Wheeling snares 2A title at Deerfield
By Gary Larsen for the IWCOA
Just like it is for any team winning a regional title, Wheeling’s Class 2A title win Saturday came thanks to contributions far and wide.
There were comeback wins on the title mat from Wheeling’s Frankie Katz and David Perez. Wheeling heavyweight Pablo Morales won a title. Five more Wheeling wrestlers reached the finals and placed second, and on the gut-wrenching third-place mat, three of four Wheeling wrestlers won to become sectional qualifiers.
All of the above was pivotal to Wheeling’s team title win at Deerfield. But in one of the closest team races anywhere in Illinois, the poster boy for Wheeling’s 196-189.5 win over Wauconda was senior Jonny Dominguez.
With Wheeling and Wauconda locked in a dogfight, Dominguez lost by major decision to Wauconda’s 6th-ranked Mike Merevick in the finals at 190 pounds. But the way Dominguez finished that match perfectly illustrated what Wheeling coach Charlie Curran loves about his team.
Dominguez suffered an eye injury against Merevick and with his right eye quickly swelling shut, Dominguez and Curran met at the trainer’s table to assess the injury.
“The trainer said ‘I don’t think he can go back out there’,” Curran said, “and (Dominguez) just says ‘ah, I’ll be fine’. Then he goes out and finishes the match. And that was big for the team, for him to not give up a fall there to one of the toughest wrestlers in the tournament.”
Afterwards, with wrestling mats being rolled up behind him as one of 11 sectional qualifiers for Wheeling, Dominguez looked like a battered boxer who couldn’t escape a left jab. So it was with a wide grin and a wicked black eye that he happily explained what propelled his side to its first regional team title since 2017, and its 13th in program history.
“I just have to give thanks to coach Curran and all the coaches,” Dominguez said. “They helped build us up to where we are now, they push us every day in practice. (Curran) just wants what’s best for us. And we’re a family. We call each other brothers. And thanks to all of our families, too, because they also built us up and gave us the support we needed.”
After individual place medals were handed out and Wheeling was announced as team champion inside Deerfield’s fieldhouse, Curran’s boys went predictably wild as they hoisted their regional plaque.
After they settled down, they all scaled the awards stand for the obligatory team photo, as parents three rows deep held up cell phones and snapped away.
Then came one of the day’s best moments. Wheeling is a hard-working, blue-collar town. Its high school competes in a Mid-Suburban League loaded with bigger Class 3A schools; among the MSL’s 12 wrestling programs, Wheeling is the only one small enough to wrestle in Class 2A.
After team photos were taken, Curran gathered his wrestlers, their parents, and their friends together so he could address them. He gave his wrestlers’ parents a grateful earful, but he might have well been speaking to wrestling parents everywhere:
“Your support and the community’s support for these fourteen kids, and our girls’ team, our freshmen — it just means the world,” Curran said, “It took that support to get something like this done. People are congratulating me but I didn’t really do anything today but sit there and be scared, so I’m very thankful for all of you. Thank you very much for everything you’ve done for this program and for your children. Because I guarantee you it’s going to pay dividends as they become adults. I’m so proud of them. So thank you all.”
All individual qualifiers will wrestle at the 2A Crystal Lake Central Sectional beginning on Friday,
A Wheeling loss here and a bonus point given up there would have been enough to give Wauconda the team title. But starting with Katz’s 7-4 comeback win in the finals at 106 against Vernon Hills’ Charles Dominguez, Wheeling’s script began to play out.
Katz (30-7) trailed Dominguez (27-10) 3-0 after two periods, escaped to start the third to make it 3-1 and went up 4-3 on a takedown with only 40 seconds remaining. One more takedown in the waning seconds gave the sophomore his regional title.
Next came Perez (22-10), who fell behind 3-0 in the first period of the 113 finals to Deerfield’s Jorey Becker (30-16). Perez escaped and tied the match 4-4 with a takedown in the final seconds of the second period. A Perez escape point midway through the third provided the final 5-4 decision win.
