Boys wrestling: Prairie Ridge holds on to take down Crystal Lake South

CRYSTAL LAKE – Tyler Evans caught a glimpse of the team Prairie Ridge could be Thursday against Crystal Lake South.

The Wolves haven’t yet put together a full lineup because of the football team’s run to the Class 6A state championship game and illnesses. They still weren’t quite at full strength against the Gators but came away with a 42-33 win, giving Evans a chance to see how good his team could be with everyone together.

“We’re finally starting to actually make things work,” Evans said.

Evans was part of a stretch where Prairie Ridge (3-4, 1-1 Fox Valley Conference) won five straight matches and scored 27 unanswered points. It started when Lorenzo Masterton picked up a win by fall at 106 pounds. Jake Lowitzki (113) and Evans (132) each won by fall, Christian Peace (120) overcame an early deficit to beat South’s Mason Schrafel 4-3 and Connor Rolls (126) won his match by forfeit.

South won two straight matches to reduce the Wolves’ lead to 33-27, but Xander York took back the momentum for Prairie Ridge when he won at 152 by fall and Frank Cantana held off a late comeback effort from South’s Matt Gimenez to win 8-6 at 170 and secure the FVC dual win for the Wolves.

Prairie Ridge coach Justin Peete has been forced to bring up some wrestlers from the junior varsity and freshman teams because of the lack of bodies ready to wrestle for various reasons. Both Masterton and Peace came up Thursday and helped the Wolves pick up a win against their crosstown rival.

“We told them [from time to time] this is going to happen, where you’re going to get pulled into a varsity situation, you’re going to have to stick out the match and try not to give it away or go out and get the win,” Peete said. “Both of our guys got the win, that was the difference.”

Andy Burburija started things off well for South (1-7, 0-3 FVC) with a win at 285. The junior ran out to a 6-0 lead in the third period before winning by fall.

Austin Laurie defeated Prairie Ridge’s Mikey Meade 9-5 at 138, and South’s Anthony Bradburn won by fall at 145. Anthony Savage (160), KC Brichta Bachar (182) and Dominic Ariola (195) each won their matches by forfeit.

Gators coach Ross Ryan knew there would be plenty of learning moments for a young team this season, and Thursday proved to be one of those occasions.

“In quite a few of our matches, we’re our own worst enemy,” Ryan said. “We might get the first takedown but then somehow we end up on our back. We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot that way.”

South will travel to the Downers Grove South Tournament on Saturday while Prairie Ridge will take on Huntley on Friday.

The Wolves won’t be at full strength yet when they take on the Red Raiders, but they’re closer to reaching their full potential with each match, and they’re putting things together in the meantime.

“I feel like during the season our lineup will start getting more official,” Evans said. “Until then, we’re still kind of throwing things around, making it work.”