Solid effort from Buffalo Grove
With a combined nine starters returning from a Buffalo Grove wrestling team which won 14 matches and finished 1 victory away from first place in the Mid-Suburban East last season, it's little wonder why the Bison might be considered the favorites to jump past Hersey and Rolling Meadows this season in the divisional race.
And Thursday night, with two of their best out of the lineup, the Bison (3-1-0, 1-0-0) didn't miss a beat, rolling past Fremd 47-12 in the MSL opener for both teams, with the hosts breaking open a close dual midway through the festivities.
“For the first half of the night, it was really a good dual,” said Fremd coach Ralph Cortez. “But after that, we had a few hiccups, got a little lazy, and before long we were way out of this one.”
Cortez liked what he saw up until 152 pounds, six matches into the night. Ronnie Hauser had given the Vikings their first points with a solid performance over BG junior Brian Egan at 132 with a 10-3 decision, and subsequent wins from Tim Divizio (138) and Cody Hauser at 152 brought the visitors close at 13-9.
That was as close as the Vikings got.
Senior Matt Zabrin, who has been a starter for coach Dave Durlacher since stepping onto the mats as a freshmea, fueled a 21-point explosion with a 15-3 major decision at 160 pounds, twice coming close to a pin of Tommy Ignoffo, to stretch the Bison lead to 17-9.
“Our lineup coming into tonight was kind of iffy because we're missing a few of our top guys, including Jordan (Rathje) and Hunter Ori,” said Zabrin, who won 26 matches last season, “but we got some great work and results from three or four JV guys, and a really good effort from the top of our lineup to get a good win to send us into a big division match with Rolling Meadows (Friday) night.”
“It's a good sign when you can bring others into your starting lineup and they step up and make an important contribution when you need them to,” said Durlacher, who also plugged in freshman Jeremy Lin at 113 pounds and watched the rookie win his first varsity match of his career when he ended the night with a hard-fought 5-3 victory over Shawn Lemme. “I told the guys afterward that it was a real gutsy effort from all of them.”
After a 6-point forfeit at 170, the Bison continued added to their lead when Jame Coyoc earned a fall at 2:37, which was followed up by another from Mauro Montes, who needed just 1:19 to put away his opponent.
Alex Ibarra capped the Bison run with a 6-2 decision at 220 to all but end the hopes of the Vikings, who by then trailed 38-9.
“Mauro was one of the JV guys who gave us a big lift with his pin,” said Zabrin of his mate.
“This is a young team, but in order for us to progress, we need to have our upperclassmen come through for us when we need them to,” said Cortez, whose club hosts Schaumburg on Friday, and then three Lane Tech, Elk Grove and Highland Park on Saturday in an annual quad.
Chase Ori, who won 22 matches in his freshman year for the Bison, was superb in the opening match when he pinned Michael Costanzo at 1:29 to jump-start the eventual rout, which Joey Madio quickly was a part of after a 14-2 major decision at 126 pounds.
Hauser, a state qualifier in 2009 and a reigning MSL champ, proved too much for Egan. The Vikes senior opened strong and a 5-1 lead after one period, highlighted by a late near-fall.
Egan fought hard to ensure Hauser didn't earn another point for his team with a major, but in the end, the three-year star added another victory to the scorebook for himself.
“We had a tough night tonight, but we'll get ourselves together and ready to go in the second half of the season,” said Hauser.