Three Tigers win regional titles
By Danny Carlino Contributor February 6, 2012 6:20PM
Elmwood Park's Joe Stocco battles Fenwick's Ben Uphues, during a 132-pound match at the St. Patrick Regional meet on Saturday. | Stacia Timonere~for Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Updated: March 10, 2012 8:30AM
Elmwood Park’s wrestlers opened the second season, improving on last year’s great regional performance with eight sectional qualifiers compared with six from 2011. The goal of winning the regional came up a bit short as hosts St. Patrick proved just too tough for the rest of the field and finished atop the standings with 234 points. Fenwick took second with 151.5 points just ahead of Elmwood Park’s 142 with the rest of the schools well behind.
“I thought at the beginning of the tournament that we had a chance to win, but after the first round, I knew that St. Pat’s were just too strong,” said Elmwood Park head coach Lane Stone. “They’re solid through-and-through, but we took third out of 11 schools, so I can’t complain, and we had the second-most kids advance to sectionals.”
Sophomore Ben Vasquez and senior Mike DiFrisco lived up to their top billing, taking their respective weight classes. Vasquez won both of his bouts with a tournament-opening pin and a 9-1 victory in the 106-pound championship round to improve his record to 32-1. DiFrisco had only one match on the day and proved too much and won 8-1 to take the top spot at 126 pounds and run his record to 29-1.
Senior Joe Shaw proved to be a surprising third Tiger to finish in first place as he won the 195-pound bracket with a pair of wins, including an 11-7 victory. He’s quietly put together a solid season with a record of 21-5 and now a regional title.
“Ben Vazquez pretty much walked through the tournament and so did DiFrisco,” Stone said. “Shaw isn’t one of my most athletic kids on the team or the best wrestler, but his record is good. He beat every kid he wrestled, and he wrestled well. He stepped up to the occasion.”
Senior Jim Accettura was the lone second-place finisher losing by pin in the championship bout to state ranked Anthony Ferraris of St. Patrick. Four Tigers placed third in their respective weight classes like junior Joe Stocco did at 132 pounds. He finished the day 3-1, including a 3-1 win in the third-place bout. Junior John Tito (14-10) went 3-1 to earn third place at 152 pounds, while sophomore Brian Sama (21-9) pinned his way to a third-place finish at 182 pounds. Senior Leo Bernal (28-9) won 9-1 in the third-place match at 220 pounds.
A couple of injuries prevented the Tigers from having a couple more guys get through. Sophomore Ruben Bahena suffered a separated shoulder in the first period of the third-place bout at 113 pounds and couldn’t continue. His season finished at 23-13, but he has promise to make up for this ending next season. Senior Denny Ma (145 pounds) didn’t make it to the third-place match as he sprained his ankle in the consolation semifinal. He had the lead, but lost it late after the injury. Sophomore James Angelico also finished in fourth place at 160 pounds.
The Tigers are one step from their goal of getting guys to the state finals. They’ll be at Grayslake Central starting Friday night.
“I really think we can get at least three downstate,” Stone said. “Getting just one through is awesome. The kids have been wrestling really strong. We just have to practice hard and keep them focused, and we’ll see what happens.”
Comments Click here to view or make a comment