Perfect days for BG, CL Central
Class AA wrestling power Crystal Lake Central flexed its muscle Saturday afternoon and crushed a trio of opponents at Buffalo Grove.
The No. 2-ranked Tigers (8-0) opened the annual triple-dual tourney by blasting Lake Park 66-12 before roaring past Niles West 71-3 and Notre Dame 58-9 to end the day with a spotless record.
Host Buffalo Grove (8-4) did itself well by going 3-0, including a 40-36 victory over Lake Park in what was easily the most entertaining and highly contested dual of the 9 completed.
"It's always tough coming back from the holiday break and wrestling because there is kind of an unknown about it all," said Bison coach Dave Durlacher. "But we used a lot of different guys in all three duals and received some pretty good results along the way. But no doubt, our dual with Lake Park was good one to be able to claim as a victory."
The Bison fell behind early (18-6), then 27-12 after the Lancers' Mike Graziano defeated Chewy Zabrin 3-1 at 152 pounds in a hard-fought bout.
Immediately following, Jamie Zabrin, Kyle Czarnecki, Anthony Ryle and Kevin Alvarez fueled a Bison comeback with a trio of pins and Zabrin's major-decision triumph to pull the home side up and past the Lancers for good (34-27) with just 3 matches remaining.
"We're beginning to see some of our younger guys starting to come around, and that's a good thing for this year's team and the future of the program," said Czarnecki, who went 3-0 to improve his overall record to 18-1.
Zabrin and Alvarez each were 3-0, while varsity rookie Jordan Rathe impressed with a pair of victories.
Crystal Lake Central, ranked No. 2 in the state behind Montini, was pin-happy in all 3 matches, especially in its opener with Lake Park as the Tigers recorded 9, including five in a row beginning at 160 pounds.
"Actually I thought we were a little flat and not as sharp as we could be in our first dual, but I thought we tightened things up after that," said first-year coach Justen Lehr.
"Last year we got spanked by (them)," said Lake Park coach Todd Raymond, "and after a good week of practice I thought we could come in and get ourselves 6 wins. "Obviously that didn't happen. They are loaded this year."
The Lancers managed to grab one victory, a 27-24 decision over Proviso East.