Stevenson answers Mundelein’s challenge
Trailing 24-9 after eight matches, visiting Mundelein had its backs to the wall Friday night at Stevenson in this North Suburban Conference dual meet.
The Mustangs did manage to make matters very interesting by cutting the lead to 24-21. But the Patriots came through when the chips were down to capture a 36-24 NSC Lake Division victory in Lincolnshire.
Starting at 138 pounds, Mundelein senior Sam Riportella got the Mustangs rolling right away with a technical fall for a quick 5-0 lead.
Stevenson (3-1, 2-0) took control of the meet after that with a pin by 145-pounder Connor Brady getting the momentum headed back in the Patriots’ direction.
Mundelein (2-2, 0-1) fell behind 9-5 when Stevenson 152-pounder Robert Pavolics pulled out a 12-9 decision over Joey Laurie in a high-scoring affair.
The Pats gradually extended their lead to 12-5 when 160-pound junior Juwon Anderson posted a 7-4 decision over senior Al Mota.
Then 170-pound junior Tyler Harrington (6-2) pinned his opponent in 1:39 to boost the advantage to 18-5.
Stevenson’s Zach Horwitz followed up that performance with an 8-4 decision over Brandon Olayo at 182 and the Patriots had just rolled off 21 straight points.
After transferring to Stevenson from Omaha, Neb., last spring, Harrington has really warmed up to the Stevenson program this season with an impressive second-place finish in the powerful Barrington tournament last weekend.
“The team did really well today and we had a couple of guys down in their matches who came back and got the pin,” said Harrington, whose team will wrestle in the Grant triple-dual meet Saturday. “I learned a lot of things at Barrington that I need to work on for the future of the season and I just need to keep working on them.”
At 195 pounds, Estaban Guzman started the Mustangs’ comeback with a 10-0 major decision to cut the lead to 21-9. 285-pounder Jose Jimenez followed Guzman with a pin in exactly one minute before 106-pound senior teammate Ray Ceniceros (4-0) recorded a fall in only 33 seconds to cut the gap to 24-21 with four matches remaining.
That was as close as Mundelein got as Stevenson 113-pounder Eric Carter came through with a huge pin in 3:34 after trailing in the bout to give the Patriots some breathing room with a 30-21 lead.
At 120, Stevenson’s Evan Rodriguez posted an 8-3 decision over Jon Avila to boost the lead to 33-21 and that win really put Mundelein behind the eight ball.
Stevenson 126-pounder Jeremy Nilsen clinched the team victory for good with a hard-fought 5-3 decision over William Hernandez at 126 as the Pats led 36-21 at that point.
“To seal the victory we got a huge win from Jeremy Nilsen, he’s a first-year varsity starter as a senior and he wrestled hard from start to finish,” said Stevenson coach Shane Cook. “Connor Brady and Eric Carter were both down by four points in their matches and came through with pins and that’s just a credit to the work ethic and the focus of this team.”
Mundelein 132-pounder Antonio Argomaniz closed out the meet with a 7-0 decision to account for the final score. But Stevenson’s overall performance in the final four matches really made the difference.
“I think the guys needed to wrestle hard and we weren’t aggressive enough,” said Mundelein coach Vinny Jiuditta, whose team will compete in the Maine South triple-dual meet Saturday. “But Stevenson wanted it more, and when you make critical mistakes sometimes that costs you big.”