OPRF and Schaumburg on the way to State

By Mike Garofola for the IWCOA

By the size and sound of a raucous audience at host Schaumburg on Tuesday night, it was clear there was plenty at stake, and the fan bases for all four teams were ready to let their heroes know who they were cheering for.

For the hometown Saxons, the chance to see their men advance to the program’s first-ever 3A dual-team state finals was enough to pack their side of the gym in anticipation of advancing to the Grossinger Motors Center in Bloomington.

The lead was more of a hot potato between the Saxons (22-4-0) and their opponent, CPL (Chicago Public League) champion Lane Tech. It changed hands twice before Mike Levantis’ club took the lead for good at 24-18 en route to a 42-27 victory.

“(Lane) was a very good team, so we knew we had to be at our best, getting bonus points whenever we could, while not giving away too many on our side of things,” began Levanti, whose club will face Marmion Academy this Friday at 7:00 in its dual-team state quarterfinal.

“On a night when we needed a few of our guys to come through when we needed it most, it would be, in addition to Brady (Phelps, 120, 43-5) and Cal (Kirchner, 46-9), three guys who have we’ve counted on all season did the job for us.”

Levanti would give high praise to AJ Quevedo (126), Brody Hinkle (138) and Justin Cortes-Apolinar for their efforts when called upon to send the Saxons on a 18-0 late run to close out Lane Tech.

“AJ, Brody and Justin were great tonight, it was a real team effort, and for me, not only is this a great way to end my high school career, it’s a great night for (Levanti) who is an unbelievable coach, and someone who really deserves this night and what it means to our program,” said Phelps, second last weekend at state, giving the Saxons star four state medals during a brilliant career.

The visitors fell behind early (9-8) but found a way back with a tech-fall win from Joaqin Gigante (215) and a major decision victory by heavyweight Adrian Meza to give Matt Yans’ club a 12-9 lead.

“(Meza) was more consistent this year, making it to sectionals, and finishing third in the city, he’s at about (210) but has wrestled at 285 for most of the year, but he had a nice win for us tonight,” said Lane head coach Matt Yan.

Austin Phelps (106) and Jose Curiel at 113 would trade victories, leading to the 18-point explosion by the Saxons.

Kirchner would put the finishing touches on this big night with a pin just 20 seconds into his contest at 150.

Nasser Hammouche ended things with a pin at 155 for Lane.

“This has been one of the toughest months for us, we had three starters out for regionals, and still managed to win it one week after the sudden death of a teammate,” begins Yan. “The guys really came together in a full team effort, and everyone scored points.”

“We had a banner season, winning the CPS dual championship, and going 21-7-0 overall. I was pleased with our freshman at 190, Xavier Johnson, Jose Curiel had a tough season, but pulled out a big win tonight at 113, and our two freshmen, Adgate VanderBrug (28-9) and Eyob Abebe (34-13) had great seasons.”

Yan will need to replace his four-time CPL champion, and two-time state qualifier Alex Valentin, who finished his superb career with a 43-9 record, and 144 victories, one behind Max Schneider, who was a two-time state (2010, 2012) champion.

“We had a couple of injuries after regionals that took two more of our starters out for tonight, but hats off to coach (Mike) Levanti and his squad. They wrestled a great dual,” said a gracious Yan.

“Perhaps later tonight, or even tomorrow, this win, and terrific team effort that sent us into the state tournament will sink in,” began Levanti.

“It’s always hard to choose one team over another, but I can honestly say this is the best group that I’ve had, and right now I am extremely proud of all of these guys, and what they have been able to accomplish.”

OAK PARK-RIVER FOREST 36, ST. CHARLES 33.

The decibel level produced by the Schaumburg and Lane Tech fans was impressive throughout their match, however, on the other side of the gymnasium, it was an emotionally charged, intense, constant roar of a contest between Oak Park-River Forest and St. Charles East.

As this hard fought match went deep into the individual weights, the noise level would increase two-fold with each referee decision, missed opportunity, point scored, and especially a pin, or decision.

This would be a take-no-prisoners affair, fueled by a rabid crowd that would voice its displeasure when they felt their men were unjustly ruled against, making for an atmosphere that produced a thrilling two hours of wrestling.

As expected, neither side was ever leading by more than six points, aside from the 10-0 advantage the Saints built after Anthony Gutierrez (165, 46-8) and teammate Abraham Leidig at 175 opened the festivities with victories.

Several lead changes, controversial calls, and non-calls, dominating efforts from state champions: MJ Rundell (106, OPRF, 42-2) and Saints junior Dom Munaretto (52-1)

would bring this dual down to one important match.

After a Munaretto pin at 120 gave the Saints its last lead of the night (27-12), a key 7-5 decision by OPRF’s Zev Koransky (27-10) at 132, followed by a major decision from senior Joe Knackstedt (36-5) at 138 pulled the Huskies back level at 27-27 after it conceded a one point unsportsmanlike conduct call.

That’s when OPRF junior AJ NOyes (12-7) won perhaps the biggest match of his prep career when his hard-fought 4-0 win at 144 pounds over Logan Tatar put the Huskies in front for good.

“I knew what I had to do in my match, but I was really nervous before we started,” Noyes said. “He was a really tough opponent, but I was so happy to get the win to help our team.”

Junior David Ogunsanya sent the Huskies’ faithful into orbit with his pin at 1:49 to ensure a 36-33 victory, and a place in the 3A dual-team quarterfinals this Friday where they will meet Joliet Catholic Academy at 5 p.m.

“Tonight was a full program win, we had guys make sacrifices with their weight and their egos, with everyone placing the program and the dual meet first,” said a proud Huskies head coach Paul Collins.

