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It's another keeper for Conant in Fight for the Fin

Conant's wrestling program reeled in its seventh straight Fight for the Fin crosstown trophy after a 46-23 victory over Mid-Suburban West wrestling rival Schaumburg on Friday.

The Cougars (7-1-0, 2-0-0) scored 38 unanswered points to dash the hopes of ending the Saxons' long losing streak against its divisional foes, who used 3 pins, a major decision and a pair of forfeits to build a 40-11 advantage inside the Saxons' cozy wrestling gym.

"We always are wary of coming here to wrestle, so to get out of here with not only the win but the trophy is a good feeling," said Conant coach Chad Hay, who along with his brother-in-law, Saxons coach Mike Levanti, rescued a tarnished trophy with a hideous fish on top from the trash seven years ago and transformed it into the centerpiece of the schools' rivalry.

"It's a pretty ugly trophy, but we're keeping in for another year," proudly stated Cougars junior Cormac Kane, who entered this week as the No. 3-rated 170-pounder in the state by IllinoisMatmen.com. "We didn't wrestle well as a team last week against both Prospect and Wheeling, but we weren't 100 percent that night. Tonight we were a much better team, and it showed in the final result."

Kane, whose lone loss of the season thus far is to No. 2 Abe Assad (Glenbard North) in the final of the Hruska Classic, recorded a fall at 3:06 when he bumped up to 182. That preceded a hard-fought 3-2 decision from Lester Gonzales over Joe Cunha, who was done in by a pair of penalty points.

Long before those back-to-back wins by the visitors, Nicky Amato (145) got things going with a fall at 1:57 to stem the tide of 11 points - from Jack Lingle's pin at 126 and a technical fall by teammate Grant Hansen one weight later.

That was the last time the hosts held the lead (11-3), as Amato, then Brayden Cosgrove (145) and Jonathan Nash (152) came through with flying colors.

"Amato gave us a big win after being out of our lineup with an injury, but it was Cosgrove's major and that pin from Nash that provided the momentum leading into those two forfeits before Cormac got his pin to give us a huge lead," said Hay.

Gustavo Avila (220) and heavyweight Hadi Mashhadiabolghhasen cut the lead in half (at 40-20) with a pin and a 6-5 victory. But Tommy Santangelo registered the fourth pin of the evening for the Cougars at 106.

Junior Tony LaRocco, who during the offseason earned a spot on the Greco National Team, ended the night with a 13-10 decision in a wild, back-and-forth contest against Nick Laskero.

"Alex Giuliano (120) who was sick all week, as was his workout partner (Santangelo), gave it all he could to get us going tonight at the start with his 8-4 win, and after that we fought and battled the rest of the way," said Hay.

The Cougars enjoy the rest of the weekend off, while Schaumburg travels to Buffalo Grove to compete in the annual Rex Lewis Invite on Saturday.

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