No upset for Mundelein, but darn close

Host Mundelein may have pulled off the upset against Libertyville on the gridiron this fall, but the Mustangs were unable to match that feat against the Wildcats on the wrestling mat Thursday night.

The North Suburban Lake Division dual meet was pretty close the whole way, but Libertyville (9-2, 4-0) was able to hold on for a narrow 27-26 victory over Mundelein before a fired-up Mustangs' crowd.

Starting at 112 pounds, the Mustangs (15-2, 3-1) fell behind 3-0 when Libertyville's Pat Fitzgerald posted a 7-4 decision over Jake Pickering to open the meet.

Mundelein sophomore Matt Ornoff (23-1) gave the hosts a 4-3 lead with a 10-2 major decision at 119 before 125-pound teammate Payton Cruz posted a 7-0 decision for a 7-3 advantage.

The Wildcats regained an 8-7 lead on 130-pounder Matt Bystol's technical fall. But the Mustangs would take the lead right back at 10-8 on a 9-4 decision by 135-pounder Juan Jaimes (23-2).

The next two bouts were huge for Libertyville as Sam Shay captured a 1-0 decision over Tanis Arcos to give the Wildcats the lead for good at 11-10.

Then Libertyville 145-pound junior Kevin Tavakoli got a late third-period takedown to ultimately post a 6-5 decision over Brandon Aranda in the wildest match of the night.

"We knew all of those middle weights were going to be close," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. "It takes a lot of guts to cut a guy with 30 seconds to go and then he (Tavakoli) got the win with the takedown."

Aranda was cut loose with about 30 seconds left to give him a 5-4 lead, but Tavakoli's late takedown secured his 6-5 decision.

"I was trying to go for the winning takedown and we were both very tired, but I gutted it out in the end," said Tavakoli. "This is the biggest meet of the year and it was either us or them going for the conference title."

Trailing 14-10, Mundelein's Pablo Mata outlasted 152-pounder Sayad Banifazl 3-2 in overtime to cut the gap to 14-13.

Then the Wildcats created a little bit of breathing room as a 7-2 decision by 160-pounder Nick McDowell and an 11-3 major decision by 171-pounder Josh Ronne boosted their lead to 21-13.

Jake Hertel's 12-4 major decision at 189 kept Mundelein's hopes alive, but a huge pin by Libertyville 215-pounder Luke Miller in 2:42 gave the Cats their biggest lead at 27-17 with two bouts remaining.

Mundelein 285-pounder Dion Livas posted a 6-2 decision over Jorge Arreola to make the score 27-20. Then Mundelein freshman 103-pounder Nick Dudzinski recorded a pin in 3:28 to end the meet, but the Mustangs had to settle for a one-point loss.

"We knew we would have to win some of those close ones and we lost two of them by a point," said Mundelein coach Tom Buenik. "If we would have won one more it would have been huge, but Libertyville is always tough and they were very prepared for us."

Libertyville 171-pound senior Ryan Mertz is still out of the lineup due to injury, but he is expected to return to action before the end of the season.