Schaumburg sweeps York quad
Last year at this time, Schaumburg headed into the final week of the regular season driving in the express lanes - appearing to be going faster than just about anyone else with the Mid-Suburban League tournament on the horizon.
But the Saxons skidded off the road, losing four straight - including three at the York quad.
On Saturday, the Saxons returned to the scene of the crime, but this time stayed on course by defeating a trio of opponents. Counting Friday's win, the Saxons (19-2) went 4-0 for the weekend heading into the two-day MSL meet that begins Friday at Buffalo Grove.
"It was a (forgettable) two weeks of wrestling for us last year, beginning with a terrible two days of competition, and a complete disaster at the (MSL) tournament, where our expectations were so high - in which we never reached," said Saxons coach Matt Gruszka. "Hopefully results from (this) weekend is a good sign of better things ahead for us."
The Saxons beat Stevenson 34-18 in a match which was closer than the final score would indicate, got past Hinsdale South 37-27 and upended the host Dukes 44-28.
The MSL West co-champion finally broke loose from Stevenson (16-5) - which, despite taking all three 1-0 decisions, was unable to use the advantage when push came to shove.
The push and shove came from the Saxons at 152 thru 171 pounds, where they received a pair of decisions from George Zinyak (152) and Danny Malik (25-1) at 171 and a pin from Pat Felde (29-5), who went 3-0 on the day.
"Today we saw some a couple of guys (Tim Ferguson, Will Lang and Zinyak) take a step forward, which is the type of work we will need next weekend in order to make a serious run at the conference championship," Gruszka said.
The Saxons won 8 of 14 bouts, including pins by Hamza Akram, Lang and Felde. But all paled in comparison to an exciting 7-6 victory from Stevenson junior Danny Sabatello (26-3) over Patrick Scully in a contest between two of the state's best at 119 pounds.
Sabatello, who had gone 1-1 in two previous matches against state ranked Joe Schwartz of Highland Park and Mundelein's Matt Ornoff, admitted having a little trouble in the early stages with Scully (28-5) until taking a 4-1 lead after one period.
"(Scully) is so strong, so it was important for me to stay away from his arms, and all that power, so when I faked the (tie-up) and went for and hit my double, I was able to score and get (the) lead after having a little bit of trouble at the start of the match," said Sabatello, who showed off some strength of his own when he rode Scully hard during the third period while moving side-to-side often to help keep the 2009 state medalist at bay.
"Scoring that first takedown is pivotal in a match against a quality opponent such as (Sabatello) and I can tell you that if I had scored first, the outcome likely would have been different," said Scully, who closed to 6-5 just before the second period ended.
Sabatello's win gave the Patriots a 12-7 lead, but the Saxons won six of the next eight matches.
The Patriots bounced back with a heart-stopping 28-27 victory over York - which came down to the last three bouts.
After appearing to take control with 4 consecutive victories from Jordan Sherman (27-4), Max O'Hara, Mark Fetterman and Alex Garvin (135-152) that increased their lead to 25-18, the Patriots ran into some difficulty.
A pin from York's Ray Casker at 160 made it 25-24, while Nate Rubenstein (26-7) countered with a 7-1 decision to set-up a scenario in which a major decision or better by state-ranked Jim Nudera (33-4) at 189 pounds would be enough for the Dukes to overcome the Patriots' 28-24 lead.
Brandon Weber's ability to wrestle hard for six minutes and avoid potential bonus points against Nudera was the difference in a 9-3 decision and 1-point victory.
"Brandon wrestled for the team in (that) one, and that's something we've been preaching from the start of the season, and today you saw what he was made of when it counted for his teammates," said Patriots coach Shane Cook.
"It's great being part of a team that not only wrestles and competes for itself, but for each other, and it's a lot of fun to be involved in two really tight matches, against great opponents, and to come out ahead," said Sabatello, who along with Sherman are on course to nab the top seeds in their respective weight divisions at the North Suburban Conference meet Saturday at Lake Zurich.
None of the three opponents had any success against Hinsdale South's Sebastian Pique (103, 28-5) and Jake Schramm (30-2) who entered the week as the No. 4 112-pounder in the state.
"Sebastian, Jake and Jimmy Grimm (22-9) were very strong today, and, despite going 0-3, I am very happy proud of the fact that we didn't give in to any of our opponents, and were right there with (everyone) because we wrestled hard," said Hinsdale South coach Mike Mazzoni, whose Hornets (7-12) made a serious run at York (18-8) by winning their last six matches before falling 36-31.
Sophomore Josh Marchok (29-2) recorded his second pin of the day, and the Saxons' fourth in their 16-point victory over the Dukes.
Scully, Shane Hafner (3-0 on the day) and Felde joined Marchok in the pin count.