Rolling Meadows, Hersey share East crown
Rolling Meadows’ march to a Mid-Suburban East wrestling title actually began on the same night the Mustangs lost their divison opener at Buffalo Grove, way back on Dec. 10.
That’s when Dave Froehlich reminded his club that the Bison still had duals against quality foes such as Wheeling, and if the Mustangs would win the matches in between, their chance would come on the final night of the regular season.
The long-time coach proved prophet Friday evening when East-leading Hersey came to town.
The Huskies left with a 12-point loss, making them divisional co-champs with the Mustangs (4-1).
Rolling Mustangs shined late in the match, when big men Jordan Diaz and Martin Markovski gave the Mustangs the lead for good in a 39-27 victory which delighted a noisy senior night crowd.
“I told all of our guys that the race wasn’t over despite our loss to Buffalo Grove, and if we kept on winning, we would be in a position to still come away with at least a share of the title,” said Froelich, “and tonight, in a terrific meet for the fans and the wrestlers as well, the guys met the challenge to get themselves a piece of the divisional crown.”
Diaz, who hadn’t practiced all week while nursing torn cartilage in his ribs, brought the big crowd to its feet when his big throw on Jason Olson rattled the gym floor and helped the 215-pounder built a 5-0 lead in the first period on his way to a 7-4 victory which pulled the Mustangs even at 27-27. It was the fifth and final time of the night the meet was tied.
“Jordan had been injured all week long, but he really came through for us when we needed him most,” said Mustangs senior Kory Jauch (28-3) who recorded one of Meadows’ 5 pins.
“We split 7-7 in matches with them but we gave up too many (bonus) points at key times tonight, and that was the difference,” said Hersey coach Jim Wormsley.
The hosts came out looking to make an immediate breakthrough, and Aaron Kohlberg (27-4) did just that with a superb effort which ended in a fall for the Mustangs’ 112-pounder, who moved up from 103 to record a pin at 5:27 over Jose Serna to open the meet.
The Huskies’ Stephfon Scales (33-2) wasted little time in helping get the visitors back even when the junior pinned Rich Stubing at 2:40 to begin a back-and-forth them in the meet.
Jauch brought his club back even (at 12-12) with his pin at 135, as did Hersey’s Hunter Rollins (31-4) at 152 with his 7-4 decision over Dennis Caravello to make it 18-18.
In between, Josh Simmons (130) and Zak Whitehead (140) prevailed for the Huskies (22-4, 4-1). And Meadows senior Marc Herff scored one of the aforementioned 5 falls at 145 over Brandt Edgar at 3:54.
“If you had told me that Caravello, Nick Calandra and Z (Zurabi Khornauli) would all lose close matches, and we still came out ahead at the end, I would have thought ‘no way,’ ” Froehlich said.
Two of the best in the state, Jeff Koepke (33-2) of Hersey and Joe Caprio (30-4) of Meadows, might face off in the MSL tournament next weekend if both wrestle at 160. And on Friday they showed why they are among the elite, as each dominated their opponents to record pins. In Koepke’s case, it brought the Huskies back even at 24-24 after his bout at 171 pounds.
Senior Fred Scales gave Hersey its final lead of the evening when he outlasted a gritty Tom Devona in his 3-0 shutout at 189 pounds. The set up the late heroics from Diaz and Markovski (26-12), who dragged Tim Koepke back from the edge to get a takedown to start the third period and go up 5-0 before finishing off his counterpart with a pin at 5:43.
Chris Sanchez sealed the Mustangs victory and help give the team its record setting 21st win of the season with a fall at 1:52 to end the night in style.
“It was a great night of wrestling, but in the end, you have to give Rolling Meadows all the credit, because they won the matches that had to,” said Wormsley, whose club travels to Fox Valley Conference power Crystal Lake South today to take on the Gators and Mundelein. “There’s still a lot of wrestling left this season, and next week at the conference tournament, we get another chance to show what we can do.”