Big finish by Conant's big men sinks Palatine
Big men rule --especially Friday night for Conant.
The Cougars' quartet of Joe Patricelli (171), Sean Smith (189), Jake Prestia (215) and Nate Johnson (285) lowered the boom on their counterparts from Palatine to help complete a sweet comeback in a 38-32 victory in Mid-Suburban West dual meet action at Palatine.
Johnson's dramatic 6-0 victory over Justin Downey in the final bout of the night sealed things for the visitors, who at one time trailed 23-6 as the Pirates' strength at the lower end of their lineup recorded 3 falls. A technical fall by Dale Jarosz at 130 ignited the home fans.
"We've got a long way to go, and we're going through a series of growing pains along the way. But each time out we're taking steps forward, and tonight you saw that with a couple of our guys, particularly Nate (Johnson)," said Conant coach John Kane.
Johnson, who last season was a .500 wrestler on the junior varsity, is well over the .500 mark according to Kane, with 3-4 OT wins along the way to underscore how much improvement the three-sport standout has made.
"It was pretty exciting out there at the end," said Patricelli, who has also made terrific strides this season after an off-season which included 65-plus matches in Greco and freestyle, plus a place-winning effort at the Cadet Nationals.
"I really feel that my match wasn't one of my best this season, but it was good to contribute and get the win and help us get going at the upper weights," said Patricelli, who competed along with Jarosz at a tournament in Delaware at the club level.
Tom Laskowske's exciting fall at 112 pounds at 5:52 helped the Pirates draw even after DeAngelo Hamilton (103) started the night with a fall at 3:26 for the Cougars.
While the Pirates faithful were still cheering Laskowske, teammates Eddie Lopez and Lashon Mejias followed with back-to-back falls to lead into the Jarosz tech fall to keep the pressure on the Cougars.
But the visitors regained momentum and gathered with three straight big-point victories as Tyler King (135), Adam Wright (140) and Kyle Reid (145) rose up to record a fall and a pair of major decisions to pull their club back into the match, trailing only 23-20.
Despite the offensive surge, the Cougars looked to be in trouble after Ross Grande blasted Mark Chereso 22-10 at 152 pounds.
Grande, who along with Jarosz garnered individual championships last weekend at the Hinsdale South tourney, exploded in the third period and scored at will with 7 takedowns in search of gaining at the very least, a technical fall to help his club grab as many extra points in hopes of closing out the Cougars.
Senior Dan Sutton (160) followed Grande with a superb performance which included 2 early throws before her recorded a fall at 1:53 to extend the Pirates' cushion to 33-20.
Unfortunately, after that, it was all Cougars.
"We're still missing 3-4 in our lineup, and we've been able to fill in here and there thus fairly well," said Kane, whose club improved to 4-2 overall (2-0, MSL West).