Thrills aplenty at Rolling Meadows meet
The wrestling faithful in attendance at Rolling Meadows on Thursday night were treated to great theater.
The same might be said for both coaching staffs.
Rolling Meadows engineered a thrilling rally from an 11-point deficit to defeat Schaumburg 33-26.
The final result came partly thanks to a pair of late back-to-back falls from Mike Adkins, then heavyweight Mikal Johnson in stealth-like fashion to help set the table for Mike Medskers' clinching 6-2 victory at 103 pounds.
"I am worn out," said Mustangs coach Dave Froehlich. "Schaumburg always competes really hard against us, and we ended up needing those 2 big falls at the top end of our lineup to earn a tough win tonight."
Under first-year coach Matt Gruszka, the Saxons started slowly and fell behind 9-0.
But the Saxons found the express lane, winning their next eight matches -- five either by major decision, technical fall or by pin, the fall by Sergio Gomez at 130.
"We probably had a chance to get another extra couple of points or so (with) those wins that we got, and it could have been the difference because we knew (Meadows) had some bonus points of their own coming later on," said Gruszka, who took over the Saxons' program following 13 years as an assistant for Hoffman Estates coach Bill Scully.
Evan Hafner preceeded Gomez at 125, winning by technical fall at 5:10 to get the Saxons rolling. After Gomez's win, Matt Felde (140) and P.J. Starnes (145) worked their magic to record identical 11-3 major decisions.
Felde used a late near fall to give the Saxons 4 points for his major decision, while Starnes, who was runner-up to Cameron Lloyd of Bremen on Saturday at the Feutz Classic, scored 5 points in the final 55 seconds to secure his major.
What followed the Starnes-Sean Campbell match must have elated every mat fanatic watching
Schaumburg's Craig Cabrera (160) outlasted the Mustangs' Marc Vigna 21-17 in a wild match which featured explosive scoring blasts at the end of both the second and third periods, the most dramatic and exciting coming in the final 30 seconds as the score went from 14-12 in favor of Cabrera to 21-17.
Cabrera's victory, coupled with teammate Dan Malik's 13-5 decision at 171, appeared to be enough of a cushion to keep the visiting Saxons safe and secure with four matches remaining.
"There wasn't anyone on our bench who didn't think we were going to lose tonight," said Mustangs senior Riley Albers, who won 8-4 at 135 pounds.
Thomas Davidson, champion at 189 at the Feutz Classic, won a 5-0 decision over Craig Cruz to pull the Mustangs within 26-18.
Next up, first-year Mustangs varsity wrestler Mike Adkins stunned the Saxons' Kevin Quinn with a fall at 2:41.
Johnson showed his terrific athletic skill and speed by coming in and under a surprised Jon Mejia just 0:31 seconds in to throw and pin the big Saxons heavyweight.
With the Mustangs leading 30-26, Mike Medsker clinched things for Meadows with a 6-2 decision.
"(Mickal) Johnson is so explosive, and you can see how big of a stride he's made in his development in the off-season," said Gruszka, whose club travels to Hoffman tonight for a reunion with his former team.
The Mustangs, who received wins from Joe Mandozzi (112), Moses Kim (119) and Tim Herff (160), are on the road at Hersey in an MSL East dual meet today.
Buffalo Grove 42, Elk Grove 31: In a close Mid-Suburban League crossover meet, the host Bison were able to pull out a 42-31 victory over the Grenadiers behind victories from sophomore Jamie Zabrin at 152 pounds and Alan Baxter at 285. Zabrin defeated junior Tommy Wadas 6-4, while Baxter knocked off junior Mike Eisele 6-3.
Prospect 39, Conant 30: The Knights' 5 wins by fall were too much for the visiting Cougars in a 39-30 MSL crossover triumph. Prospect senior Peter Zintak upheld his No. 1 state ranking as he pinned junior Jake Prestia in the second period. No. 4-ranked junior Matt Boges won by fall over junior Tyler King in the second period.