By Ed Muniz-Photos by Morgan Gonzales
A battle of Titans took place at the Reavis Rams Wrestling Regionals in Burbank on February 4. Wrestlers from Marist, Sandburg and Mount Carmel battled in the Reavis Regional.
At stake was a team berth in the State Team Tournament held a week after the Individual State Tournament.
Four of the competing teams entered with a full line up (Mt Carmel, Marist, Sandburg and Stagg) which would give them the best chance at a Regional title.
After the earlier sessions concluded, Marist held a 6-point lead over Mt. Carmel, 225 to 219 heading into the championship session.
Marist had 12 of their 14 wrestlers in the championship bout to 11 for Mt. Carmel. The regional title would come down to Head-to-Head bouts between the top two teams as they matched up in 10 bouts.
Sandburg also saw four of their wrestlers vying for a title, while Eisenhower had one as well.
After winning seven of the ten bouts between Marist and Mt. Carmel, the Caravan would overtake the Redhawks, and earn a berth in the Team State Tournament winning 278.5 to Marist’s 250. Sandburg earned three championships and finished third at 167.5, and Stagg was fourth at 78.
We knew it was going to come down to those finals matches,” said Mt. Carmel Head Coach Alex Tsirtsis. “We were within shooting distance down by just six points, so you literally have to take it a match at a time and win as many matches as you can. We thought three of those might be swing matches and we took all those, we were pretty confident after that.”
“I’m happy with the guys, you just got to keep building just like any other tournament. We have to learn from what we did right and what we did wrong and grow from it. By the end of the year with our schedule, we’re battle tested win or lose.”
One of the featured Championship bouts took place at 120 where two 2022-place winners took to the mat. Marist’ Michael Esteban, who finished 6th place at 113 in 3A last year faced off against Mt. Carmel’ Damian Resendez, runner up at 113 in 3A last year.
An early takedown and second period escape gave Resendez a 3-0 lead heading into the final period where Esteban chose the neutral position. He managed to grab a takedown and close the gap to a point.
Allowing an escape, Esteban looked to tie the score needing a takedown, but Resendez beat him to the punch and grab two more points on the takedown securing the 120 title.
Another impressive finalist was Mt. Carmel two-time IHSA State Champion Sergio Lemley. The 132-pound regional champion cruised through the regional with two first-period falls and then a dominant 15-7 pasting of his Marist opponent.
Lemley is vying for his fourth state title in a row and third in Illinois after winning at 113 in 2020, an Indiana title at 120 in 2021 with no wrestling in the IHSA due to Covid, and another last year at 126 in Illinois.
Marist also saw a dominant wrestler look quite impressive. At 195, Peter Marinopoulos remained unbeaten. A Tech Fall (17-2) and a Major Decision (17-5) was the tally of his work in route to the Regional title.
His impressive style of wrestling doesn’t give an opponent much time to breathe and gather a plan. His constant pressure works to his advantage and will certainly be a force to reckon with moving forward.
The host Rams of Reavis made a nice showing and competed with some of the better wrestling programs in the state. This certainly was difficult task for them, but Head Coach Charlie Manning was pleased with his young squad and how they battled throughout.
Under the Stagg two-time state finalist, the Rams are learning what is takes to win. For Manning it’s a work in progress.
“No doubt we as coaches and our wrestlers knew how tough the Regional was with the teams that were here. We try our best to get our guys ready compete and give their best efforts and leave it all on the mats and I feel they did that today.”
“We had 11 guys wrestle today; most are younger as I only have three seniors. We had one qualifier in Nick Gomez at 138 and had a couple others that were right there with a shot at advancing in Ahmad Suleiman at 132 and Anas Everette at 170.“
“We had a couple others that fell short of their goals today, I think we could have had a couple more , but in a tough regional like this, it’s kinda the way it goes.”
Manning also mentioned how inexperienced his wrestlers are and how most start wrestling in high school, so they need more mat time. There also is a lack of a feeder program that many schools have. Reavis has a difficult time finding volunteers to head up a youth wrestling program which could pay dividends later on when they continue at Reavis.
There have been youth teams in the past but currently it’s been a difficult task.
“Hopefully we can get some youth wrestling going here in Burbank soon,” said Coach Manning.
