Wrestling: Maine West steps up against Vernon Hills
Right from the beginning, the Vernon Hills-Maine West wrestling dual took on that end-to-end, all-action feel to it, with both teams trying to unbalance the other.
Jake Bellizzi settled this Friday night thriller with his fall at 1:55 to help the Warriors to a 43-31 victory in a Central Suburban North opener.
"The crowd was charged up, and there were a lot of hard-fought, close matches to keep them cheering, and it ended up being a great win for us tonight," said Bellizzi, a 2017 state qualifier who was named CSL North defensive player of the year following the fall football season.
Things began to look a little bleak for the Warriors (4-0-0, 1-0-0) when the visiting Cougars (14-4-0, 1-1-0) opened the festivities with a forfeit and 6 points at 106 pounds, followed by a pin from state qualifier Jesse Goldufsky.
The 12-0 lead was reduced to 12-3 following an 8-4 decision by Zak Christovisiotis (120) to begin a sequence in which each club took turns recording bonus point victories, which ended at 152 pounds with the Cougars leading 22-19.
"This year is all about some of our wrestlers stepping up to become six-minute guys, and tonight some of them did better with pins - in particular, William Darling, who struggled at times last year, but did a great job of cleaning some things up for this season," said Vernon Hills coach Jerry Miceli, whose club went 7-3 overall during the two-day mega-dual meet it hosts on Thanksgiving weekend.
Maine West co-captain Arsalan Afshar (132) sandwiched his pin at 1:31 around a major decision victory by Blake Teschly (126) and a fall from Darling at 138 to keep the hosts close at 22-9.
After that, it got interesting.
Jayton Hall, a sectional qualifier last year, drew the Warriors closer (22-15) when he registered a fall at 1:11. That set up a major decision (11-0) from Muellner, which fueled a war of words between the benches.
With the Warriors' cozy wrestling gym now alive and raucous, the visitors increased their advantage one last time with a decision from Aris Herrera (160). That was followed by the Cougars' last pin of the evening from Ryan Peck (170) to make it 31-19.
Back-to-back pins from Nick Hernandez and Bellizzi evened it up at 31-31, and when Miceli conceded the last two bouts to forfeits, the Warriors' big home crowd was able to celebrate.
"Nick (Hernandez) was a determined young man, and came out very strong in his match, and Jake was Jake - he took charge right away to get us a big 6 points," said Maine West coach Chris Brassell. "It was an emotionally charged night, and an exciting one, and credit Vernon Hills coming here ready to compete and fight hard at each weight class."
The Warriors host league rival Glenbrook South, as well as Lake Park and Thornton-Fractional South on Saturday, while the Cougars travel to Riverside-Brookfield.
"This is a fun place to wrestle in," Miceli said. "It's small and noisy, and the crowd is on top of you to make it an exciting gym to have a dual. We'll get better as we continue to sort things out, and get everybody in the lineup and at the right spots."