“All of the coaches and wrestlers came together for one common goal, and we trusted each other every step along the way.”

This will be the 13th state appearance in program history for the Huskies, and the sixth for Collins who in 2019 led his men to a second place state finish.

“It was a great night for OPRF wrestling, we’re a family, and tonight we all came together to get the job done,” added sophomore Luke Albrecht who earned the first points on the night for the Huskies with his 32-second pin at 190.

“We knew this was going to be a very difficult dual tonight,” St. Charles East coach Jason Potter said. “It was a real dog fight with bonus points allowed and conceded changing the course of this thing, but we just didn’t get the results we needed and wanted, while they did.”

St. Charles East was aiming for a third straight state finals appearance. The Saints defeated Mt. Carmel, Yorkville and then Marmion Academy to win their first state title in 2023, then finished third overall a year ago.

Heavyweight Matt Medina gave the Saints a seven point advantage (16-9) after recording a pin at 3:36, but the freshman Rundell erased those six points with a pin of his own at 106.

Jamiel Castleberry (32-7) a state qualifier at 120 last weekend, cut weight in order to compete at 113, and the results were magnificent.

“My teammate came over to support me while I was cutting down to wrestle at (113), so credit them for their support,” said Castleberry after his pin at 3:01 gave the Huskies a 

21-16 lead.

Declan Sons followed with a tech fall to draw the Saints back even at 21-21, and Munaretto’s pin followed.

“This is just a great team win,” began Ogunsanya. “(Things) did not go well for me last weekend in Champaign, I went down there to win a medal but came away empty.

“(But) this night was so important for all of us, and getting downstate with this family of mine feels so good right now, and we’re going to go there looking to bring home a state trophy for our program.”

“I am extremely proud of the wrestlers and coaches for their preparation leading up to this dual, and their focus throughout the evening,” said Collins.

The Saints, who will graduate four from the ten state qualifiers, including two-time state medal winner Anthony Gutierrez, will look to build from a strong lower-weight core next season.

“This loss hurts a little bit right now, we felt we had a good chance to advance if a few of the matches went our way, but credit Paul and his guys, they wrestled hard, and got the wins they needed to,” said Potter.

“We lost an incredible group of talent from last year, but even in what you can describe as a rebuilding season, I felt our guys competed, and showed that we were still relevant, despite all of our losses from last year.”

Schaumburg 42; Chicago Lane 26

165 Daniel Duran (Schaumburg (H.S.)) over Gabe Peto (Chicago (Lane)) Dec 10-4
175 Eyob Abebe (Chicago (Lane)) over Sean Christoffel (Schaumburg (H.S.)) Dec 10-8
190 Josh Benson (Schaumburg (H.S.)) over Xavier Johnson (Chicago (Lane)) Fall 1:49
215 Joaqin Gigante (Chicago (Lane)) over Matt Carver (Schaumburg (H.S.)) TF 20-2
285 Adrian Meza (Chicago (Lane)) over Chris Arciniega-Sanchez (Schaumburg (H.S.)) Maj 20-9
106 Austin Phelps (Schaumburg (H.S.)) over Jeremiah Arroyo-McMullan (Chicago (Lane)) Dec 8-6
113 Jose Curiel (Chicago (Lane)) over Brian Carmona (Schaumburg (H.S.)) Fall 5:04
120 Brady Phelps (Schaumburg (H.S.)) over Joaquin Salameda (Chicago (Lane)) Fall 2:19
126 AJ Quevedo (Schaumburg (H.S.)) over Marcos Perez (Chicago (Lane)) Fall 2:25
132 Alex Valentin (Chicago (Lane)) over Aiden Quevedo (Schaumburg (H.S.)) SV-1 7-4
138 Brody HInkle (Schaumburg (H.S.)) over Miguel Quiahua (Chicago (Lane)) Fall 1:43
144 Justin Cortes-Apolinar (Schaumburg (H.S.)) over Ian Main-Duplechin (Chicago (Lane)) Fall 1:15
150 Callen Kirchner (Schaumburg (H.S.)) over Cole Calace (Chicago (Lane)) Fall 0:28
157 Nasser Hammouche (Chicago (Lane)) over Helder Macedo (Schaumburg (H.S.)) Fall 1:55

OPRF 36; St. Charles East 33

165 Anthony Gutierrez (St. Charles (East)) over Zach Michaud (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) Fall 3:47
175 Abraham Leidig (St. Charles (East)) over Hugh Vanek (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) Maj 9-1
190 Lucas Albrecht (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) over Rocco Lobrillo (St. Charles (East)) Fall 0:32
215 Eric Harris (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) over Cooper Murray (St. Charles (East)) Dec 9-2
285 Matt Medina (St. Charles (East)) over Terrence Garner (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) Fall 3:36
106 MJ Rundell (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) over Kaden Potter (St. Charles (East)) Fall 0:52
113 Jamiel Castleberry (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) over Nate Butcher (St. Charles (East)) Fall 3:01
120 Declan Sons (St. Charles (East)) over Gabe Rojas (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) TF 15-0
126 Dom Munaretto (St. Charles (East)) over Alex Cohen (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) Fall 1:38
132 Zev Koransky (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) over Liam Aye (St. Charles (East)) Dec 7-5
138 Joseph Knackstedt (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) over Gavin Woodmancy (St. Charles (East)) Maj 12-4
144 AJ Noyes (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) over Logan Tatar (St. Charles (East)) Dec 4-0
150 David Ogunsanya (Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)) over Isaac Lenard (St. Charles (East)) Fall 1:49
157 Ryan McGovern (St. Charles (East)) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf