Round Lake splits matches at own triangular
After rolling past St. Viator in its opening dual meet, host Round Lake was going to face a big challenge against Class 2A power Lake Forest Saturday afternoon in a triangular meet at Round Lake.
But despite wrestling the Scouts tough at the lower weights, the Panthers had no answer for Lake Forest at the upper weights as Round Lake lost 53-14 to close out the day of competition.
The meet was originally scheduled to be a triple-dual meet, but Johnsburg canceled to due the inclement weather conditions in the surrounding area.
Lake Forest (15-3) opened the day with a lopsided 75-6 victory over short-handed St. Viator (11-8) in the first round before the Panthers (12-12) toppled the Lions by a final score of 68-12 in the second meet of the morning session.
Starting the dual meet against the Scouts at 113 pounds, Round Lake senior Jonathon Cermano posted a 25-10 technical fall at 120 pounds to cut the Scouts' lead to 6-5.
Round Lake's Alex Ros dropped a 6-4 decision at 126 before 132-pound teammate James Bills captured a 7-3 decision to keep the Panthers within striking distance at 8-6 early on.
But that match would be the end of the road for the Panthers as Lake Forest rolled off a stunning streak of nine straight victories from 138 to 285 to take a commanding 53-8 lead with only one bout left.
Among the losses was Round Lake 145-pound senior Ender Kongkaeow (25-4), who dropped a tough 4-3 decision to Lake Forest standout Bennett Duggan (20-2).
"It was a really close match. I have a lot of respect for that kid, and I knew it was going to be a tough match," said Kongkaeow. "As long as I can stay focused and healthy (reaching state) is the plan."
In his first match back from injury in six weeks, Round Lake senior Brandon Cohen (9-4 at 106) pinned his opponent in 2:39 to account for the final score.
"Lake Forest is really good, and (Lake Forest coach Matt) Fiordorosa has done a great job with those guys and he's gotten them to buy in," said Round Lake coach Mike Hruska. "Ender has to find out how to beat a kid of that caliber (Duggan) if he wants to get to state, and those are two evenly-matched guys."
Fiordorosa is a product of the Grant wrestling program, who was a four-time state qualifier, and a state runner-up in 2002.
"This was a little bit of redemption for us today because a lot of our guys got upset at the Glenbrook South tournament by Round Lake guys," said Fiordorosa. "Round Lake is a tough team with some scrappy kids, but I thought we handled the adversity really well today."
St. Viator was led by 182-pound senior Nick Demunno (23-4) with two victories, including a first-period pin against No. 6-ranked Chase Waggoner of Lake Forest. Demunno missed a shot at the state meet last year due to a shoulder injury.
"Nick did very well, he wrestled in great position, and he just went after it," said St. Viator coach Jason Churak, whose team had to forfeit six matches. "He caught Waggoner in a head lock and he put him away."
St. Viator junior Gaetano Console dropped two tough matches at 145 to fall to 19-6 on the 2019-20 season.
"It was a tough day today, I had a kid at 3A and 2A that were both honorable mention (all-state), but I didn't wrestle my best," Console said. "As a team I think we can improve a lot, and we have a lot of new kids this season."