Wrestling: Luke Schmerbach wins a thriller as DeKalb tops Sycamore

SYCAMORE – Even a strong opponent in the rival Sycamore Spartans couldn’t stop the DeKalb wrestling team Friday night, with the Barbs taking a 61-12 dual victory to move to 11-0 on the season.

Plenty of visiting DeKalb fans watched as the Barbs secured a dominant win behind nine pinfall victories, including five coming within two minutes.

Outside of the nine pins, the Barbs fans’ excitement was highest for the 170-pound match between Zack Crawford of Sycamore and Luke Schmerbach of DeKalb. After a scoreless first period, Schmerbach secured the lead with an escape and takedown. In the closing seconds, Schmerbach reversed a takedown attempt by Crawford to secure the 5-2 victory.

“We know [Sycamore] has some studs in there,” DeKalb coach Sam Hiatt said of the middle part of the Spartans’ lineup. “Everyone is looking forward to those matches. Our guys wrestled hard, and we got some wins there.”

Sycamore’s record falls to 14-7, but the nonconference loss won’t affect its standing in the Interstate 8 Conference ahead of the conference championships later this month.

Spartans assistant coach Austin Culton, again filling in for head coach Alex Nelson, said he knew his team would have to grind through one of their toughest duals on the schedule.

“DeKalb is one of the best teams in the state,” Culton said. “They have a lot of good guys all the way through. We knew it was going to be a grinder, and we did the best we could with what we had.”

The Barbs got off to a fast start, thanks to a pin by Danny Curran at 132 pounds in 1:06 against Sycamore’s Greg Degand. Tommy Curran got a first-period pin of his own two matches later at 145 pounds over Jaden Cochran.

DeKalb came out strong despite COVID-19-related issues cutting into their time on the mat, including leading to a cancellation of their senior night dual Wednesday against Neuqua Valley. Schmerbach said attitude helped the Barbs avoid starting slow against the Spartans.

“Obviously we’re bummed we can’t wrestle all the time,” Schmerbach said. “We always try and look at the best of things. We try and have a glass half full mentality. We were really excited to come out today and show them we’re legit and even if we can’t always practice, we’re still going to come out and do the best we can.”

Brayden Peet got Sycamore their first points with a pinfall victory at 152 pounds over Hussein Thahab. DeKalb would secure wins in their next four contests, including pinfall wins by Damien Lopez at 160 pounds, Bradley Gillium at 182 pounds and Bryson Buhk at 195 pounds.

At 220 pounds, Sycamore’s Jackson Funderburg stopped the DeKalb streak with a decision over Gavin Engh. Funderburg got out to a 4-0 after the first, but Engh closed the gap in the second to just one point. Engh took several shots at a takedown in the third, but Funderburg successfully defended his way to a 4-3 win.

Lincoln Cooley at heavyweight gave the Spartans their only consecutive victories of the evening, beating DeKalb’s Zyon Williams, 7-0.

DeKalb dominated the lighter weight classes, securing four straight pinfall victories to close out the dual. Ben Lopez secured his first pinfall win of the season at 120 pounds while Danny Aranda ended the night with a pinfall victory in 1:27 at 126 pounds.

The Barbs turn their attention to the Marty Williams Tournament onSaturday at Mahomet-Seymour High School. Sycamore hosts a quad dual Saturday.