Conant fans get their money's worth
There was plenty of value for your entertainment dollar on the mats Friday night at Conant as the the host Cougars overtook Fremd in the last two matches to gain an exciting 34-29 victory in a Mid-Suburban West meet.
Josh Yoo, with all the pressure squarely on his shoulders, won the decisive bout with a superb performance at 140 pounds, defeating Drini Bajrami 14-3 to give his club a 5-point win after teammate Travis Sylvester put the Cougars ahead one match earlier with a 9-5 decision.
"I began to see after Vince (Gottardi) pinned his guy that this night might come down to me winning or losing," said Yoo. "I wasn't nervous at all because our coaching staff has been placing a lot of emphasis on our conditioning right from the beginning, so I knew I would be prepared to go hard for six minutes. So I was really ready going into my match."
Yoo went the full six minutes with Bajrami, but it was clear he was getting stronger as it did - particularly in the second period when he broke open a 3-2 match with a reversal just in front of the Cougars' bench and later on a near fall which helped extend his lead to 12-2.
"We had some big, big matches tonight when we needed them, starting with Gino Prestia at 160, and falls from Nate Benedetti (285) and (Gottardi) before Sylvester helped set things up for Josh to come through for us when we needed him the most," said Cougars coach Chad Hay.
The first-year coach had to be wondering how long of night it would be before a big home crowd with the Vikings jumping out to a 23-3 lead after Vince Lorig started it all with a 14-4 major decision at 145, and ending with a fall in just 19 seconds from Dan Muefeldt at 215.
"We competed really well tonight, and there is nothing to be disappointed about, even in defeat," said Fremd coach Ralph Cortez, who started a freshman at 160, and had Bajrami in his first career varsity match in addition to giving away forfeits at 103 and 119.
Prestia breathed some life into Conant when he came from behind to defeat Brad Evangilesta (8-7) with a takedown at five minutes to draw even (7-7), and the bout winner on a penalty point as Evangilesta attempted to flee the mat.
Sophomore Dan Mirabelli, whom Cortez praised for his superb effort at 112 pounds, appeared to get the Vikings back on course with his 11-6 victory to push the visitors' lead back to 11 at 26-15, but a forfeit and Gottardo pin helped the Cougars grab the lead back one more time at 27-26.
A 5-1 win by Ron Hauser (130) turned the score back in the favor of Fremd at 29-27 until Sylvester and Yoo closed things out.
Next up for the 2-0 Cougars is a trip Saturday to state power Oak Park-River Forest and individual duals with the Huskies, Addison Trail and Notre Dame.