“I knew I needed to get one more. Last year I took second so that motivated me to try even harder,” Perez said. “And to see us take first here, it’s really great to see how much we’re improving as a team. This summer we were all wrestling at clubs and getting better. I’m excited for the sectional.”
Curran was happy to see his two lower-weight champs stay the course in the face of a deficit.
“We try to preach all the time not to worry about the score, just go and get the next points, and not to get down on yourselves if you’re losing,” Curran said. “Those two guys did a great job of that today. Frankie had to come out and get two takedowns late and he found a way to get it done in regulation. David had to go get (a takedown) too, and then he hung on at the end and got the escape there. It’s what we talk about all the time — just keep wrestling. Don’t stop.”
One of Illinois’ best wrestlers snared the title at 120. Wauconda’s Gavin Rockey has placed second in Illinois twice at 106 and he used two pins to win a regional title on Saturday in Deerfield. His pin in the finals against Deerfield’s Danny Martinez upped Rockey’s season record to 39-7.
“I feel good. This is when I start to peak,” Rockey said. “This is when I start to perform my best. You’ve got to be thinking about it 24-7, slowly tapering down in the room, and then just honing in on your technique.”
Rockey placed second in state at 106 twice in the last two years.
“At first it was a little tough to get used to the jump from 106 to 120 this year but I found out pretty quickly that I could hang with these guys,” Rockey said. “I focused in on what I was doing badly last year, like diving on a kid’s legs. I focused on technique and what I needed to do better. I know it’s my last ride so I’m nervous but excited for it. I feel better than in years past. Last year the cut to 106 was tough, for sure. This year I feel healthy.”
The first of Deerfield’s four regional champions came next at 126. 5th-ranked Adrian Cohen (38-8) had the lone takedown of the title match against Wheeling’s Joey Romano in winning a 4-0 decision. Next came teammate Jackson Palzet, ranked 6th in Illinois at 132 pounds.
Palzet’s second-period fall against Wheeling’s Max Katz gave him a 43-1 record heading into the sectional meet. Palzet is a senior with a star-crossed past, seeking his first state finals appearance. Palzet broke his arm last season as a junior, then healed up and got back at it.
“I’ve always been injured in the high school season and couldn’t perform,” Palzet said.
“After last season I put in a lot of preseason work. I was a freestyle state finalist and a Fargo qualifier. I also did a lot of research on nutrition in the offseason and how to cut weight the right way because last year, I’d work really hard and then not recover, and then I’d get hurt. So a lot of this year has been about nutrition and recovery.”
Two wrestlers at the Deerfield Regional went in ranked 2nd in Illinois in their weight classes and both won regional titles. The first was Deerfield’s Jordan Rasof (44-2) at 138, who in his career has placed 5th and 6th in Champaign. Top-seeded senior Rasof won by fall at 3:28 in his title match against Carmel’s 6th-ranked Matthew Lucansky (34-7).
Wrestling fans saw one seriously dissatisfied wrestler leave the title mat at 144, when Wauconda’s Brian Hart (33-12) stomped away after winning a regional title by tech fall against Deerfield’s Alex Shvartsman (33-14) at the 4:00 mark.
The Wauconda sophomore may have won the first regional title of his career, but didn’t feel as though he met the standard he has set for himself.
“That should have been a first-period tech,” Hart said. “I had a sour taste in my mouth after that match, and even after my first match when I didn’t wrestle how I wanted to. But last year at regionals I took second (at 132). I lost to (Antioch’s) Edgar Albino by decision. And at sectionals I lost to (St. Patrick’s) Olin Walker by major and to (Montini’s) Kam Luif by decision.”
Luif went on to finish 3rd in state and Albino placed 6th in Champaign.
Hart knows a sectional showdown with Antioch’s Chase Nobiling might be in the making, and he’d like another shot at the Sequoits’ junior after two barnburners this season between the two 144-pounders.
