Lake Zurich finishes off Stevenson
Visiting Lake Zurich fell behind early Friday night in its North Suburban Conference wrestling dual meet at Stevenson.
But that small stumbling block was not a problem for the Bears as they ended up rolling to a 44-13 NSC Lake Division victory in Lincolnshire.
Starting at 106 pounds, Stevenson (3-5, 0-2) took a quick 4-0 advantage when Mark Jolcover posted an 8-0 major decision over Jerry Nigro.
Lake Zurich (7-2, 2-2) totally turned the tables on the Patriots the rest of the way as a technical fall by 112-pounder Emilio Nava in 3:15 gave the Bears the lead for good at 5-4.
The 120-pound match was a real dogfight with junior Gresh Henderson pulling out a 6-4 overtime decision against Stevenson’s Paul Marcson to boost the lead to 8-4.
Lake Zurich’s surge continued in a big way with a technical fall by 126-pounder Michael Peters followed by 132-pounder Brandon Arteaga’s 6-1 decision over Chad Berryman to make the score 17-4.
State-ranked Sean Lynch posted an 18-4 major decision at 138 before teammate Matt Mueller added a technical fall at 145 for a commanding 26-4 advantage midway through the meet.
“I’m just trying to get back into things because I was sick last week,” said Lynch, who is 2-2. “I was happy with the team performance and coach (Dan) Strickler is focusing on the team attitude and it has carried over from the practice room to our dual meets.”
The 152-pound bout featured two state-ranked wrestlers, and it lived up to its hype with Stevenson’s Justin Weber pulling out an exciting 8-7 decision over Zeke Honegger.
Honegger built a 5-0 lead early, but 3 takedowns and 2 escapes led Weber to the victory. Trailing 7-6 with 20 seconds left in the third period, Weber got a takedown with two seconds left for the win.
Overall, the Patriots were short-handed with three starters out of the lineup Friday.
“We had a handful of starters out and we lost some close matches,” said Stevenson coach Shane Cook. “Lake Zurich is a good team and we knew what we were up against, and we just came up short.”
160-pound senior Scott Hoff (14-3) continued to shine for the Bears with a pin in 2:20 before 170-pound teammate Ty Kapitzky outlasted Ian Burns 3-2, making the score 35-7.
At 182, Alex Kubes won a 7-4 decision over Stevenson’s Ned Valchev to set up a wild showdown between two sophomores at 195.
Lake Zurich’s Chris Lehtinen captured a 7-5 decision in that see-saw battle with a takedown on Seth Harris 29 seconds into overtime.
The Bears’ Adam Cantwell also pulled out a narrow decision as he toppled Corey Edidin 8-6. A forfeit victory by Stevenson 285-pounder Brad Meyer accounted for the final score.
“When we have our full lineup out there we’re a really tough team,” said Strickler. “I really enjoy the fact that they’re supporting each other and it pays off on the scoreboard.”