State wrestling: DeKalb loses 3A team title to Mt. Carmel on last match, takes second in state

BLOOMINGTON – Not having a dual loss in two years, the DeKalb wrestling team has had a singular focus on becoming Class 3A Dual Team State Champions.

On Saturday, the Barbs fell five points short to Mt. Carmel, with the Caravan winning the final match by pin to secure a 32-27 victory.

“It’s definitely not what we wanted, but if I’m being completely honest as a team we gave it our all,” said DeKalb 132-pounder Danny Curran, who picked up a key late win to give the Barbs the lead going into the last match despite having missed the first two duals of the tournament with a shoulder issue. “We had a lot of fun of doing it, and it’s probably a great experience for us all. None of us should have anything to regret.”

DeKalb trailed, 26-18, after the 113-pound match, when Damian Resendez won, 9-7, against DeKalb’s Rory Burright. Burright trailed, 4-1, after the first period but got a takedown and a three-point near fall to take the lead in the second period.

But he couldn’t score again and the Barbs trailed by eight heading into the final four matches.

“We fought our [butts] off,” DeKalb coach Sam Hiatt said. “Two of the best teams in the country going toe-to-toe for a state title. We knew there were going to be a lot of good matches, a lot of exciting matches, and I’m proud of the way our guys fought. Obviously, we wish we would have come out on top. We could have wrestled that dual a bunch of times and it would have been different results every time.”

Danny Aranda followed with a 3-2 win to pull the Barbs within five, then Ethan Schultz – who basically has only been in the lineup since the postseason began because of an injury to Jacob Luce – pulled out a 4-1 win.

After Schultz’s win, the Barbs trailed, 26-24, with two matches remaining.

“That was a big win,” Hiatt said. “Obviously, we didn’t want Jacob Luce to get hurt, but Jake came up big, and he almost made it to state. He was a match away. He had a huge win there to keep us in the meet. He’s just a fighter. He fought like hell in the match and that was big.”

Then Curran came up with his 11-5 win against Eddie Enright in a match Curran led 2-1 after two periods. The back and forth final period featured each wrestler getting a reverse, but Curran couldn’t come up with back points. He said he was really trying to win by pin.

Even without the pin the Barbs led 27-26 heading into the final match.

“I really wanted to get us the pin because I thought that would have given us enough momentum to finish the dual on top,” Curran said. “I kinda have no one else to blame but myself, but I’m proud to say I gave it my all trying to pin him. It just wasn’t the case.”

Hiatt said he was impressed with Curran, who will be joining his brother Tommy Curran wrestling for North Carolina State next season.

“He’s a warrior,” Hiatt said. “We know the shoulder was bothering him at the state tournament. He just came back and fought. He gives it everything he’s got every match.”

It came down to the Caravan’s Sergio Lemley and the Barb’s Austin Martin at 138. Lemly was a state champion individually last week at 126, but Mt. Carmel coach Alex Tsirtsis said he thought the Caravan would benefit from him moving up.

“He just does what he does. Score points, score points, score points,” Tsirtsis said. “We’re confident with him in there going in the last match.”

The Barbs started with an 11-0 lead. Tommy Curran, a state champion last week individually at 145 pounds, got a pin with 51 seconds left in the third period. He was only up 6-2 after two periods and seemed to be going after the major decision in the third. Some on the DeKalb sideline were yelling for him to cut his opponent loose and try for another takedown in an attempt to get to the eight-point threshold for a bonus team point. But instead, he got three extra points by getting the pin.

Damian Lopez followed with a tech fall for the Barbs.

Bradley Gillum at 170 gave the Barbs some bonus points in a match he led 7-1 after two. He got a takedown with two seconds left to go up 11-3 and held on to Owen Jacobson’s leg to prevent the escape and get the extra point to put DeKalb up, 15-5.

At 195, Bryson Buhk scored a 6-3 win to extend the Barbs’ lead back to 18-8.

But the Caravan won the next four matches, including pins for Ryan Boersma at 285 and Seth Mendoza at 106

“We never really put it together up and down the lineup, 14 guys,” Tsirtsis said. “Tonight every single guy did their job.”

Hiatt said the dual against the Caravan is the one the Barbs wanted from the beginning of the year, with both teams ranked highly in both state and national polls.

“That was our first loss in two years, and it took a [darn] good team to take us down,” Hiatt said. “There were five teams ranked in the top 50 in the country in 3A wrestling, so we beat a lot of good people along the way to get here.”

The Barbs started the day with a 34-30 win over Lockport, forfeiting their final three matches after clinching the win when Burright beat Nore Turner at 113, 4-2.

Hiatt said he told his team not to hang their heads after the loss to the Caravan. And even though it didn’t end the way he had planned, Danny Curran said he was, on the whole, glad for the experience of the year as a whole.

“It’s probably the best year I’ve ever had,” Curran said. “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs through regionals, sectionals, throughout this whole year. My shoulder, all that, I was not in my right mindset. It took a lot for me to get straight, and I can’t thank my team [enough] for supporting me through all this. And I supported them as well. It’s both ways, and I can’t appreciate these guys more.”