Schaumburg produces sweep at Streamwood
Schaumburg got its wrestling season off to a flying start by sweeping a trio of opponents on the mats Wednesday afternoon at the Streamwood wrestling quad.
The Saxons opened things up with a 46-27 win over Bartlett before cruising past the host Sabres 45-15 and handling Mid-Suburban League rival Elk Grove 51-24.
"It was a good start to the season," said Saxons coach Michael Levanti, who will take his club to New Trier on Saturday for a tough day with Oak Park-River Forest, 1A state power Dakota and the host Trevians.
"We had a lot of guys have strong first days, such as Tony LaRocco, Jaylan Claudio, Matt Hosp and Joe Cunha," Levanti said. "And we also received a quality effort from Hadi (Mashhadiabolghasem), who gave Elk Grove's heavyweight (Anthony Greco) a nice match in their exhibition when he moved up from 220."
A pin from Claudio (120) at 4:30 all but ended Bartlett's hopes, as it increased Schaumburg's lead to 34-27. LaRocco (113), a sectional qualifier a year ago, did likewise against Streamwood to put his teammates in the driver's seat at 34-15.
Hosp, a junior competing at 145 who went 3-0 on the day thanks to two technicalfalls along and a pin, was outdone by Cunha and his three pins.
John Glorioso's team from Bartlett was second best on this day, going 2-1 overall. The Hawks finished the day with an impressive 45-24 victory over Upstate Eight rival Streamwood following an exciting 33-25 win against Elk Grove. Bartlett trailed in that one before outscoring the Grens 12-0 in the last two matches.
"I am very pleased with how the guys did today," said Glorioso, who lost three quality seniors from his 2016-2017 club but returned four this year, including junior Thomas Johnson, who went 26-10 a year ago. "You kind of get tired of beating on each other for a couple of weeks, so I know the guys were looking forward to competing against somebody other than their teammates. So now we'll get back into the room on Friday, clean a few things up, then go wrestle at at the Buffalo Grove Quad on Saturday."
Glorioso watched Paul Kearns register a fall at 132 to put the Hawks in the lead for good (at 27-25) against Elk Grove. Next came three consecutive pins from Tyler Rivelli (152), Edwin Martinez (160), and Johnson (182) to give Bartlett a commanding 24-0 advantage at the start of its dual with Streamwood.
The Sabres were the lone team to leave without a win, but all three of coach Bill Peach's coaching counterparts were quick to praise their hosts.
"I appreciate what others thought of our team," said Peach, now in his 13th year of leading the program. "We're young and inexperienced. We competed hard at every weight, but you can see our fitness isn't where it needs to be yet because we started strong, then gassed out at the end."
Elk Grove coach Dan Vargas saw plenty to like, even after watching his lads go 1-2 on the day.
"We gave away points in all three matches to forfeits, but we'll get those weights filled soon with experienced varsity wrestlers," he said. "And when we do, we should do so much better than last year."
The former Wheeling star was proud of the work of his freshman at 152, Joey Gaskill, who pushed his early season record to 5-0 after three impressive performances, all ending via fall. Also encouraging were the efforts of Matt McEnroe (120), Michael Clausen (220) and Greco.
"Losing my state qualifying match last year to Jose Ramos (Prospect) has stayed with me during the entire offseason, and has helped provide the motivation to work harder in order to be even better this year," said Greco, who produced a strong 27-7 record last year.