Jaguar or Mr. Twister

[FanofDVC]

How about some positive feedback on the tournament? Know you were both there all weekend and I think everyone is getting tired of reading all the negative stuff (all of the kids who qualified worked hard to get to Champaign and the negative stuff is like a slap in the face). Perhaps you could both give us an analysis since you were there all weekend and you both know a lot of the wrestlers and can give a fair assessment of the good things that happened. Exciting matches? Surprises?, etc.

[THISISMYLIFE]

I for one would like to congratulate Adam Canty he wrestled a really good tournament. He lost to Precin friday night but never gave up. He came out saturday and wanted to medal really bad. He wrestled tough and got fourth place not bad with alot of talent in the 130 weight class.

[Jaguar]

There were so many good things and some great wrestling. I have been thinking the same thing (about some positive stories). I don't have a lot of time, but I will throw some things out there from each weight:

103
The heirarchy of talent is clear. Ramos and Spangler are just a step better than Johnson and Hashimoto, but not much. Ramos needed a takedown with 7 seconds left to beat Hashimoto. Spangler was only up 3-2 when he caught Johnson in the Neuqua/FoxValley "headlock". (Is that legal by the way?) B.J. Futrell and Jon Morrison still look small. Daryl Thomas (Edwardsville) did not place but impressed me in his match with Morrison.

112
You have to be impressed with Beebe, after taking third in sectional, he come in and took third in the State. Walters (Neuqua) stepped it up at the sectional and again at State. He came from behind to beat Sepehr Kalhor (who is quick!); Walters was also beating Thompson (Argo) until the end. Thompson was an outside carry away from the finals (McAuliffe hit it with 9 seconds left in the match to beat Thompson 3-1). Kratovil is a joy to watch. He avenged the state finals loss from last year, and he dominated his way to the finals. Conspicuously absent was Fitzenreider (who had a bad day at the sectionals) and Tolbert (who just had a rough, injury plagued season).

119
Starzyk may have had the most dominating performance of the tournament. Kyle Williams (Mascoutah) proved that his North Dakota state championship was for real, taking a home a fourth for his new southern Illinois area. From my vantage point, I thought that the three best guys were Starzyk, Deneen and Taylor, in that order - all on the top half of the bracket.

125
Again, the top half of the bracket was loaded - Kennedy, Hutter and Morgan. Give Mario some credit for bouncing back from a loss to Kennedy and an uncharacteristic loss to Hutter to take 5th. Hutter wrestled well and deserved the third place medal. Prater wrestled the tournament of his life and proved that he belonged in the finals with Kennedy. I like his all out style. It is fun to watch.

130
After the anticipated Precin/Bullard rematch, the real story here was Danny Cotton (East Peoria). Wow! He took care of Lloyd. He gave Bullard a match, and he shut out Canty in the third place match. However, perhaps the most exciting match was the overtime victory of Mark Schultz over Wade Lowe. Schultz put himself in position to win it with a signature (and picture perfect) headlock, but it took more than a headlock to put it into overtime and win it. If it wasn't for Schultz, I think Lowe would have medaled. It is too bad Schultz hurt his knee. He still wrestled well on one leg.

135
Aside from the obvious at this weight, Polz did what he had to do to win it. He shut down Drendel (5-2), he beat Ramos in overtime (tiebreaker), and he dispatched of a very hot Ellingwood in the finals, again in overtime. Ellingwood was on fire until he ran into Polz in the finals. Maybe the big story here is Ben Johnson (Oak Park River forest). Who is this guy? He barely won his first match 3-2 (TB) over Matt Beasley (Edwardsville) and was pinned by Ellingwood in the second period, but he was in the right palce at the right time, and he stepped up to the plate to beat Martin (coming off the Zimmerman loss) in overtime. You have to hand it to him. Drendel continues to improve on Ramos, losing 5-3 at the conference final and 5-4 downstate. He could have coasted to a 4-3 victory with a stalling call to burn and only 15 seconds on the clock, but that is not his style. As Ramos came in looking for a throw, Drendel tossed Ramos on the edge of the mat; Ramos rolled through for the two point takedown and the win.

140
My pick to surprise in this weight coming in was Kyle Schwarz (Rock Falls). He lost a first round overtime match to Bobby Madding (Barrington) who lost 5-3 to the tough freshman, Elias Larson, who lost an impressive match to Mike Smith (4-3), who fell short 5-3 to Matt Lee. Schwarz has some talent, but if you are not ready for the AA State tournament, it will eat you up. He will be back. Elias Larson came one match from placing, just like Fenicle did last year. Fenicle was down 5-1 to Babcock when he pinned Babcock at the 5:05 mark to earn a medal this year. Matt Lee bettered his fourth place medal last year to finish second, but Matt Cusick was on another plane.

