— Deerfield wrestling fans have a number of ways to quantify the success of the 2016-17 Warriors.
Do the fans most appreciate the 25 wins? Or yet another Central Suburban League title? Perhaps the Class 3A Libertyville Regional championship?
All were great accomplishments, but Deerfield surpassed them all Saturday in Bloomington with a fourth-place trophy, Deerfield’s first at the Class 3A dual team state meet.
Under coach Marc Pechter, the Warriors had won 149 matches in the last six seasons but had not collected a team state trophy. They were bounced in the 3A state quarterfinals in their only previous appearance in 2015.
“We finally hit the big one,” Pechter said with a big smile just before his wrestlers raised the fourth-place trophy.
“It was a long time coming for sure. We always ran into one roadblock after another in the postseason, despite having great rosters associated with our great records but this finally was the year for our guys.”
Pechter built a perennially powerful program after an inauspicious start to his tenure in 2001. The Warriors were 10-38-1 in his first three seasons, but they have posted winning records 12 times in the past 13 years, including seven consecutive seasons of at least 20 victories.
Under Pechter, the Warriors learned to grind out one victory after the next.
“A lot of credit has to go to Coach Pechter and his assistants,” said senior Kyle Clough, an individual state qualifier at 120 pounds. “They never stop teaching, plus they give us a schedule that week after week has us going against as many state-ranked teams as we can to prepare for the postseason.”
Clough set the Deerfield single-season record for technical falls (19) and led the team in wins (43). He and junior Holden Heller (132 pounds) provided steady leadership for the Warriors (25-4) all season long.
“People immediately asked me after our big win over Conant in our quarterfinal how many (individuals) we sent to state,” Pechter said. “When I answered ‘five,’ they were surprised.
“But to be honest, that Barrington Sectional was a tough one, so we were happy and proud to get those five guys down.”
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Heller was the lone medal-winner with his fourth-place finish, while Matt Templeton (106), Aaron Brailov (126), Kenny Kerstein (138) and Clough joined him in Champaign.
Templeton, Kerstein and Heller will all be back, as will five others who were in the Warriors’ starting lineup for their 45-12 victory against Conant in the state quarterfinals. The Warriors later lost to Montini and Lincoln-Way West to place fourth.
“The great thing about this program is how hard all of the guys in the room work to help everyone get better,” said Clough, who plans to wrestle next season at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. “I think that’s the real secret to the success of this team, the unselfish pride from guys who might not be starting but still come in and work just as hard as the rest of us.”
“Kyle is right,” Pechter added. “We obviously have our 14-man starting lineup, but it’s our 15th man that is so valuable to this program: The guys who are right there, fighting each day in the room to get better while making their teammates better as well.”
Michael Garofola is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press