The Homewood-Flossmoor High School boys wrestling team isn’t interested in easy.
The Vikings put together a schedule as difficult as almost any high school in the country. The downhill portion of that included the home Mega Duals Jan. 18, in which H-F won all three of its team events. It beat Lake Forest 74-7, then Downers Grove South 69-15 to set up a final round with Glenbard West.
Senior Jovan Vukajlovic was a visual representation of the Vikings’ attitude during his 10-1 win over the Hilltoppers’ Brandon Watson. The 157-pound transfer from Florida wore a shoulder brace and was forced to don a bandage wrapped around his head after a cut made him bleed, but wasn’t slowed down.
“I love it. Stuff happens. It’s a tough sport,” Vukajlovic said. “I love every second of it.”
The Mega Duals was the culmination of a difficult stretch of the season that featured duals with six ranked teams in eight days. The Vikings beat host Naperville Central (No. 18 in 3A) and lost to Glenbard North (No. 15 in 3A) and Oak Park and River Forest (No. 17 in 3A) during a quad dual Jan. 11. They lost to Lincoln-Way West (No. 8 in 3A) Jan. 16 and Lockport (No. 13 in 3A) Jan 17.

Glenbard West is No. 25 in 3A. H-F is listed in the honorable mention portion. The team score at the end of their dual was 34-34. The Vikings won on tiebreaker criteria – in this case total major decisions.
“We’ve got a body of work now. We’ve got two wins against top-25 teams,” coach Jim Sokoloski said. “We’ve got to beat some of these teams, if we think we’re any good. We’ve got to beat some of these teams that are known.”
H-F coaches schedule as many of those sorts of teams as they can. They want to put the team through gauntlets like that. It’s difficult, at times, but it’s intentional.
“If we don’t wrestle guys like that, if (junior) Roan (Dukes) sees a kid like that for the first time in a qualifying for state match, it’s different. Now, it’s like ‘I’ve wrestled this kid. I beat this kid,’” Sokoloski said. “Why not? They’re kids. How do you get better if you don’t lose matches or maybe win matches that you had to gut it out? Just beating the crap out of teams, that doesn’t get you better.”

Dukes had the most dramatic win of the day against Glenbard West.
Hilltoppers 132-pounder Ulises Rojas is ranked No. 8 in the state. Dukes trailed in the match until a literal last-second takedown gave him the 3-1 win, his first against a ranked opponent.
“Our coaches say to believe in ourselves all the time. They believe I can win,” Dukes said. “(Rojas) was stopping my shots. I came in, had to do me and got my takedown.”
Dukes’ win was one of several contributions from wrestlers who don’t make the marquee when outsiders inspect the H-F roster. Those wrestlers are becoming more important as the season goes on, Sokoloski said, particularly at the upper weights.
Xavier Mohead got a win at 190 against Glenbard West and heavyweight Idris Akeeb lost in an overtime marathon to Diego Cano.
“It’s just about not giving up points at the upper weights. Even if we lose, giving up three is a lot better than giving up six,” Sokoloski said. “Those guys that aren’t the heavy hitters, that nobody knows about, that’s what wins you duals. That’s the beauty of this sport.”
Vukajlovic is a heavy hitter, though. He’s ranked No. 5 in his weight class in Illinois. He won all three of his matches at the Mega Duals easily.
“A day like this, we’re perfecting. I’m not wrestling them. They’re wrestling me,” he said. “I just go out there and compete, go to my zone and do what I do.”
Vukajlovic said he and his teammates still have a few things to clean up as the regular season wanes. They think they’re prepared, though.
The postseason begins with the regional Feb. 8.
“It should be business as usual,” Sokoloski said.