Crystal Lake South topples Dundee-Crown
Big men rule - and that's exactly what the upper weights from Crystal Lake South did Friday night in Carpentersville.
The trio of Vinny Fontanetta, Dom Bolanos and Noah Laney broke open a close dual with host Dundee-Crown with 15 points between them to help send the Gators (6-3-0, 2-0-0) on their way to a 37-21 Fox Valley Conference wrestling victory.
"Our big guys did the job just when we needed them to but it's been the senior leadership from guys like Vinny, Dom and Shahyan (Malik) that's helped our young guys here in the early going to give us a nice start to the season," said Gators coach Ross Ryan, whose club has already doubled last season's win total of three.
"It's been so important for us to be able to field a full lineup and stay away from giving away six points to forfeits like we did last year, plus our new guys have been doing really well also," said Fontanetta, who is the Gators' lone sectional qualifier from a year ago when he won 24 matches.
"I put a lot of extra time on my footwork, and movement during the offseason in order to reach my goal of getting downstate this season," added the 195-pounder, who helped extend the Gators' lead to 25-15 with his pin at 1:37, before Bolanos needed just 45 seconds to pin his opponent to make it 31-15.
Laney would follow with a hard-fought 5-3 decision over Chargers heavyweight Gabriel Kurzynski using an escape then a takedown at 5 minutes to close things out.
"There a couple of close matches that I would have liked us to win tonight, while in a few others we were in position to finish but we just didn't and that cost as well because South was able to do so," admitted D-C head coach Tim Hayes.
A handful of curious calls by the referee would baffle both sides all throughout the night, making for a few extra long bouts which would nearly go 10 minutes.
Ryan would heap plenty of praise on Joel Bennett for his effort in the opener at 120 pounds in which Bennett rolled to a 11-0 major decision, which was quickly erased by a major from the Chargers' Brandon Rico to even things at 4-4.
The two clubs would trade victories once again at 132, then 138, with Colin Mays (Dundee-Crown) outlasting Anthony Castro 9-8, just after Tyler Gardner registered a technical fall at 4:43.
This flurry of action left the Gators in front by 2 points (9-7) before the FVC rivals traded victories one more time for the night in the next four matches.
D-C's two best, Michael McCorkle (170) and Chase Raap (182), pulled the home side close (19-15) with McCorkle, competing for the first time this year, recording a technical fall at 4:33, and Rapp a well-deserved 10-3 win.
But that would be as close as the Chargers would get. Payton Timmons would put an exclamation point on the Gators' win with a 6-3 victory at 106.
"So far, so good," said Ryan. "We have a nice blend of youth and experience which makes for a good looking starting lineup, which, if it continues to work, will improve each time out."
The Gators are at the Leyden Invite Saturday to face New Trier, Buffalo Grove and the host Eagles, while Dundee-Crown (3-5-0, 1-2-0) is off to the Plainfield North Mega-Duals.
"We've got a very tough schedule, which doesn't seem to stop right now so we'll take our lumps here and there, but we'll be better for it come the new year," said Hayes.