Schaumburg edges Barrington by 1
Schaumburg delivered a knockout punch to the hopes of Barrington on Friday night when two of the Mid-Suburban League wrestling powerhouses collided in quest of a West Division title.
Before a jam-packed crowd, the host Saxons (12-2, 4-0) earned a 30-29 victory on criteria after the teams finished in a 29-29 draw.
"We knew coming in (Schaumburg) was going to be tough, and that the final result could and would go either way depending on a couple of key matches and which team would stay away from too many bonus points," said coach Al Strobl, who saw his Broncos (16-1, 3-1) club overcome a 9-point deficit, then watched as a late tactical move by his coaching counterpart Matt Gruszka proved to be the difference.
"I had two-three different scenarios going on in my head before the night began, and as it unfolded," Gruszka said. "In the end, it was our team strength at the upper weights and some big wins from the middle of the lineup that eventually helped us get a big win tonight."
Following Jared Parvinmehr's 10-5 decision over Tim Ferguson that gave the Broncos the early lead, the Saxons soared as Hamza Akram (119), Patrick Scully (125), Shane Hafner (130) and senior John Lombardo (135) combined to put 15 points on the board and give Schaumburg a 15-3 lead.
"We've been up and down of late in the middle of the lineup, and coach has been on us all week about how important it was for us to step it up tonight in order for us to beat Barrington," said Lombardo, one of four Saxons captains.
"I know I was really fired up (for) tonight and before my match, and (those) 4 wins from 119-135 were key in our victory tonight."
The Broncos rebounded with back-to-back falls from Nick Shealy (145) and Luke Miller (24-5) at 152 and Dakota Wapotish's 6-3 decision over Bryan Peterson.
Miller's pin at 1:19 over George Zinyak moved his club ahead 18-15, but that lead was short-lived after Pat Felde (22-5) earned an important 6-5 win over Ryan McQueen when he executed a late reversal.
The most anticipated match of the night never materialized when Gruszka decided to give the Broncos' Dan Santoro (24-3) a forfeit and 6 points, much to the disappointment of fans hoping to see two of the best in the state (Santoro and Malik) compete. Gruszka bumped Malik (18-1) up to 189 to start a domino effect.
"Our heavyweight (Sean Pottow) has been banged up all week, and (coach) Gruszkas' plan was to move all of us (Malik, John Lamanna and Josh Marchok) up a weight and hope that a couple of us can win by either a tech-fall or fall to put the match out of reach," said Malik.
Malik had his hands full with Kalvin Argueta, who pushed the pace.
Despite giving up 2 penalty points for stalling, Malik was able to hold off his opponent 5-4.
With the Broncos trailing 24-21, Lamanna defeated Troy Morrison 13-4 in an emotionally charged bout that cost the Broncos a team point for unsportsmanlike conduct.
"Kalvin was magnificent against Malik, but we lost some matches that I thought that we could have won, and obviviously that penalty point from Troy was a tough one for us as well," Strobl said.
A gallant effort from Broncos heavyweight Aaron Castagna wasn't enough to slow down Josh Marchok (22-2) who is ranked No. 4 in the state at 215, as the super soph recorded a major decision (17-6).
Adrian Gonzalez (23-3) won by forfeit at 103 make the final score 29-29 - only long enough for the criteria point from the penalty break the tie.
"When I first started wrestling for the varsity, we would only have one section of the bleachers filled for a dual meet, tonight the place was filled and the atmosphere was great," Malik said. "It was an awesome night."