The Saint Patrick Shamrocks began their wrestling season by placing ninth out of 32 teams at the Moore/Prettyman Tournament, hosted by Barrington High School. The Shamrocks had six wrestlers place in the tournament, including defending State Champion, Joe Fagiano, who won the championship at 189 pounds. George Vitzileos (2nd at 285 lbs), Jon Schiewe (3rd at 130 lbs), Marty LaBelle (5th at 215 lbs), Brian Ridley (8th at 125 lbs), and Jimmy DiNino (8th at 135 lbs) all scored for the Shamrocks.

The Shamrocks opened the season with their traditional matchup against the 10th ranked Huskies of Oak Park-River Forest. LaBelle got the Shamrocks started on the right foot, pinning his opponent at 4:58 to give Saint Patrick a 6-0 lead. Vitzileos, Anthony Sciaccotta, and Ridley then all lost close matches as the Huskies took the next five matches to build a 24-6 advantage. Schiewe got the Shamrocks six points, pinning his opponent at 2:33 to make the score 24-12. The Huskies took the next six matches to build a 55-12 lead before Fagiano scored a pin at nine seconds in the night’s final match.

Over the weekend the Shamrocks participated in the Moore/Perryman Tournament at Barrington High School. Fagiano led the way for the Shamrocks, rolling to the championship at 189 pounds. Fagiano pinned Fenwick’s Kevin Caiafa and scored a technical fall over Paul Rands of Cary Grove to reach the semi-finals. There he met Gordy Kickels of Lemont. Fagiano dispatched Kickels with an 8-2 decision and then scored a 13-5 major decision in the championship match against Peter Zintak of Prospect.

Vitzileos had an exciting run to the championship match at 285 pounds. Vitzileos won an 8-3 decision over Dan Howe of Niles West in his opening match, and then he scored a 9-2 decision over Mike Cherry of Hoffman Estates to reach the semi-finals. In the semis, Vitzileos scored an upset victory, pinning top seed, Tyler Hall of Lakes Community at 3:21. Vitzileos’ Cinderella run ended in the title match as he got pinned by Hamza Rashid of Plainfield Central.

At 130 pounds, Schiewe won his first two matches, defeating Kyle Rasmussen of Waubonsie Valley and Kyle Reilly of Geneva by decision to earn a berth in the semi-finals. In the semis, Schiewe met Bobby Barnheisel of Fenwick. Barnheisel took an 8-0 decision over Schiewe. Schiewe came back to capture a 4-2 decision over Matt Walters of Nequa Valley in the third place match.

LaBelle, wrestling at 215 pounds, defeated Dave Monroy of Grant 6-3 in his opening match before losing a 9-3 decision to Jeff Sayre of Barrington in his second match. LaBelle then scored a 5-1 decision over Brandon Cartwright of Round Lake and pinned Julio Padilla of Woodstock before dropping a 1-0 decision to Alex Brant of Streamwood. In the fifth place match, LaBelle defeated Ben Rehm of Lakes by a score of 6-3.

DiNino scored decisions over Mark Majiewski of Round Lake and Zach Sorensen of Woodstock in his first two matches, before losing a 7-3 decision to Bhavik Patel of Hoffman Estates. DiNino then defeated Marques Montgomery of Corliss and lost a 10-2 decision to Gabe Pattison to earn a spot in the seventh place match, which he lost to Anthony Zaio of Jacobs by a score of 8-2.

Ridley had more close bouts than any other Shamrock in the tournament. Ridley defeated Brian Poulakides of Lake Zurich 3-2, and then dropped a 6-4 decision to Joe Kent of Wheaton. In the wrestle backs, Ridley beat John Ewald of Lemont by a score of 7-4, and then he dropped a 1-0 decision to Mike Gouletas of Highland Park. In the seventh place match, Ridley lost a 2-1 decision to Jake Fredricksen of Woodstock.