Dec. 26 - Wrestler of the Week – Lucas Roth
Junior stunned White at Dvorak; Montini held off Carl Sandburg for first team title
By Rob Sherrill, W.I.N. High School Editor
The strategy for scoring the upset of the year — in Illinois, anyway, and maybe nationally — seemed simple enough: Don’t get taken down, get your escape, get your ride-out. Making it happen against one of the nation’s top high school seniors is something else altogether.
But that’s exactly what Lockport High junior Lucas Roth did in the 152-pound final against Chicago’s St. Rita’s Albert White in the Al Dvorak Memorial Tournament, run beautifully by a new host, Dec. 22-23, at Machesney Park (Ill.) Harlem High.
Roth, who lost 16-4 to White in the 145-pound state semifinals a year ago en route to a third-place finish, scored the only point of the match on a second-period escape in a 1-0 stunner that earned him the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler award.
“I just tried to keep my hands low in the first period and not let him take me down,” said Roth, now 19-0. “He humiliated me last year. I wanted to come back strong.”
Not a gifted athlete, Roth instead used his size advantage over White, great position, intelligence and quickness off the whistle, continually getting the legs in before White was able to sit out or stand up. It was the same strategy he used in another close call, a 5-4 decision over fellow junior Brian Reynolds of New Lenox Providence High in the quarterfinals.
The tournament’s four nationally-ranked teams, No. 6 Iowa City (Iowa) West High, No. 7 Lombard Montini High, No. 12 Chicago St. Rita High and No. 16 Orland Park Carl Sandburg High, put on a team race for the ages, with Montini edging Carl Sandburg. 225-221. Iowa City West edged St. Rita 209.5-209 for third place.
Providence (162.5) led the tournament’s second tier, edging Naperville Neuqua Valley High (156) and Chicago Mount Carmel High (146.5) for fifth place.
How closely matched were the four teams? At the conclusion of the semifinal round, just one-half point separated the four: the three Illinois teams all had 183 points, with Iowa City West (182.5) just a step back.
Individually, St. Rita had a meet-high four finalists. The other three leaders were among five schools in the 30-team field with three each. Montini placed 11 wrestlers in the top eight, with the other three each placing nine.
A strong place-match round which saw them win six of eight matches, five with bonus points, gave Montini a 216-212 lead over Carl Sandburg entering the finals. The finals format — on two mats, starting at 103 pounds and heavyweight and working towards the middle — gave Montini the chance to jump further ahead.
An incredible comeback by heavyweight Garrett Goebel against Mount Carmel’s Christian Brantley at heavyweight got the Broncos jump-started. Goebel, a 3-1 overtime loser to Brantley in a dual the previous week, again held Brantley to a 1-1 tie after regulation. There was no scoring in the first overtime, a minute Brantley dominated with several good shots, and Goebel used his six-inch height advantage to ride Brantley out in the first 30-second tie-breaker. In the second period, Brantley cut Goebel loose and appeared to have the match won on a takedown at the edge with 10 seconds remaining. But a locked-hands call on the whistle and an escape at the buzzer gave Goebel a stunning 4-3 victory that would eventually be the margin of victory.
Three-time Illinois state champion Mike Benefiel (171) increased the lead to 13 with a 12-4 major decision over Iowa City West’s Grant Gambrall, a match the Trojan kept close for two periods, even scoring a takedown of his own early in the third before Benefiel pulled away. But Carl Sandburg’s Eric Pretto got a major decision of his own at 160, pulling the Eagles back within eight with their last two finalists, Conrad Polz (140) and Matt Cusick (145), competing in the meet’s final two matches. Victories by both would assure the Eagles at least a tie.
Cusick did his job with a 5-4 decision over Neuqua Valley’s Jim Duffy. But Polz injured his shoulder in his match against Plainfield Central High’s Jeremy Ellingwood, the wrestler he defeated in last year’s state final. This time, Ellingwood came out on top in a 5-4 decision.
Iowa City West’s chances were hurt before the tournament started — the Trojans were without 130-pound freshman Nick Moore and had no entry at the weight — and during the tournament by sub-par performances from Ridge Kiley (103) and Derek St. John (135).
Kiley, fortunate to reach the semifinals after a 7-6 quarterfinal victory over Montini freshman Colton Rasche, lost three straight Saturday to fall to sixth place. Dixon High’s Joe Roth, a Cadet National freestyle place-winner, grounded out a 4-0 semifinal victory and Kiley then lost, 6-4, to Oak Park Fenwick High freshman Nick Dardanes and, 5-1, to Rasche in the fifth-place match. St. John finished fourth after losses of 3-2 to eventual champion Steve Zimmerman of St. Rita in the semifinals and 4-3 to Bolingbrook High’s Ryan Jahn for third place.
One wrestler who did stand out for coach Mark Reiland’s team was 119-pound champion Dylan Carew, who made a strong case for OW honors with two technical falls, a semifinal pin over Montini’s Carson Beebe and a 5-1 final victory over Neuqua Valley state champion Chris Spangler. West’s Nate Moore also took care of business at 125, 10-5 over Northern Illinois recruit Zach Taylor of host Harlem.
There were other nationally-ranked wrestlers on the mats as well. At 103 pounds, Mount Carmel’s B.J. Futrell beat Carl Sandburg’s Jon Morrison, 5-1, in overtime in the semifinals, then hammered Roth, 11-3, for the title. At 215, Chicago St. Patrick High’s Joe Fagiano used a first-period takedown to prevail 3-2 over Chicago Marist High’s John Schoen, 3-2, who had scored his second victory over Montini’s Ethan Winel in a week in the semifinals, this time by injury default. Providence’s John Starzyk (130) and St. Rita’s Jerome Ward (189) also won easily.
