High school wrestling: Crystal Lake Central falls to Washington in Class 2A dual team state quarterfinals

BLOOMINGTON – In the final post-match team huddle of the 2016-17 season, Crystal Lake Central coach Justen Lehr challenged his team.

The Tigers had just lost, 39-28, to defending state champion Washington in the Class 2A dual team state quarterfinals at U.S. Cellular Coliseum, and Lehr reminded his team that although they've established themselves somewhat by reaching the state tournament six times in eight years, powerhouses such as Washington aren't going anywhere, either; it'll take a lot more work to win the program's first state team title.

"There may have been a few expletives, but I said, 'Who's going to wrestle in the offseason and put the time in?'" Lehr said. "I said, 'We're going to see them again. Next year, why don't we make it where we don't care where we wrestle them because we know we can beat them.'

"I threw out a personal challenge to all the kids, I said, 'You can play baseball, run track, play football, do all that stuff, but make time to do club wrestling and put some extra, you know what I'm saying. Kids come up with excuses all the time, 'I've got grades, video games, or whatever.' This is a great group of kids. If anybody is going to do it, they're going to do it."

Top-ranked Washington won eight of the first 11 bouts and then forfeited the last three once the victory was in hand. Washington went on to defeat Dixon, 59-18, in the semifinals and Wauconda, 49-6, to repeat as state champion.

Austin Ernd (138 pounds), Lenny Petersen (145) and Liam O'Donnell (182) won for Central, with Brock Montford (113), Michael Locascio (120) and Brayan Palomino (126) accepting forfeits.

"We all wrestled tough," Petersen said. "There was a couple times – I should have gotten a pin or tech, Eddie (Diaz) gave up a close match – there's a couple points here or there that could have swung the match, but it is what it is. We wrestled tough."

It was Central's third consecutive trip to state after taking fourth the past two years.

"Last year, I said we're going to be better this year, and we were," Lehr said. "No offense to the other teams, but I mean we're – we gave Washington a pretty good run in most of those matches."

Washington (22-3) and Crystal Lake Central (18-6) were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in Class 2A, respectively, all season by illinoismatmen.com, but IHSA seeding meant the two teams met in the quarterfinals.

"It is what it is, other years we've gotten some good draws," Lehr said. "When you roll peas out of a ... cup and decide who wrestles who, that's what you get."

The Tigers, who started only two seniors, tinkered with their lineup slightly to try to gain some favorable matchups against a Washington team that had nine state medalists, including two state champions.

Starting at 132 pounds, Connor Burns lost a 14-3 major decision to Jared Head before wins by decision for Ernd and Petersen put the Tigers ahead, 6-4. Without getting bonus points from the strongest part of its lineup, however, Central's lead didn't last long.

The best match of the dual came at 152 pounds between Central's Diaz and Washington's Caleb Miller. A back-and-forth battle throughout, Miller took Diaz down with 30 seconds left, going ahead, 13-12. Diaz came close to escaping in the final seconds but couldn't quite get out, and Washington went back on top, 7-6, in the team score.

"At the beginning, I thought I was overmatched, but I kept thinking to myself, 'It's my last match, got to give it all I've got,'" Diaz, a senior, said. "Once I got that first take down it was like, 'I can take him down. I can win this match.' It came down to that last second and couldn't quite get it."

The only win for Central over the next seven bouts was a 14-5 major decision by Liam O'Donnell at 182. Otherwise, the Panthers racked up the team points – with four pins, a technical fall and a decision – to open a 39-10 lead and put away the win.

"I felt pretty good," Liam O'Donnell said. "I wanted them to know we're Crystal Lake Central, we deserved to be No. 2 and I feel like in the end we did show them."

After his final high school match, Petersen was as confident as his coach in the team he was leaving behind.

"Central's going to be way better next year than we were this year," Petersen said. "All those juniors you saw this year, they're all going to lift pretty hard. We're pushing offseason more this year, so year the team's going to be 10 times better next year than we were this year."

Unsung hero

Liam O'Donnell

Crystal Lake Central, jr., 182 pounds

O'Donnell had Central's only win with bonus points, taking a 14-5 major decision.

The number

6: This was the sixth trip to the dual team state tournament in the past eight years for Crystal Lake Central.

And another thing ...

Lenny Petersen was looking forward to a rematch of last weekend's state championship match, which he won over Washington 138-pounder Blaize Punke, but Punke didn't weigh in for the match. Instead, Washington sent Dalton Jensen, who took fifth at 145 last week, out against Petersen, who bumped up a class. "I was preparing for Punke, which I was excited for another match, just to prove that I actually deserved the win at state," Petersen said.

Washington 39, Crystal Lake Central 28
132: Jared Head (W) maj. dec. Connor Burns, 14-3
138: Austin Ernd (CLC) dec. Cole Watkins, 1-0
145: Lenny Petersen (CLC) dec. Dalton Jensen, 5-2
152: Caleb Miller (W) dec. Eddie Diaz, 13-12
160: Kyle Goin (W) tech fall Frank Carrone, 15-0
170: Jack Apgar (W) pin Braden Bisram, 4:29
182: Liam O'Donnell (CLC) maj. dec. Dakoda VanQuakebeke, 14-5
195: Jacob Warner (W) pin Nevin Kingston, 1:29
220: Jace Punke (W) dec. Seamus O'Donnell, 12-6
285: Adam Robinson (W) pin Wyatt Blake, 1:54
106: Brody Norman (W) pin Ewin Hernandez-Viveros, 1:35
113: Brock Montford (CLC) by fft.
120: Michael Locascio (CLC) by fft.
126: Brayan Palomino (CLC) by fft.