Deerfield’s wrestling program reached a noteworthy milestone at Stevenson on Saturday.
A season after it crowned its first individual state wrestling champion (Colton Emmerich), Deerfield won a regional title for the first time in 31 years. The Warriors’ seven-point margin of victory over the host Patriots (184-177) brought coach Marc Pechter close to tears.
“It means everything. We’ve been close,” Pechter said. “It’s been a lot of building to get to this point.”
When the regional assignments were released earlier this season, it appeared Deerfield’s toughest competition would be Stevenson, the North Suburban Conference champion. That’s exactly how it played out.
Before the championship and third-place matches, the Warriors trailed the Patriots 157.50-149. In the 14 weight classes, Deerfield had 10 wrestlers evenly split between the title and third-place matches. To overtake Stevenson, Deerfield would have to not only win as many matches as possible, but pick up extra bonus points awarded through pins, major decisions and advancing through the bracket.
“It was a pretty tight race with Stevenson all day. Getting a pin means a lot more in team points,” said senior Brady Glantz, who pinned Warren junior Andrew Demos with a second remaining in the first period of the 170-pound title match.
Pechter added: “We had a coach giving us a running score point-by-point. We knew not only do we need to win, but we need bonus points.”
With an estimated 40 Deerfield teammates and classmates cheering wildly from the gymnasium bleachers, the Warriors began their climb to first place. They emerged victorious in four of five title matches — sophomore Dylan Utterback (106 pounds), sophomore Kyle Clough (113), junior Andrew Mehrholz (138) and Glantz. Following Pechter’s edict for bonus points were Clough, with a 10-1 major decision, and Mehrholz, who’s superiority earned him a 20-5 technical fall.
In the consolation bracket, the Warriors won four of five third-place bouts, including victories by junior Nick Kupets (126), junior Andrew Grossman (132) and senior Patrick Sardi (145). Kupets’ 9-0 major decision over Stevenson sophomore Ben Ponto and Grossman’s first-period pin of Warren sophomore Grant Zamin netted extra team points.
“We really focused on bonus points. That was our team goal,” Mehrholz said. “Almost all of us scored.”
Late in the tournament, Deerfield had surpassed Stevenson. When the 220-pound third-place match began between Warriors junior Christo Moran and Patriots junior Michael Kordek, the scenario was clear for Moran — avoid being pinned, and the Warriors would be sectional champs.
With Deerfield fans loudly screaming “Let’s go Christo,” Moran did much than elude defeat. He won the match by an 8-1 decision.
On Saturday at the Class 3A Barrington Sectional, 10 Deerfield wrestlers will compete for a berth in the Feb. 19-21 state tournament in Champaign.
“When it was crunch time, they came through. To do it like we did, with the cheering section we had, it was incredible,” Pechter said.
Jon Kerr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.