Conant takes control in West by topping Barrington

With star-studded lineups, Barrington and Conant were the dominant forces in Mid-Suburban West wrestling last season.

Barrington dashed Conant's hopes of earning an outright divisional title with a 15-point victory in the final week of the campaign. And the Broncos were nipping at the heels of their rival at the conference tournament, only to watch Conant erase a 26-point advantage down the stretch to lift the championship trophy.

But what a difference a year makes.

With most of the key athletes from last year's teams now away at college, the chance for others to step in is there for the taking. And on Friday night in Hoffman Estates, Conant did most of the taking. The Cougars handled the visiting Broncos 60-6 to run their record to 9-0-0, including 2-0-0 in the MSL West.

"I could stand here and tell you we were missing three starters, and use that as an excuse for this loss, but I would never want to take anything away from Chad (Hay) and his team. It was a good old-fashioned beating that we took tonight," said Barrington coach Dave Udchik. "Conant is still a very good team. They are a very physical team, and that's the way they wrestle, too - and they clearly deserved this win tonight."

The hosts steadily built their lead, then claimed victory in the final seven bouts of the evening (two by forfeit, and one from an injury default). Senior Nick Catalano (152) put an exclamation point on the Cougars' big win with a pin at 2:37.

"I know they had a couple of guys out of their starting lineup, but we got after it tonight," said Catalano, who along with teammate Jason Giuliano captured tournament crowns in the first weekend of the new season at the Hruska Invite, here on the Cougars' home mats.

"Danny (Madonia) got a great win against another great wrestler (Markus Hartmann), and Alex Giuliano (at 106) showed a lot of composure for a freshman to come back to win in the final seconds to help keep us on a roll. Like I said, it was a big night for this team."

There was little scoring during the early stages before a big Friday night audience, with the two sides trading decisions, the first going to Brian Smith at 152 over Jake Meyer, 3-2, followed by a hard-fought 3-1 triumph from Max Guhde of the Broncos.

"Smith lost twice to Meyer last year, so it was good to see him get a win tonight," Hay said. "And A.J. (Herrmann) did well against Guhde, who gave Trace Carello of Marmion Academy everything he could handle at the Moore-Pettyman tournament."

Things began to heat up as Eric Hominac (170), Lee Fuller (182) and Artis Hudson (195) recorded a fall, a forfeit, and a major decision to extend the Cougars' advantage to 19-6.

Alex Crook gave the visitors their only other win with a 4-1 decision over Steven Hanks at 220 pounds.

Alex Giuliano brought the Cougars' fan base alive with a thrilling 9-6 win over Tucker Priola, who had a slight lead (5-4) after two periods thanks in part to a near fall at three minutes.

Giuliano drew even at 6-6 with 30 seconds remaining in regulation, then won it with a well executed turn and near fall to end the match.

Madonia was part of what was the best bout of the night, as Hartmann bumped up a weight to 132.

The two highly rated wrestlers put on a nice show during the first four minutes. Madonia, a senior, was on top after two periods with a late reversal to make it 6-4. From there, he took control, going after the same leg to hit a trio of takedowns and earn a 14-6 major decison win.

"Danny's match, especially, was a thing of beauty," said Hay. "His work rate was extremely high, and his non-stop movement was impressive tonight. He beat an excellent opponent out there."

"Right now, there's more questions than answers, and it's back to the old drawing board to fix a few things," said Udchik. "But that will have to wait until Monday, in the room."

Barrington competes in the 56th Mudge-McMorrow Invitational at Prospect on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Conant expects to see a different version of Barrington in the season's latter portions.

"Dave does a great job over there, and you bet they will be a different looking team when our conference tournament comes around," said Hay.