Wheeling tops Prospect in key East dual
The much anticipated wrestling rematch of Mid-Suburban East powers Wheeling and Prospect took place in Mount Prospect on Friday night.
The big senior trio of Joe Kent, Matt Smith and Abel Rangel help ignite the Wildcats (4-0, 1-0) and help them to a 39-27 victory, finally erasing a disappointing loss early last season which cost the Wildcats the division title to these same Prospect Knights.
"It's fair to say we came in (here) tonight with a chip on our shoulders," said Rangel, who delivered the third fall in a row after Kent and Smith to give the Wildcats a 33-18 lead with three matches remaining. "Last year, when we lost to them in a dual at our place, it came back to haunt us as they went on to win the division and get a step up on us in the conference tournament."
The Wildcats were frustrated up until its 3-fall strike as the host Knights (1-3) took full advantage of the lead official who quickly whistled most action which neared the edge --in addition to refusing to warn of any stalling, which occurred all to frequently and slowed the first half of the match to a crawl.
"I think it frustrated a lot of us, and I know for me, it was really important to stay away from trying something that may be costly in your match," said Kent.
After the visitors jumped out to a 15-0 lead on the strength of 4 straight wins by Eric Tolendano (285), Max Nowry's fall (0:26) at 103 and back-to-back decisions from Luke and Mike Smith, the Knights slowly got back into the match.
Jonny Brennan (125) got things going for Prospect with a technical fall at 4:30, then watched as teammates Tyler Rossdeutcher (130) followed with a major decision and quick pin by Matt Boggess (135) in just 31 seconds to draw the defending MSL champs even at 15.
Andrew Mercer gave the Knights a short-lived lead when he decisioned David Aranda 3-2 at 140 pounds as Mercer defended a pair of shots in the final 20 seconds.
Senior Matt Smith (152), just back after an early season shoulder injury, showed great patience in his match with Bill Iversen before putting the hammer down at 5:08.
Rangel, who used what Kent described as the "Abel Rangel cross-face cradle" to finish off Brandon Smith (160) at 2:26 helped extend the Wildcats' lead to 15 points for a second time before Jeff Kissel and Peter Zintak (189) made sure the final match was for the whole works.
Danny Vargas saw to it that the Wheeling faithful would rest easy when he recorded a fall (1:33) over Jake Galladora.
"Gary (McMorrow, Prospect's coach) always has his guys well prepared, and we've had a fantastic 5-6 year rivalry including that 26-24 loss last year," said Wheeling coach Neal Weiner. "So it was good to get (this) one tonight."
"We did fine tonight, but we knew after those three straight falls from the middle of their lineup that we might be in a little bit of trouble at the end," McMorrow said.