Sports
Wrestlers Get Crucial Division Win
Mike Delvalle and Jack McKeever recorded their 100th career match wins in a thrilling comeback.
Facing a tough Oxford team in the Small Gym at Brookfield High School (BHS), the Bobcat wrestlers had to dig deep to come away with a victory. After they dug out of a 40-18 hole to tie the match at 40, Brookfield then needed to go to the scorebook and the rule book to see if they had won the match. By scoring first in more matches than Oxford, the boys were awarded one additional point for a 41-40 win.
“We wrestled good but we’re still making some mistakes,” Brookfield head coach Brian Hayes said. “We had to get a miracle at the end. We had to get three pins and a four-point win and hope the criteria worked out and we don’t want to do that.”
The match started well for the Bobcats as they jumped out to an 18-6 lead. But they were stunned to see an Oxford team score the next 34 points and were suddenly faced with the daunting task of needing not only to win the final four matches, but to gain pins to pull off the victory.
Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Sophomore Blaise Boullianne, who has been making a habit of coming up big, got things going in the 125 pound weight class with a first round pin at 1:06.
Senior Alex Neal, another of Brookfield’s top performers on the season, had to work a little harder for his pin in the 130 pound weight class match. Neal took a 7-1 lead into the second round before pinning his opponent at 2:28.
Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
With the score now 40-30, things would be left up to senior Mike Delvalle and junior Jack McKeever, both of whom were going for their 100th career wins.
Delvalle was faced with another of Oxford’s tough wrestlers in the 135 pound class and was unable to come away with a pin. Delvalle held an 11-5 lead in the waning moments of the third round and needed to score two more points to give the Bobcats a four-point win and keep their chances alive. Just before the buzzer sounded he was able to pull one more move to gain the major win at 13-5 and pull the team to within six points at 40-34.
“It was exciting, I never really thought it would be such a big match today,” Delvalle said of his big moment. “I kind of tried to do it towards the end because I didn’t want to have to hold him down and risk letting him up. So I was trying to cut it close but it got a little closer than I wanted it to.”
McKeever took the mat in the 140 pound class knowing nothing short of a pin would do for the team that was trying to stay undefeated in the SWC Patriot division. McKeever held a 5-0 lead in the second round when he went for the pin and got it at 3:24.
“It’s pretty cool,” McKeever said of notching his 100th win. “It’s a good achievement, I’m happy with that. I went into the match thinking I got to pin and that I needed to pick it up. I’m glad that I could.”
With the wins for Delvalle and McKeever coming in such a tight match and in dramatic fashion, it added to the excitement for the two who were awarded plaques by their coach following the match.
“It’s a pretty big thing, I’m trying to get them to put up a banner for it,” Hayes said of the accomplishments. “It’s like scoring 1,000 points in basketball and that’s such a big thing and nobody really makes a big deal out of it. You have to start winning as a freshman.”
Most importantly, their landmark wins came on a night when the team won again and during a season that has brought the most success to the wrestling program in recent history. The team moved its overall record to 13-5 and remained in first place in the Patriot Division of the SWC with a 5-0 record.
“It’s a big improvement from last year,” McKeever said of the success of the team. “I’m glad that we are doing so well. It’s great being on a winning team, it’s good for the freshmen, it feels good.”
“It’s the best I’ve ever seen Brookfield,” Delvalle said of how well the team is doing. “We haven’t won anything as long as I’ve been on the team.”
Early in the match, freshman Justin Lyons scored a surprising win in the 152 pound class when his more experienced opponent suffered an injury default.
With the score tied at 6-6, junior Ryan McManus fought back from a 5-0 deficit in the third period to score a pin in the 160 pound class and give the Bobcats an early 12-6 lead.
In what was the theme of the night, senior Shea McGorty had to work into the third round to score a pin after leading 8-0. That gave the Bobcats the early 18-6 lead that they would see disappear.
Senior Alex Van Hoof was a late scratch from the match due to an ailment and the team lost a match in which they were favored in the 189 pound class. That set up the big rally by Oxford as Brookfield had to forfeit the 215 and 218 pound matches to give Oxford a 24-18 lead.
In a losing effort, 112 pounder Griffin Barbieri may have been in the match of the night. Barbieri took a 10-2 lead into the third round in the high-energy match but suddenly found himself scrambling to hold off his opponent, who pulled to within 12-8 before scoring a late pin to put the Bobcats in a 36-18 hole.
“This was a very good match towards the end of the season,” Hayes said. “Right now I think that we are in pretty good shape to win the Patriot Division. We’re doing really good in the conference and winning the Patriot Division to me is a big thing.”
