Grayslake Central senior making Hay downstate
CHAMPAIGN — Dylan Hay had read about it all week long.
Sycamore star Steven Lalowski was going to beat him and everyone else on the way to the Class 2A 145-pound wrestling final Saturday night.
Well, whatever motivation Hay got from the conventional wisdom was enough to change the narrative dramatically in favor of the Grayslake Central senior Thursday afternoon. Hay took down Lalowski 6-5 in his tournament opener to earn a spot in today’s quarterfinals at the Assembly Hall.
“Dylan has a great heart,” said Grayslake Central coach Dan Catanzaro, just moments after Hay (36-8) got in on Lalowski (40-3). The Sycamore standout went ahead 5-4 in the final 30 seconds only to give up the match-winning takedown in the closing stages.
“Yeah, I saw on the internet where (Lalowski) was going to go past me in the first round and win our weight class, so it helped inspire me a little bit,” said Hay, who will face Xavier Montalvo in the quarters, which begin at 8:30 a.m. today.
“That kid was gassed, and the two things about Dylan,” said Catanzaro, “is he has a big heart, and always has a full tank of gas, and he had more left at the end than his opponent.”
Top-rated Jeremy Brazil (42-1) had to too much for No. 2 Chris Ballard (Gage Park) in an unusual first-round bout between the top-ranked heavyweights. The Vernon Hills senior outlasted Ballard (26-3) in his tourney opener 5-1 to send him safely into the quarters; Brazil next meets Kyrin Tucker (31-7) of Normal West.
“Jeremy was just too big and strong for (Ballard),” said Cougars coach Jerry Miceli, who watched his big man defend a handful of shots from the lighter and quicker Ballard in the first period before Brazil overpowered his opponent.
Things went well on the home front for many of the area wrestlers in 2A, including Devon Tortorice (Wauconda, 33-2) at 120 pounds, as well as the Antioch trio of Mike Gussarson (126), George Gonzalez (145) and Zach Epker (170, 3-2) who all passed their first-round test and will now appear in the quarterfinals.
Tortorice, in his second straight state trip, used a 4-2 decison over Nate Jozsa of Mt. Zion to set up a key match Friday morning with Ignace Hakizimana (Rock Island, 38-5), who finished fourth last season.
Gussarson, a state qualifier a year ago along with Gonzalez and Epker, started fast and never let up en route to a fall over Michael Triplett (Normal West, 34-12) to set up a quarterfinal bout with Doug Johnson (33-4) of DeKalb. Johnson was a sixth-place medalist last season and has 110 career victories behind him.
“It was hard waiting all day after weighing in so early today (7:30 a.m.), so it was really important for me to get that first takedown, and to keep trying to score to stay sharp all throughout my match,” said the Bulldogs junior, who is second behind teammate Nate Magiera (195) in pins with 11.
Magiera (40-7) won his 40th match of the season when he defeated Alec Brown of Oak Forest. Next up is No. 2 Jake Davis (40-1) of Sycamore.
No. 1 Matt Ornoff (Mundelein) ran his record to 40-0 with a fall at 1:44 over Jesse McCabe (Leyden) to stay in the running at 138 pounds, while big men Shakheim Chapman (Warren, 39-2), Quinton Quarles (Grant, 37-4) and Jake Cochrane (35-7, Carmel, 285) all advanced. Cochrane got it done the hard way, with a victory in OT 3-1 over Matt Daniels of Hillcrest.
“We’ve got to find a way to score more points on our feet, but a win is a win is a win down here,” smiled Carmel coach Bob Kuykendall.