Big CSL opener for Maine West
Maine West thumped an overmatched wrestling club from Maine East 58-12 on Friday night in a Central Suburban League opener for both sides in Park Ridge.
The middle of the lineup for the Warriors (4-0-0, 1-0-0) proved to have too much firepower for the hosts, as Colin Gratz, Rico Zayas, Jeff Korbecki, Jordan Pessah and Ben Kindle recorded nearly half of the visitors’ points with a pair of falls, two majors and a tech-fall (by Korbecki) to take command.
“One of our goals every season is to win it all in the CSL, and it’s always good for us to get out to a solid start right away,” said West coach Lance Weber.
“(Kindle) is a terrific story for us in that as a sophomore he didn’t even wrestle with the varsity, then last year, he came out of nowhere to win 28 matches, and he’s right back at it again early on in his senior year. Both he and (Zayas) are really hard workers, who have just the right ‘edge’ needed to succeed, and they’re each good for the other.”
After the Demons opened the evening with 6 points from a forfeit at 126 pounds, it was all West. Gratz registered a 9-1 major decision over Jesus Villegas, followed by Korbecki’s tech-fall at 5:50 with the senior leading 19-4 when he put away Nenif Keso.
Zayas, who was a CSL champ with 33 wins last season, slowly built an insurmountable lead at 12-3, then finished off Pablo Lopez with his fall at 5:31.
Passah, yet another returning senior with 20-plus victories (26) for Weber, put together an impressive third period in his 152-pound bout against Jalen Lewis, scoring 7 points to secure a 17-6 victory.
“We’re looking forward to a strong test (Saturday) at our quad with Lake Park, a team that is always really strong in the Upstate Eight,” said Weber, whose team will also face Glenbrook South and St. Laurence.
Heavyweight Robbie Jones spent the shortest time of all on the night when he pinned his counterpart, Bill Kounelis at 59 seconds. Maine West 106-pounder Tom Sunny ended the scoring with an impressive six-minute effort and a 14-3 major decision over Joe Hendricks.
The two sides would trade forfeits at 113 and 120 to bring the night to a close.
Correction
In our account of Buffalo Grove’s victory over Fremd on Thursday night, credit was given to the wrong wrestler for winning the 138-pound match. The winner was Tim Divizio of Fremd.