Caleb Wall picks up thriller; DeKalb wins its bracket at Don Flavin Invitational

DeKALB – Down a point in the final 11 seconds, Caleb Wall said he had to go for broke against Glenbard West’s Max Konopka.

The DeKalb 160-pounder got a takedown as time expired, giving the Barbs three more points in a 50-24 win over the Hilltoppers to secure first place in their bracket on the first day of the Don Flavin Invitational on Wednesday.

The Barbs advance to the Champions Pool on Thursday with the winners of the other three brackets from Wednesday: Mukwonago (Wisconsin), Father Ryan (Tennessee) and Marist.

“It feels great that everything is clicking, everything is working out for us,” Wall said. “We’re putting in the work, and it’s good to see good results.”

Wall trailed 3-2 after automatically allowing an escape to start the third period. With about a minute left, he seemed to get a takedown to take the lead but was ruled out of bounds before he had control.

Still down one, he finally got a move to land and took down Konopka at the buzzer.

“The call didn’t go my way, but I felt the pace picking up,” Wall said. “Even though I was close, I knew I could get to it if I kept pushing the pace.”

It avenged a sectional loss to Konopka from last season.

“This match went way different,” Wall said. “I just wanted to keep a good pace going and eventually toward the end of the match eventually get to where I need to be.”

DeKalb coach Sam Hiatt said the win could be a turning point this season for Wall, who won, 13-1, against Peyton Burner of Pewaukee (Wisconsin) earlier Wednesday.

“To not give up, that was huge,” Hiatt said. “He gave himself a chance to win. He almost had two takedowns there at the end. We know he works hard, he’s got the potential. It was awesome. It was a big win for him.”

The loss moved the Barbs to 7-0 in duals this year and was the first loss for the Hilltoppers (15-1)

The Barbs got a bye in the first round of bracket action, then knocked off Pewaukee, 73-3. They won 11 matches on the mat and won by forfeit twice.

Danny Curran, Tommy Curran and Luke Schmerbach each had two pins on the day.

Danny Aranda and Damien Lopez had two on-the-mat wins.

“I think it went pretty well,” Wall said. “We worked pretty well as a team. Everybody individually started clicking and we did pretty well together.”