Boys wrestling: Tyler Curtis makes big debut for Sycamore at DeKalb’s Don Flavin tournament

DeKALB – A week ago, Tyler Curtis was playing basketball for Sycamore. On Wednesday, he was finishing second in a JV wrestling tournament.

On Thursday, the 182-pounder picked up a pair of wins for Sycamore as the Spartans finished 1-2 on the first day of the Don Flavin Invitational in his varsity debut and first time wrestling in three years.

“Yesterday I was going in, I guess, nervous – first time since eighth grade,” Curtis said. “And I pretty much dominated. So then it was like ‘Oh, OK, I got this.’ Yesterday I just wanted to get a feel for it so I could show up today when it really counts.”

Sycamore will join the seventh-place teams from the other four brackets in Pool C on Friday. The Spartans will open against Minooka at 9 a.m., then face Glenbard West and Hillgrove.

DeKalb finished second in its bracket, failing to reach the top pool for the first time since 2016. There are three ranked teams in the gold bracket for the second-place finishers, with the Barbs, St. Charles East and Lockport battling with Yorkville in a round robin starting at 3 p.m.

“You go into any of the top pools in this bracket and you win it, that’s something to be proud of,” DeKalb coach Sam Hiatt said. “It’s a bit of a letdown, but we can’t really let that bother us. We have more really tough teams tomorrow.”

Curtis wrestled in two matches – the Spartans’ 57-12 loss to start the day against Joliet Catholic, and a 41-37 win against York to close it. He sat out a 44-36 loss to Deerfield.

Curtis, who plays fullback for the Sycamore football team, started the winter on the basketball team. He said he consulted family, friends and other people – including former Sycamore wrestling coach and current athletic director Chauncey Carrick – and he decided to get back on the wrestling mat.

“I just wasn’t feeling basketball,” Curtis said. “I was talking to our AD and getting other words and insights from other people, and they were all favoring me trying wrestling because it will ultimately help for football next year. I gave it a try, and turns out I’m pretty good at it.”

First-year coach Randy Culton coached Curtis in middle school. He said he was thrilled the junior decided to make the switch to wrestling.

“I was elated,” Culton said. “Tyler Curtis is a very good athlete. He shows that on the football field. He’s a good sport, and he’s very, very coachable.”

Culton said he was pleased with the showing of his team, particularly the seniors. Gus Cambier had two wins on the day, including a win against York that drew the Spartans within 37-35 going into the last match, a forfeit win for Zack Crawford.

Junior Gable Carrick was the lone Spartan to go 3-0 on the day against the top-level competition.

“Our seniors stepped up when they needed to,” Culton said. “I was very proud of this team not giving up. We wrestled three duals today, had some adversity. We had to wrestle JCA, the top team in the state, and the runner-ups in the following dual. I was proud of our team. We’re starting six freshmen.”

DeKalb took second, dropping its final match 47-24 to Marist; the Redhawks fell to the Barbs by a point in the last match of the top pool last year, clinching DeKalb’s title.

The Barbs started the day with a pair of wins against Wisconsin schools, 64-7 against Pewaukee and 35-34 against Mukwonago.

In that close win, Mehki Cave, Austin Martin and Jacob Luce won the final three matches to secure the comeback. Luce needed a pin to make sure the Barbs won – they were going to lose the tiebreaker on criteria – and he got it late in the first period.

“It’s a little nerve-wracking, but coaches told me, ‘Trust in yourself and do your best,’” Luce said. “So I just lost my nervousness after that. It’s also good having the guy before me, Austin, get the tech fall on his guy. It’s like, if he can do it, I can do it. It was good like that.”

Luce said he wasn’t aware that the Barbs’ streak of reaching the top bracket was snapped, instead taking the advice of his coaches to just focus on wrestling hard.

Hiatt said it’s still a great opportunity Friday to wrestle four top-level teams. Marmion, Marist, JCA and Prospect are going for the title Friday.

“There’s some ups and some downs, but that’s how it is when you have two tough matches in a row,” Hiatt said. “It’s a team effort, so we’re going to keep the team positive going into tomorrow. We have three more tough matches tomorrow. Every match here is tough. Thirty-two of the best teams around.”