BG's Czarnecki, Zabrin don't 'fall' down on job
A rallying call from the 1-2 punch of Kyle Czarnecki and Jamie Zabrin was just what Buffalo Grove needed.
The talented duo recorded back-to-back falls to help the host Bison outscore visiting Prospect down the stretch en route to a 45-33 victory Thursday night in a Mid-Suburban League East Division dual meet.
Zabrin and Czarnecki, who each lifted championship trophies last weekend on their home mats in the annual Rex Lewis Tournament, claimed their falls at nearly the same time in the match to help send the injury-riddle Knights (2-4, 0-2) to their second loss in the division -- and push coach Gary McMorrow's club further into the middle of the pack.
"(Buffalo Grove) has a couple of real studs in Czarnecki and Zabrin, and you could sense (something) like this could happen tonight because of matchups and injuries to three of our guys," said McMorrow, who was without Tyler Rossdeutcher (concussion), Jonny Brennan (knee), Bill Iversen (knee) and may have lost 171-pound starter Jim Kissel.
Kissel was helped off the mat in his match against Kevin Alvarez, in which Kissel was forced to default because of injury.
"We looked to be in pretty good shape after wins at 119 and 125 (George Wrobel and Tim Schweibel), but we just couldn't hold (Buffalo Grove) off tonight," McMorrow said.
Wrobell and Schweibel pulled the Knights back even at 12-12 after a fall by Jason Sandoval at 103 opened the evening and Jeff Streau took a forfeit.
But Micky Delaney (125) and James Blackman (130) gave the Bison the lead (21-9) with a fall and 12-5 decision.
Prospect junior Matt Boggess, up from his usual spot at 135, needed just 3:15 minutes to pin Shadi Oman before teammate Andrew Mercer grabbed 6 points with a forfeit to help the Knights equalize at 21-21.
That's when Zabrin and Czarnecki took over.
Following a scoreless first two minutes of chess-match wrestling, Zabrin nearly finished Mike Kraac before Kraac was able to flee near the edge to bring a whistle.
But that only delayed his fate 20 seconds, as Zabrin earned a fall at 2:50.
"The big difference between last season and this year is that I really stepped up my (lifting) and extra work at the Overtime Club (Naperville).. and just having another year of wrestling with the varsity under my belt," said Zabrin, who earlier in the season defeated long-time friend and Bison club teammate Mark Smith of Wheeling.
"Jamie is just a non-stop workaholic," said Bison coach Dave Durlacher. "We brought him up just about this time last season and he has progressed with each practice, dual and tournament. Last week he beat a very good wrestler (Ryan Unrein of Carmel) for the title at 152, and that was a big step for him as well."
Perhaps still smarting from a 5-4 loss to Wheeling's Abel Rangel last week, Czarnecki made sure to use the defeat as motivation in his pin of Brendon Smith (160) at 2:42 and help the Bison increase their lead to 33-21.
"I was up 3-2 (against Rangel) and thought I earned a take-down, but didn't, then let down long enough to give up 2 at the end," Czarnecki said. "I learned right there not to do that again."
"Kyle is so hard to score on, and when you do, you really have to earn those points," said Durlacher of the 13-1 junior. "He is so coachable, and we talked about that Rangel (match) and I don't think we'll see that happen again."
After the aforementioned Alvarez's injury default, Prospect big man Peter Zintak used all of 27 seconds to score the Knights' last 6 points of the night on the mats.
Kyle Barbosa (215) pinned the Knights' Jake Galladora, and Spencer Rogers (Prospect) gained a forfeit at 285 to end the evening.