it would appear.

"We knew coming in that Loyola had some terrific guys, and, obviously had a great coaching staff, (but) we always were confident with our lineup, and this week (we) mapped everything out to a tee, something I learned from Tom Whalen when I was at Prospect. He was a genius in his preparation for big duals like this," said Keller.

The Broncos made their last state appearance in 2020 when they were third.

On the other side of the cozy East Gym that was packed with fans of the host Grant Bulldogs, visiting Hononegah (13-7) roared back from a 24-15 deficit to score the next 21 points en route to a 35-31 triumph.

Next up for the 2025 state runners-up from Hononegah will be No. 4 St. Charles East (17-5) who blanked Maine South at Oak Park-RIver Forest.

The No. 5 Bulldogs (23-5-0) were looking to advance to state for the first time since 2016, and looked on their way after No. 3 Erik Rodriguez (35-6) and Vince Jasinski (40-5) recorded pins in less than one minute.

But Hononegah has three potential state champions in Rocco and Bruno Cassioppi and Brody Sendele, and all three proved lethal with a trio of pins to fuel the comeback.

The Bulldogs will now focus on the Barrington individual sectional next weekend where they have 11 competing, eight of which claimed regional titles.

Conant fell to Oak Park-River Forest in the other dual, but for head coach Andrew Guilde, it has been a wonderful ride.

"Our regional title was 100% a full team effort. Every guy on the team would contribute in some form or another, and from the start, it was one of our goals, and all 14 guys in our lineup made a contribution with bonus points when we needed them the most," said Guilde.

Wheeling (12-4), No. 14 in the most recent Class 2A state polls, was clearly the underdog to No. 7 Deerfield (18-3).

The Wildcats and senior big man Pablo Morales would weather the Warriors’ lower weight strength that would put 31 points on the board after the 150-pound match was complete before scoring the next 27 points to claim a hard-fought 33-31 victory.

"We all wanted a chance to get back to (dual) team sectionals after we lost last year to Crystal Lake Central. So it was always one of our most important goals as a team," said Morales, who put the finishing touches on this contest with a pin just 21 seconds into his 285-pound match.

John Scanlon (157), Damian Brito (165), Nicholas Montesinos (175), Ashtan Lokhov (190), Eddie Juarez (215) and Morales were unstoppable down the stretch to help send the Wildcats to their first dual-team state appearance since 2017.

"It was an incredible night for us with so many guys coming through when we needed it most," said Wildcats coach Charlie Curran.

"David Perez (120) got us a big decision to slow them down a little, Juan Escanuela was big at 132, Damian Brito (165) did not wrestle with the varsity since 2024 and earned a major, and John Scanlon (157) who is a prolific pinner, came through with another one, just ahead of Nicholas Montesinos' amazing 8-7 win."

Over in Class 1A, it was a tough night for Wheaton Academy (16-10-0) who met Lena Winslow-Stockton (31-3-0) at the Oregon team sectional.

The Warriors put up a valiant effort against the No. 2 rated Panthers, winning the first two bouts at 106 (Elliot Hardy) and 113 (Zion Kaunley) but except for wins at 132 (Oscar Smith) plus victories from its two best men Lincoln Hoger (150) and Tyler Jones (175) saw the Warriors fall 50-21.