“The first time I wrestled him I was a point away from a tech and he threw me to my back for a pin,” Hart said. “Then I saw him at Lake County and I was up on him by a point with 20 seconds left and he got a takedown and I lose by two. I hope we get to wrestle again.”
Nobiling is ranked 8th in Illinois and Hart is also listed in the state’s top 20.
The title match at 150 featured Wauconda junior Wyatt Roland (32-16) and a senior who will not only turn pro as a boxer after he graduates, but also hasn’t wrestled since his freshman year: Carmel’s David Farjado.
Farjado improved to 17-1 in winning the title via major decision against Roland, then talked about his journey back to wrestling.
“I’m a boxer at heart and I’ll turn pro this upcoming year, but I just decided to wrestle because I’ve been wrestling since I was six and I love it,” Farjado said. “My mom kept saying she missed me wrestling and it’s been pretty cool to come back. I’ve always had an aggressive mindset in whatever I’m doing so it’s good to be back in the sport. Coming back, I have a statement to make and I feel great.”
Deerfield senior Charlie Cross (37-9) at 157 may have expressed the best mindset of all when it comes to wrestling in the regional, sectional and state tournament: “I’m the predator,” Cross said.
Cross was a wounded predator in his title match Saturday, suffering an ankle injury but gutting it out to win a major decision against Wauconda’s Brody McKenna (27-16).
“He did a switchover and I heard my ankle pop,” Cross said. “I knew I had to finish the match and win the regional. It was tough but I got it done. You just have to stay tough, not let him take advantage of you, stay in the zone and finish the match. And I was (mad) I didn’t get the number one seed. (The ankle) is okay and I’ll be fine by the sectional. I’ll just keep wrestling my match.”
Vernon Hills junior Ilia Dvoriannikov (37-4) is ranked 2nd in Illinois at 165, and one year after placing second in Champaign, he added another regional title to his resume this season. Dvoriannikov won by major decision in the finals against Wheeling’s Nicholas Montesino (31-11), but not before needing a little blood time to deal with some cramping.
Two of Dvoriannikov’s four losses came when he wrestled up a weight at 175. He feels like a different wrestler this season.
“I’m better in neutral and on bottom. You have to be explosive on bottom,” Dvoriannikov said. “And in neutral I’ve been more aggressive, wrestling with more technique.”
Wauconda senior Christian Cendajez (19-10) was seeded third at 175 but knocked off second-seeded Jonathan Martinez (13-7) of Wheeling in a semifinal match and then won a 10-4 decision in the finals against Vernon Hills’ top-seeded Timur Arzumanov (24-14) to become a regional champion.
The title match at 190 between Wheeling’s Jonny Dominguez (32-8) and Wauconda’s Mike Merevick (38-8) came next. Merevick led 3-1 after a period and escaped to go up 4-1 to start the second. The Wauconda senior scored again off a scramble to go up 10-2 to end the second period, then managed a takedown in the third en route to victory over Dominguez in a valiant one-eyed effort.
Lake Forest junior Yaree Sandifer (34-5) won his first-ever regional title at 215, winning a 21-8 major decision in the finals against Wheeling’s Eddie Juarez (28-8). Sandifer also won a tournament title at Richmond-Burton to start the season.
After placing third in regionals as a freshman and second in last year’s regional round but failing to get through the sectional, Sandifer is ready to make a run downstate.
He also had a few good thoughts on how to do it.
“Probably listen to my coaches more,” Sandifer said. “And I do a lot of running and I eat right but I have to try to get better conditioned. This is my third time at sectionals so hopefully the third time’s the charm. And I don’t just want to get to state, I want to place at state.”
Wheeling’s Pablo Morales (30-10) finished off the day by finishing off Wauconda’s Loomis Finnegan (21-17) with a tech fall in the finals at 285 pounds, which is not Morales’ usual way.
