All on his shoulders
Pressure, pressure, pressure.
That was what Naperville North sophomore Adam Hankin felt going into the final wrestling match of Thursday night against Naperville Central.
The Huskies, who earlier in the meet were losing 25-3, climbed back into the match and grabbed a 29-28 lead going into Hankin's match.
If Hankin won the Huskies (4-6) would hold on for an incredible comeback victory; if he lost, his entire squad would go home with a loss. Hankin beat Keenan Marr 10-5 and helped Naperville North leave with a 32-28 win over the Redhawks (5-7). Hankin scored the first takedown in the 130-pound matchup and never trailed.
"It feels good to get on the board first in a match like that because it gives you a huge confidence boost," Hankin said. "I just tried to do my best for myself and the team. I just listened to our coaching staff the whole time. This was a great comeback win for our team."
After back-to-back pins by Jon Coluzzi (152 pounds) and Joe Savina (160), the Huskies dug themselves into quite a hole.
The momentum swung in favor of the Huskies in the 285-pound matchup as undefeated Mike Albanese pinned Christian Lynch in 55 seconds to cut the deficit to 25-16. Follow that pin by a forfeit at 103 pounds and Naperville North was right back in the match.
"I was just trying to get our team some points and make up some of the deficit," Albanese said. "We definitely needed them at the time. I am glad we got that momentum and carried it through to the end."
Naperville North coach Tom Champion said Albanese's pin was the turning point of the meet and he just stumbled into some pins being in the right place at the right time.
"Mike is not the tallest heavyweight, but he feels pins, and tonight was one of those moments," Champion said.
Dave Hess (125 pounds) gave the Huskies the lead as he dominated Mike Gorbach the entire match and ended scoring a 13-2 major decision for his efforts. Hess' win is what set up Hankin's heroics.
Champion had a gut feeling that the meet would come down to the last match.
"I told the guys it was going to go down to the wire," Champion said. "I know that Adam didn't want that to happen and he was asking his teammates to pick up some of the slack so he wouldn't have to face a must-win situation. He won and we had a great comeback. It was great."
Naperville Central coach Rob Porter had a simple answer on what his team needs to work on in the future.
"We have to learn how to win close matches; tonight we didn't do that," Porter said.