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DeKALB – DeKalb wrestling coach Sam Hiatt said he’s been waiting on a signature win by Lamar Bradley for a while.
He moved up from 220 pounds to heavyweight to do it, but Bradley knocked off Ben Alvarez, ranked No. 2 in the state, as DeKalb went 2-1 on the final day of the Don Flavin Invite on Friday to take sixth overall in the two-day tournament.
“I knew the kid pretty well,” Bradley said of the 6-2 win over Alvarez. “Good kid, No. 2 in the state. I knew I would have to fight. Coach has always talked about being gritty through matches and getting through them. To beat him would be a dogfight. I knew I couldn’t let him get to my legs and then he couldn’t score on me often.”
Bradley picked up two other wins at 220 on the day, going 3-0 and helping the Barbs beat the Foxes 45-24 and Lockport 38-24. The day started with a 57-11 loss to St. Charles East. DeKalb closed Thursday’s bracket play with a 47-24 loss to Marist.
Hiatt said he liked the way his club battled back after the two tough losses to finish up the tournament 4-2.
“Our guys are tough and they want to be good,” Hiatt said. “They put a lot of hard work in. It’s just trying to keep them even-keeled. You don’t get too high or too low. Right after a bad loss, 10 minutes later you’ve got a new meet. It was a really good team effort and it says a lot about this group.”
Sycamore wrapped up its day going 2-1 in Pool C, for each of the teams that finished in seventh place in their brackets on Thursday. The Spartans nearly went 3-0, but in the final match against Glenbard West, Tyler Curtis had to injury default when he hyperextended his elbow, the Spartans then falling 38-36.
Sycamore beat Minooka 49-28 and Hillgrove (Georgia) 51-14. Gus Cambier capped his 6-0 tournament with pins in every match.
“It went good, I think,” Cambier said. “[Thursday] we kind of got stuck in a tough bracket, but today we did good. These teams are OK, and we did good.”
Cambier didn’t qualify for state last year and said a performance like this week’s will help going forward.
“It gives me the confidence I need to go on and do well at something like this,” Cambier said. “This tournament, along with the rest of the year, is going to help me have the confidence I need for the state tournament.”
Sycamore coach Randy Culton said Cambier has been dominant all season.
“Gus is wrestling at his top form,” Culton said. “He came into the season on a mission. He didn’t reach his goal last year of making state and trying to place. This year he’s on a mission. I have nothing but high hopes for him. Keep him level-headed and we’re good.”
DeKalb had made the top pool in every Flavin invite since 2016, but missed this year with the loss to Marist on Thursday. The Barbs won the championship last year, but entered Friday without a chance to defend the title.
Bradley said he was pleased with the way the Barbs bounced back with wins in their final two matches.
“There’s a lot of ups and downs we need to fix, but what team doesn’t have a lot of ups and down?” Bradley said. “We just have to wrestle through every period, every match, keep our composure.”
Bradley was one of two Barbs to go undefeated on Friday.
Hiatt said he hopes Bradley will use the win against Alvarez as a springboard to greater success this year.
“We keep telling him if he can go six minutes and believe in himself, he can beat anybody in the state,” Hiatt said. “We’ve been waiting for this breakout win for him for a while, and I think he’ll use it to turn the corner.”