145
I was impressed with freshman, Andrew Brewer (Mahomet-Seymour). He came in with ten losses, but he came one match from placing. Most impressive was his 10-8 loss to Kotowski. Kotowski has become a beast. He made it a match against Albert White in the finals. Albert would not be denied. Malizzio wrestled with guts on a bad knee, beating a very good Austin Bautista in double overtime before losing to Lucas Roth 6-5. Roth had to work his butt off to win that match, and finished with a convincing win over Murphy for third. Roth also beat Nic George 5-4 in the second round and had a trememndous tournament.

152
The O'Connor/Hansen match was a great match. I believe it was won on a stalling call in double overtime. The Bowker/Treylor match was also a good one. Hale won 3-2 over Bowker and 6-5 over O'connor before giving Benefiel a good match in the finals (5-3). Pretto wrestled close with Benefiel (3-0) and with O'Connor (3-1) to take fourth. Benefiel makes it look easy.

160
Starzyk won his second round match against Troy Carlson with a takedown at the buzzer. He also outlasted Lewandowski 3-2 to earn a medal, proving that every second and every point counts at the State tournament! In the Hilliard/Friedl match, I saw the locked hands from the stands. There was another locked hands actually before that call. The escape still puzzles me. It was a heartbreaking loss. Finally, Dwyer is tough!

171
What a tournament Latella from Rocton-Hononegah had! He came all the way from the first round, where he only won 4-2 over the sophomore, Austin Kull (Normal Community). Then he beat the guy that everyone had mentally written into the finals match, Nate Holley, and he kept on going until he met Dergo in the gold medal match. It just shows what a little grit, determination and hard wrestling can do. Rankings and favorites do not mean much when it is all over. The gutsiest match I saw was the freshman, Mario Gonzalez (West Aurora) who got slammed to the mat by Willie Brooks (Warren), who I am sure was just a bit over excuberant. Gonzalez could have (and maybe should have) stayed down for the count. He landed right on his shoulder and face. He was dazed and hurt, but he continued, basically with one arm hanging. He not only continued, but he won; and he not only won, but he pinned a tough, physical Brooks. Gonzalez defaulted against Dergo, but tried to wrestle the next day against Bruno. He was obviously still hurting and Bruno pinned him in a minute. When they faced each other earlier in the year, Bruno only won 3-1. One more thing - Zintak is only a sophomore. There are some good young wrestlers at the upper wieghts!

189
Speaking of young - State champion Ward is a junior; the runner up, Schoen, is a junior; Penny, who took third, is a junior; Bruce who took fourth, is a junior; Winel, who placed fifth, is a junior. The top five guys are all back next year at 189! And they will be joined by three other juniors who qualified (Goedkan (Kaneland); Kaspovic (Harlem); and Kernats (Reavis). Finally, D.J. Bruce is a tremendous wrestler, but conditining cost him a possible State championship. He lost in OT to Jerome Ward on a fleeing the mat call. He lost in OT also to Scott Penny and settled for fourth. Still, they were some great matches. The other story is John Schoen emerging from the bottom half of the bracket out of Ward's shadow to wrestle front and center in the finals. He had a great tournament. By the way, Ben Perna, the freshman from Fremd, only lost 6-3 to Schoen.

215
The youth theme is apparent again - Fagiano, State Champ, a junior; Brantley, the runner up, is a junior; Goebel and Walker, who were fifth and sixth, are only sophomores. When have we ever seen so many top underclassmen at these weights? Dunning , another junior, got into a brutal quarterbracket with Fagiano and Everhart amd got buried. He will be back. By the way, Brantley, who can't be more than 5'10", if that, and who does not look like much, can flat out wrestle!

275
Jordan Johnson (a junior) proved that he made the right choice bumping up to 275 where his athleticism and skills learned at lighter weights served him well. Jon Bentch, a more prototypical heavyweight build, however, proved to be just about as athletic. Johnson had a hard time finishing on him, as Bentch fought off the constant attack. The defensive show cost him 4 stalling points however. The most exciting match was Danilkowicz and Darr, where Damilkowicz got Darr in a great throw with the match knotted up 1-1 and got the pin at 5:50! Darr came back with a vengeance after he got ove the shock and earned fifth with pinis over three of the next four opponents.

There is much more to be said (but not enough time). Let's add some more comments on the positive side.