Hersey starts fast, powers past Fremd

Hersey opened its Mid-Suburban League campaign in style with a 45-15 crossover victory against host Fremd on Thursday night in Palatine.

Junior Stephfon Scales helped start a 17-0 run from the bottom of the Huskies’ lineup which enabled the reigning MSL East Division champions to break open this dual.

The Huskies roared to a commanding 29-6 lead until the Vikings’ 2010 state qualifier Ronnie Houser recorded a fall at 135 pounds to temporarily slow down Hersey.

“We have a very good team this season, and there is no reason why we can’t win another division title and then have a good chance at getting downstate at the team-dual tournament,” said Scales, who last season fell 1 win short of earning a state medal at 112 pounds and finished with 42 victories.

“(It) kind of stayed with me for a while (last) year knowing that 1 more win would have meant a state medal, but I’ve used that disappointment to go out and work harder during the off-season, especially on my take-downs, shot defense and turns.”

Scales (11-0) did well in his 199-pound bout against Jeff Nannini, who tried to slow the pace and not allow his opponent to attack at will.

Just before Scales’ 4-1 decision, teammate Jose Serna recorded a 10-1 major decision over Gary Klen.

Conrad Bugay (125) and Josh Simmons (130), who combined for 61 victories last season, won their matches. Bugay earning the second of 2 major decisions (14-2) for the Huskies, while Simmons pinned Tim Divizio in 56 seconds.

After Houser’s pin at 3:46, Vikings senior Brandon Klen outlasted Jason Brown 13-9 in a seesaw battle in which Klen raced out to a 6-2 lead after two minutes. Brown fought back to make it 8-4 until a late near-fall just before the end of the second period gave Klen an 11-4 cushion heading into the final period.

Klen’s victory pulled the Vikings within 32-15, but that was as close as Fremd would get.

“Hersey really took it to us tonight,” said Vikings coach Ralph Cortez, who watched his lads drop the final four matches after the Klen victory at 140 pounds.

Zach Whitehead (145) kept the pressure on for six minutes in his 13-5 decision over Vince Lorig, using a near-fall at the buzzer ending the second period to increase his lead to 9-5.

Hunter Rollins, who missed most of the 2009-10 season with a broken elbow, sealed the deal for the Huskies after an 11-2 major decision against Toomy Ignoffo as Hersey took a 36-15 lead.

A well-designed shot gave Rollins a take-down at 3½ minutes and a 7-1 lead after two periods, After riding Ignoffo for the first minute of the third period, Rollins made it 9-2 on a take-down in front of his own bench with 16 seconds remaining in regulation.

State medalist Jeff Koepke had his hands full with Chris Suchomski in his 3-2 victory at 171 pounds to end the meet.

“It’s a good way to start our conference season,” said Hersey coach Jim Wormsley, whose team went 7-3 in two days of dual-team competition last weekend at Maine East. “We’ve got a lot of work still to do, but I like what I’ve seen so far this season from the guys.”

Fred Scales opened the night with a 5-3 decision at 189 pounds, and Jason Olson won 5-1 a match later.

The Vikings’ Nate Hanks (8-1), who was third overall in the heavyweight division last weekend at Wheaton-Warrenville South, continued his terrific start with a fall at 1:59 over Tim Koepke.

“Nate has looked very good in the early stages of the season for a guy who has never wrestled at heavyweight before,” Cortez said.