By Rob Sherrill, W.I.N. High School Editor
The strategy for scoring the upset of the year — in Illinois, anyway, and maybe nationally — seemed simple enough: Don’t get taken down, get your escape, get your ride-out. Making it happen against one of the nation’s top high school seniors is something else altogether.
But that’s exactly what Lockport High junior Lucas Roth did in the 152-pound final against Chicago’s St. Rita’s Albert White in the Al Dvorak Memorial Tournament, run beautifully by a new host, Dec. 22-23, at Machesney Park (Ill.) Harlem High.
Roth, who lost 16-4 to White in the 145-pound state semifinals a year ago en route to a third-place finish, scored the only point of the match on a second-period escape in a 1-0 stunner that earned him the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler award.
“I just tried to keep my hands low in the first period and not let him take me down,” said Roth, now 19-0. “He humiliated me last year. I wanted to come back strong.”
Not a gifted athlete, Roth instead used his size advantage over White, great position, intelligence and quickness off the whistle, continually getting the legs in before White was able to sit out or stand up. It was the same strategy he used in another close call, a 5-4 decision over fellow junior Brian Reynolds of New Lenox Providence High in the quarterfinals.
The tournament’s four nationally-ranked teams, No. 6 Iowa City (Iowa) West High, No. 7 Lombard Montini High, No. 12 Chicago St. Rita High and No. 16 Orland Park Carl Sandburg High, put on a team race for the ages, with Montini edging Carl Sandburg. 225-221. Iowa City West edged St. Rita 209.5-209 for third place.
Providence (162.5) led the tournament’s second tier, edging Naperville Neuqua Valley High (156) and Chicago Mount Carmel High (146.5) for fifth place.
How closely matched were the four teams? At the conclusion of the semifinal round, just one-half point separated the four: the three Illinois teams all had 183 points, with Iowa City West (182.5) just a step back.
Individually, St. Rita had a meet-high four finalists. The other three leaders were among five schools in the 30-team field with three each. Montini placed 11 wrestlers in the top eight, with the other three each placing nine.
A strong place-match round which saw them win six of eight matches, five with bonus points, gave Montini a 216-212 lead over Carl Sandburg entering the finals. The finals format — on two mats, starting at 103 pounds and heavyweight and working towards the middle — gave Montini the chance to jump further ahead.
An incredible comeback by heavyweight Garrett Goebel against Mount Carmel’s Christian Brantley at heavyweight got the Broncos jump-started. Goebel, a 3-1 overtime loser to Brantley in a dual the previous week, again held Brantley to a 1-1 tie after regulation. There was no scoring in the first overtime, a minute Brantley dominated with several good shots, and Goebel used his six-inch height advantage to ride Brantley out in the first 30-second tie-breaker. In the second period, Brantley cut Goebel loose and appeared to have the match won on a takedown at the edge with 10 seconds remaining. But a locked-hands call on the whistle and an escape at the buzzer gave Goebel a stunning 4-3 victory that would eventually be the margin of victory.
Three-time Illinois state champion Mike Benefiel (171) increased the lead to 13 with a 12-4 major decision over Iowa City West’s Grant Gambrall, a match the Trojan kept close for two periods, even scoring a takedown of his own early in the third before Benefiel pulled away. But Carl Sandburg’s Eric Pretto got a major decision of his own at 160, pulling the Eagles back within eight with their last two finalists, Conrad Polz (140) and Matt Cusick (145), competing in the meet’s final two matches. Victories by both would assure the Eagles at least a tie.
Cusick did his job with a 5-4 decision over Neuqua Valley’s Jim Duffy. But Polz injured his shoulder in his match against Plainfield Central High’s Jeremy Ellingwood, the wrestler he defeated in last year’s state final. This time, Ellingwood came out on top in a 5-4 decision.
Iowa City West’s chances were hurt before the tournament started — the Trojans were without 130-pound freshman Nick Moore and had no entry at the weight — and during the tournament by sub-par performances from Ridge Kiley (103) and Derek St. John (135).
Kiley, fortunate to reach the semifinals after a 7-6 quarterfinal victory over Montini freshman Colton Rasche, lost three straight Saturday to fall to sixth place. Dixon High’s Joe Roth, a Cadet National freestyle place-winner, grounded out a 4-0 semifinal victory and Kiley then lost, 6-4, to Oak Park Fenwick High freshman Nick Dardanes and, 5-1, to Rasche in the fifth-place match. St. John finished fourth after losses of 3-2 to eventual champion Steve Zimmerman of St. Rita in the semifinals and 4-3 to Bolingbrook High’s Ryan Jahn for third place.
One wrestler who did stand out for coach Mark Reiland’s team was 119-pound champion Dylan Carew, who made a strong case for OW honors with two technical falls, a semifinal pin over Montini’s Carson Beebe and a 5-1 final victory over Neuqua Valley state champion Chris Spangler. West’s Nate Moore also took care of business at 125, 10-5 over Northern Illinois recruit Zach Taylor of host Harlem.
There were other nationally-ranked wrestlers on the mats as well. At 103 pounds, Mount Carmel’s B.J. Futrell beat Carl Sandburg’s Jon Morrison, 5-1, in overtime in the semifinals, then hammered Roth, 11-3, for the title. At 215, Chicago St. Patrick High’s Joe Fagiano used a first-period takedown to prevail 3-2 over Chicago Marist High’s John Schoen, 3-2, who had scored his second victory over Montini’s Ethan Winel in a week in the semifinals, this time by injury default. Providence’s John Starzyk (130) and St. Rita’s Jerome Ward (189) also won easily.