A week ago Wednesday, Oak Park River Forest, Ill., (now ranked No. 10) earned a 34-29 victory over Montini Catholic, Ill., (which drops to No. 11) in a battle of nationally elite squads. Without two key starters in returning state runner-up Matt Rundell (120) and projected state placer Andre Lee (195), the Huskies needed wins in the last five weight classes to rally back from a 29-15 deficit.
Freshman Isaiah White started the rally with a 3-1 victory over two-time state placer Jordan Laster at 126 pounds, sophomore returning state placer Larry Early continued the momentum with a pin over Jose Champagne at 132 pounds, and then it was Jake O'Mara registering a mild upset with the win by fall against two-time state placer Chris Garcia at 138 to cut the deficit down to 29-28. The last two matches of the dual meet would now be “must wins” for OPRF.
These were both tossup matches. At 145 pounds, it was a battle of returning state qualifiers decided in overtime, when junior Johnny Gahagan scored the takedown to earn a 3-1 victory. Then trying to protect a 31-29 lead, OPRF sent out freshman Kamaal Bey to face returning state placer Michael Sepke, and he got the job done in a 9-5 victory.
It was another statement by the Huskies on a week ago this evening, as they traveled to No. 23 Marmion Academy, where they left with a 38-19 buoyed by four crucial swing victories during a stretch of eight consecutive wins early in the dual meet. The match started good enough for the Cadets, who saw senior Jake Field earn a 5-3 decision over fellow senior Darius Henry at 126 pounds. However, three straight losses in winnable matches would swing the proceedings in the Huskies favor.
At 132 pounds, No. 15 George Fisher held a 4-2 lead into the last half-minute of the match, when the freshman White would register a late takedown and get a subsequent turn in registering a 7-4 victory. The next was even more disastrous for Marmion Academy, as freshman Matt Ferraro jumped out to a 5-0 lead over O'Mara after one period, but O'Mara earned the fall in the second period at the 3:15 mark. In the next match, it was a 5-3 overtime victory for Gahagan over another Cadet freshman Trace Carello. Consecutive falls from the freshman Bey and No. 18 Davonte Mahomes would give OPRF a 24-3 lead after 160 pounds.
In the 170 pound match, the Cadets looked to turn things around; however, OPRF freshman Malik Stallings earned a 3-1 overtime victory. A technical fall from No. 18 Joe Ariola and 5-1 decision for Cory Cepak made the laed 35-3 for OPRF. Marmion Academy responded with wins in four of the last five matches, the only loss being 4-3 at 113 pounds in a battle of freshmen, to reflect the final margin.
Hooray for the state series
With the month of February about to be in our midst, most seasons are starting to taper down, and then ramp up with the state tournament progression. For one state, this weekend marks the end of the season, as it will be state finals weekend in Alaska's Class 4A competition. On the dual meet side of things, Tennessee will stage its championships.
The opening weekend of the three-week individual state series in Illinois, they call it the regional level, is also crucial in the team state progression. Only champions in each of the individual regionals advance to the sweet 16 of the dual meet state tournament (the individual state tournament does not have an official team score kept). In the big-school division, that means a very tight battle at the Marist regional between No. 14 Carl Sandburg, the defending state champions, and No. 21 Marist. Last year, Carl Sandburg won this regional by a narrow 12-1/2 points, though Marist had earned a dual meet victory over the Eagles at The Clash, on the way to a subsequent state title.
Additionally, district dual meet tournaments across the Keystone State will set up the bracket for next week's state dual meet championships that start with preliminary matches across the state on Monday night before sixteen teams convene for first round matches in Hershey one week from today.
Bergen Catholic navigates tough week of schedule in the Garden State
After their 39-18 win over then No. 31 Bound Brook, Bergen Catholic moved up seven spots in the rankings to No. 35, while Bound Brook dropped to No. 37 in the Fab 50 team rankings. Though Bergen Catholic won nine matches on this evening, it was a dual meet that could have just as easily been 9-5 in favor of Bound Brook. The teams split the first ten matches five-to-five, 220 pounds back around the turn to 152, as Bergen Catholic exited with a 20-18 lead.
In terms of key early matches, Tyler Casementi scored a 3-2 victory at 113 pounds over Rob Murray due to a late stalling call. At 132 pounds, J.P. Ascolese also got a key 8-6 victory in overtime for Bergen Catholic against Jeison Arias; while at 145 pounds, it was Bound Brook's Nick Acetta earning a 10-9 victory in the overtime tiebreaker. Also in this first portion of the dual meet, Bergen Catholic junior Laurien Angelhina took it to returning state qualifier Emmanuel Soto in a first period win by fall at 138 pounds.
The last one-third of the dual meet started innocently enough with a 6-2 victory from freshman Kevin Mulligan at 160 pounds to stretch the Bergen Catholic lead out to 23-18. Then at 170 pounds, freshman Abe Saavedra jumped out to a 5-0 lead for Bound Brook against senior opponent Gianni Hallak. However, Hallak rallied back to take a 9-7 lead late into the third period, when he would then secure the pin at 5:56. A 14-4 major decision by No. 7 Johnny Sebastian at 182 pounds put the dual meet out of reach, but a back-and-forth match at 195 pounds ended with a pin for Bergen Catholic's Christian Jenco to reflect the final margin.
In a match just last evening, Bergen Catholic needed a last match victory from No. 1 Nick Suriano, 4-1 over No. 9 Kyle Bierdumpfel at 106 pounds, to beat a now at full strength Don Bosco Prep squad that was ranked earlier in the season 26-24. The teams split the fourteen weight classes seven-to-seven. Two-time state placer Luis Gonzalez, finally down to 113 pounds, opened the proceedings for Don Bosco with an 11-4 decision victory; and transfer Sam Cali, who missed the first part of the season, extended the Ironman lead out to 7-0 after a 24-11 major decision at 120 pounds. The lead would reach 10-0 after the 126 pound weight class before J.P. Ascolese and Laurent Angelhina answered back with a decision and major decision respectively for the Crusaders.
The two squads would split decisions across the next four bouts, Don Bosco Prep at 145 and 170, while Bergen Catholic got victories from freshmen Joseph Grello and Kevin Mulligan at 152 and 160 respectively. A pin from Sebastian at the 1:18 mark would give the Crusaders their first lead of the night at 20-17 after the 182 pound weight class. State champion Razohn Gross was only able to earn a 14-8 decision at 195 pounds against Connor O'Brien, which tied the dual meet. No. 14 Zach Chakonis scored a 9-1 major decision over Cadet double All-American Christian Jenco for the Ironman, while Carmine Goldsack responded with a 7-3 decision at 285 for the Crusaders to set the stage for Suriano to close the dual meet.
Southern statement
In a battle of Georgia state dual meet champions, it was Archer (Class 6A champs) emerging with the 34-29 victory over Pope (Class 5A) this past Saturday. The Tigers were without state champion Ernest Alexander at 195 pounds in this dual meet due to SAT testing. In fact, the margin was 34-17 with two matches to go, with Archer choosing to forfeit those on indifference. With the result, Archer moves up from No. 49 to No. 44, while the Greyhounds drop from No. 34 to No. 40.
Late regular season highlights
No. 1 Blair Academy, N.J., travels to No. 2 St. Edward as part of a quad on Saturday afternoon. Joining those two squads will be Marysville, Ohio and Steubenville, Ohio. The first two rounds are slated for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. while the top two teams in the nation will tussle at around 3 p.m. InterMat will be posting a preview of the event on Friday, while providing updates throughout the quad on Saturday afternoon.
Don Bosco Prep, N.J., is slated to compete in a dual meet against No. 37 Bound Brook, N.J., on Saturday morning. It will be interesting to see how the revamped, and full strength, Ironmen lineup does against yet another prominent team.
Shamrocks drive south on I-75, come home winners against Moeller
This past Saturday it was No. 15 Detroit Catholic Central, Mich., who made the trip down to No. 20 Cincinnati Moeller, Ohio and left for the better with a 37-21. The Shamrocks won most of the crucial matches, got more matches with bonus points (3 pins to one), and got the matches they wanted. The dual meet did start well for the Crusaders, with No. 10 Chalmer Frueauf bumping up a weight class to get the pin at 285 over returning state placer Robert Coe. Moeller would then extend the lead out to 14-0 with major decisions coming from Will Kruspe (106) and Conner Ziegler (113).
That would be almost it for Crusaders highlights, as the Shamrocks would win the next five matches to take a 19-14 lead. That stretch started with returning state placer Trevor Zdebski upending freshman Jacoby Ward 9-2 at 120 pounds, Myles Amine and No. 12 (at 126) Ken Bade would earn falls in the next two weights, two-time state placer Malik Amine scored a major at 138, and it was capped off by a 3-1 victory from Chris Naubert at 145.
Moeller did cut the deficit down to two at 19-17 after the 4-3 decision victory by Wyatt Wilson at 152. However, Detroit Catholic Central answered back with a fall from 2011 state champion Logan Marcicki against 2011 state placer Dean Meyer in a battle of excellent juniors. In another swing match at 170, it was No. 17 Andrew Garcia extending the Shamrocks lead in the dual meet with a 5-1 victory over No. 20 Dakota Sizemore. The lead grew to 31-17 after sophomore Nick Giese, scored a 2-1 tiebreaker victory over returning state qualifier Quentin Rosser at 182 pounds in a battle of wrestlers projected to place top six in their respective state tournaments. Jerry Thornberry would score a major for Moeller at 195, while senior Jay Peterson responded with a fall for the Shamrocks to reflect the final outcome.
Quick hits of the past weekend
Even with multiple starters missing, No. 3 Wyoming Seminary, Pa., was able to score a 36-24 victory over No. 32 McDonogh, Md., in the championship match of the Gilman Duals this past Saturday. McDonogh won five matches against the Blue Knights in addition to getting the void at 106 pounds. One of the key victories for Wyoming Seminary came at 285 pounds, where reserve first-year wrestler Cody Stemrich scored a fall at the 2:23 mark to cinch the dual meet prior to the penultimate match forfeit.
No. 19 Kasson-Mantorville, Minn. won the championship match at its home dual meet tournament this past Saturday with a 37-22 victory over No. 38 Simley, Minn. Two interesting outcomes were at 126 and 132 pounds, where Komet grapplers earned wins in what could be previews of key matches deep in the state tournament. At 126 pounds it was Nate Thomas, a 2010 state champion, scoring the 8-5 victory over defending state champion Juan Torres, who had missed the first half-plus of the season for Simley. While at 132 pounds, the match of defending state champions featured eighth grader Brady Berge scoring a 3-2 tiebreaker victory over Kyle Gliva.
Davenport Assumption, Iowa out-pointed No. 46 Bettendorf, Iowa to win the MAC Conference Tournament this past Saturday, 255 to 243 was the final margin. There were five head-to-head matches for first place, with the second place Bulldogs going 3-2 in those affairs. However, Davenport Assumpiton added three other weight class titles, while Bettendorf just had one other weight class victory. Earlier in the season, Bettendorf won the dual meet while they also out-pointed Davenport Assumption at the Cheesehead.
Grand Island, Neb., moves into the Fab 50 this week after their title at the Top of the Rockies this past weekend. The Islanders enter the rankings in the No. 49 position after volume ruled the day, as they had no champions, but saw half their lineup place -- including three finishing as runner-up and two more in third place. The margin ended up being very narrow, 196-1/2 to 194-1/2, as second place Broomfield, Colo. countered with four weight class champions. Formerly ranked Pomona, Colo. was third in the standings with 160 points coming from no champions and seven placers (one runner-up, three in third, a pair in fourth, and one in fifth).
Team USA Dapper Dan squad unveiled
Yesterday, the Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic Committee released the USA all-star team for the event to be held on Sunday, March 17 at the University of Pittsburgh. Four wrestlers ranked No. 1 in the country by InterMat are on the squad: Nathan Tomasello (120), Joey Dance (126), Ben Whitford (145), and Jake Short (152). For the full listing: http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/11270.
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