Libertyville closing in on NSC title
With another impressive win, the Libertyville wrestling team moved one step closer to winning the North Suburban Conference wrestling championship outright Thursday night at Mundelein.
Starting the dual meet at 220 pounds, the Wildcats built a commanding lead over the injury-decimated Mustangs before cruising to a lopsided 63-13 NSC victory.
Libertyville (18-3, 6-0) can recapture the NSC title Friday night if the Wildcats can post another win at Zion-Benton. This would be Libertyville's first NSC crown since Stevenson has won the past four conference titles.
Mundelein (6-13, 1-5) would have definitely fared much better Thursday night, but the Mustangs are without the services of 2018 state qualifier Reese Durlacher, who had season-ending surgery for a torn meniscus in his knee about one month ago.
Not only have they missed Durlacher's presence in the lineup recently, but Mundelein senior state medalist Logan Kvien (fourth in 2018) missed the entire wrestling and football seasons because of surgery for a torn labrum in his shoulder.
The Mustangs were forced to forfeit six matches to the Wildcats, mostly at the lower weight classes, that staked Libertyville to a commanding 45-0 lead after eight bouts.
"It's tough losing two of our seniors who were state qualifiers, and filling a varsity lineup right now has been pretty tough because some of the younger guys are not ready," said Mustangs coach Craig Stocker, who also held key junior Jason Guadarrama (28-4 at 285) out of the lineup due to a minor injury. "Libertyville does a great job, and (coach) Dale (Eggert) does a great job coaching his kids how to stay in matches, but our guys fought hard and they battled."
A pin by Libertyville 220-pounder Jordan Smith in 2:24 got the ball rolling for Libertyville before 285-pound teammate Eddie Downing's 6-0 decision over Franco Perez put Mundelein in an early 10-0 deficit.
Forfeit wins for Libertyville teammates Caelan Riley (106), and Michael Rocco (113) were followed by a pin by Peter Kafkis at 120 and the Mustangs quickly found themselves in a 27-0 hole.
Then came the real backbreaker as Mundelein was forced to give up forfeits to Brandon Murphy (126), Danny Pucino (132), and Michael Gunther (138), and the Wildcats never looked back after that point of the meet.
"You can't forfeit six and expect to win, but I thought they had some guys wrestle us tough," said Eggert, whose team placed second to Warren Monday at the Lake County meet. "Their guy (D.J. Preston) played his cards right (against Ryan Damenti at 195), and he knew the situation."
The Wildcats extended their commanding lead with pins by Alec Goodman (145), and Quentin Hart (152) before sophomore Chase Baczek added a forfeit victory at 160. Mundelein got on the scoreboard with a pin in 1:13 by 170-pound senior Geo Albavera (29-8) before teammate Rudy Osornio posted a 13-4 major decision over Adam Pressley at 182.
Preston closed out the meet with an 11-8 decision over Damenti in a wild match that wound up going back and forth until the final buzzer.
"This has been a tough week for us with the Lake County meet being moved to Monday," added Stocker. "And it was not necessary to put Jason Guadarrama in the lineup tonight with the regionals a week away."