State wrestling: Sycamore’s Brayden Peet, DeKalb’s Tommy Curran, Bradley Gillum reach title matches

CHAMPAIGN – All of a sudden, the IHSA Boys Wrestling State Tournament has become a best-of-three for Sycamore’s Brayden Peet and Aurora Catholic’s Braden Stauffenberg.

The two will meet in the Class 2A title match for the third week in a row, after Peet won in overtime in the regional and Stauffenberg won the sectional title match, also in overtime.

Peet is joined in the finals by a pair of DeKalb wrestlers, Tommy Curran and Bradley Gillum, in going after a title in 3A.

“I guess you could say it’s best two-out-of-three because they’re going to meet in the state finals, right?” Sycamore coach Alex Nelson said. “It’s the third time in three weeks they’re wrestling, and we’ll see who comes out on top.”

Although there was no IHSA tournament last year, Curran was second at the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association tournament. This year, he said, he’s ready to come out on top.

He reached the 3A final with a late pin over Homewood-Flossmoor’s Jaydon Robinson at 145.

“I’ve been here before, I just have to finish the job this time,” Curran said. “I’ve been preparing for this moment since last year. So I’m ready to go.”

He’ll be joined by Gillum in the finals. The 182-pounder raced out to a lead and held on for an 8-4 win against Belleville East’s Dominic Thebeau.

“It was a really, really good match by him,” DeKalb coach Sam Hiatt said. “That kid is a good kid and he dominated.”

The Barbs had two other wrestlers in the semifinals. Damien Lopez lost at 152 by a 5-1 decision to Shepard’s Damari Reed, while Bryson Buhk fells 5-3 to Marist’s Peter Marinopoulos at 195.

In the 2A bracket, Sycamore’s Lincoln Cooley joined his teammate Peet in the semis, but for the second week in a row he lost to Joliet Catholic’s Dillan Johnson, who remained undefeated this season.

“It’s a great accomplishment for him to walk away from here tomorrow with a medal,” Nelson said. “Like we told him, next best place is what we always preach, and hopefully that’s third.”

Peet said he’s been preparing for Saturday for a long time.

“It’s very overwhelming,” Peet said. “I’ve had this dream of making a state final since I was in first grade and I started wrestling. I don’t really know right now.”

To make that dream come true, he’ll have to get past Stauffenberg after losing to him last week in the sectional. He came close to a takedown a couple of times in the loss but couldn’t collect the win.

And now the two are battling, again, this time with the state championship on the line.

“There’s so much that happens between that first matchup at regionals, the gauntlet you have to run at sectionals, then at the state tournament having no hiccups to see each other,” Nelson said. “A lot of times that’s kind of unheard of. But you’ve got it tomorrow night.”

Curran said he’s just going to wrestle like himself in the title match Saturday, and Hiatt said that means a high-flying pace for the senior.

“He’s just letting it fly,” Hiatt said. “When he wrestles he gets into positions to score points. Some of those looked scary for a little bit, but he ended up on top. That’s what he does.”

Kaneland’s Cameron Phillips had his quest for a 2A title come to an end with a 14-4 loss to Grayslake Central’s Anthony Alanis in the semifinals. Phillips will wrestle in the fourth consolation round Saturday, then in either the third- or fifth-place match later in the day.

Coach Kenneth Paoli said Phillips’ goal all year has been a title. Now he’s focused on coming out as high as he can tomorrow.

“Now the goal is third place because it can’t be first place,” Paoli said. “He’s pleased he’s going to be placing after those first two matches, but he told me on the ride over here he’s looking for at least one more win, if not two more wins, tomorrow.”

Other than the semifinalists, four wrestlers remained alive for medals through the wrestlebacks – all for DeKalb. A win in the third consolation round Saturday morning guarantees a top-six finish and a medal. After the fourth consolation round determines who wrestles for third and fifth, medal rounds begin at 1 p.m. with title matches to follow at 5:30 p.m.

After a quarterfinal loss in the morning, Danny Curran battled back with a 6-1 win in the second consolation round to move a win away from a medal at 132. Luke Schmerbach picked up a 7-1 win to survive at 170. Gavin Engh was a 10-2 winner at 220 to stay alive as well. Daniel Aranda won a sudden victory at 120, 3-1, to enter the third consolation round Saturday morning and a win from a medal.

“This tournament is a roller coaster, but we battled hard every match,” Hiatt said. “We’re in a pretty good spot.”