“Pablo probably has thirty wins and probably twenty-five pins, so he’s real dominant when he wrestles,” Curran said. “That he actually got a tech fall in the finals — I don’t think he’s had one of those in his life. But he got a bunch of takedowns today. He’s done a phenomenal job.”
In addition to Wheeling’s regional champs, also becoming sectional qualifiers for the Wildcats were Joey Romano (126), Max Katz (132), Austin Berger (144), John Scanlon (157), Nicholas Montesino (165), Jonathan Martinez (175), Jonny Dominguez (190) and Eddie Juarez (215).
“We got a lot of pins in that wrestleback round and on that third-place mat,” Curran said. “Every little point counted today, so that was huge. Nicholas Montesino took second to an absolute stud (Dvoriannikov). He’s the heart and soul of our team and I’m super proud of the way he competed against a really tough kid from Vernon Hills. John Scanlon is another pinner at 157 and he got us two falls in the wrestlebacks and qualified for the sectional.
“Austin Berger was not having his best day but he found a way to get himself out. He was down in a bunch of matches today but he came back and even got some pins in a couple of those. Eddie Juarez getting a pin in the semi’s was huge, too.
“You can take all fourteen kids and every single kid has helped our team, all year.”
Every coach in every regional bleeds for his wrestlers who don’t advance to sectionals, and Curran’s experience was no different.
“I hurt for Miguel Lopez (120), who has been one of our all-stars for two years,” Curran said. “He’s done a phenomenal job. He wasn’t able to qualify today and he’s a senior, so that hurt me. I’ll be hurting for him for a long time.”
Lopez will live to fight another day, however, when host Wheeling squares off at this year’s team sectional meet on Feb. 25.
SECTIONAL QUALIFIERS FROM THE DEERFIELD REGIONAL
106: 1st – Frankie Katz of Wheeling; 2nd – Charles Dominguez of Vernon Hills; 3rd – Troy Rotter of Deerfield
113: 1st – David Perez of Wheeling; 2nd – Jorey Becker of Deerfield; 3rd – Tony Lopez of Vernon Hills
120: 1st – Gavin Rockey of Wauconda; 2nd – Danny Martinez of Deerfield; 3rd – Rie Hermsen of Carmel
126: 1st – Adrian Cohen of Deerfield; 2nd – Joey Romano of Wheeling; 3rd – Charlie Biddle of Lake Forest
132: 1st – Jackson Palzet of Deerfield; 2nd – Max Katz of Wheeling; 3rd – Liam Harris of Wauconda
138: 1st – Jordan Rasof of Deerfield; 2nd – Matthew Lucansky of Carmel; 3rd – Andrew Diaz of Vernon Hills
144: 1st – Brian Hart of Wauconda; 2nd – Alexander Shvartsman of Deerfield; 3rd – Austin Berger of Wheeling
150: 1st – David Farjado of Carmel; 2nd – Wyatt Roland of Wauconda; 3rd – Darius Jackson of North Chicago
157: 1st – Charlie Cross of Deerfield; 2nd – Brody McKenna of Wauconda; 3rd – John Scanlon of Wheeling
165: 1st – Ilia Dvoriannikov of Vernon Hills; 2nd – Nicholas Montesinos of Wheeling; 3rd – Jonathan Weissmueller of Deerfield
175: 1st – Christian Cendajez of Wauconda; 2nd – Timur Arzumanov of Vernon Hills; 3rd – Jonathan Martinez of Wheeling
190: 1st – Mike Merevick of Wauconda; 2nd – Jonny Dominguez of Wheeling; 3rd – Shane Blumberg of Vernon Hills
215: 1st – Yaree Sandifer of Lake Forest; 2nd – Eddie Juarez of Wheeling; 3rd – Brody Rudolph of Wauconda
285: 1st – Pablo Morales of Wheeling; 2nd – Loomis Finnegan of Wauconda; 3rd – Noah Breckenridge of Carmel