Conant's quick start holds off Schaumburg
Conant did not let another wrestling meet get away.
One night after letting victory slip through their hands in their Mid-Suburban League opener at home against Buffalo Grove, Conant stayed one step ahead of visiting Schaumburg and its vaunted trio of Josh Marchok, Joe LaManna and Pat Felde to hold off the reigning MSL West division champion 38-32 Friday night in William N. Perry Gymnasium.
The Cougars built a 32-0 lead with some terrific work from the middle of their lineup before the Saxons' trio went on a pin-happy frenzy. That energized the Saxons, who seemed to have little life following a quartet of major decisions the last from Travis Sylvester.
“We really did a great job of rebounding after that disappointing loss last night to Buffalo Grove,” said Sylvester, who won 26 last season en route to making his first-ever sectional appearance. “We all knew what we had to do tonight in order to win, and the middle of our lineup helped us get out to a big lead before their big guys wrestled.”
The Cougars' Michael Sells and Vince Gottardo each recorded 8-point major decisions after Kevin Lejman opened with a technical fall when the buzzer sounded at six minutes. Then Sylvester did likewise against Tim Ferguson in his 9-1 triumph at 140 pounds.
After Brendan Perry edged Bryan Peterson 5-3, Joe Gonzelez (152) and teammate Gino Prestia showed little mercy on their opponents, as each scored a pin to increase the Cougars' lead to 32-0.
“Coming into this match, we knew that the strength of Conant was in the middle, and I thought we weathered the storm fairly well against some of their better kids, but we also did not get the results from some of our seniors tonight, and that ultimately did us in,” said Saxons coach Matt Gruszka, whose team beat Prospect on Thursday.
Prescia methodically build an 8-2 lead after one period on Jordan Bradly, but the junior saved his best for last after Bradly closed to within 9-5 halfway through the second period striking with a super-quick move and pin at 3:59 to win his 160-pound bout.
Marchok, LaManna and Felde who combined for 112 wins last season needed just over three minutes between them to pin their way to victory.
Heavyweight Jon Moore continued the Saxons' upper-weight thrashing with a fall at 0:33 seconds to cut the Cougars' lead to 32-24.
“Their big three are just plain scary, and their heavyweight isn't too bad either,” said Cougars coach Chad Hay.
“We kind of had a feeling how things might shake down, and with (us) doing a very good job of grabbing those bonus points at the start of the night and our guys at 103 and 112 (Marcus Williams and Zack Davis) staying away from getting pinned we were able to outlast them in the end.”
The Saxons' TJ Kiska and Ivan Gomez added back-to-back victories to pull the Saxons even at 32-32.
But a Conant forfeit win at 119 pounds sealed the victory.
“Those three are so good, and if they are not some of the best in the area, I don't know who would be better at those upper weights,” Hay said. “But I am really proud of the way we bounced back from that tough loss to Buffalo Grove. It says a lot about this team.”