Glenbard East too strong for South Elgin
Big men Bryan Andrews and Quantrelle Turner were big when they needed to be and the Glenbard East duo would fuel the Rams' supercharged bunch at its lower weights who overwhelmed South Elgin (1-3-0) Thursday night in a 60-14 Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division dual on the home floor of the Storm.
"(Q) and I just looked at each other, and we both knew we had to do something big to help get us going," said the senior Andrews (17-4-0), who watched the home side open with three consecutive wins, before he and Turner each bagged a pin, then major decisions at 220 and 285 to get coach Kevin Carlson's team up and running.
"We've struggled a little bit this year at a few of those weights, but Bryan and Q helped turn things around in a hurry, before turning it over to our guys at the lower half of our lineup," said the Rams' (18-2-0, 4-0-0) head coach.
"It was an important win for us because now it sets up a dual with West Aurora next week to decide the division title."
"We had a great start tonight then it became our weakness against their strength, and it all quickly turned in their favor," admitted Storm head coach Mark Cameron, who was forced to give the Valley Division power 24 points in forfeits, in addition to sending a young, and inexperienced lineup into the fray.
"We competed well, and battled in each match so the effort was very good from start to finish but Glenbard is a very good team, especially from (Nick) Donovan at 113 and up," added Cameron.
The Storm came out on its front foot, beginning with a well-deserved 8-3 triumph from Spencer Feerer at 170 pounds, followed by an impressive performance from senior Zack Crosby (22-5) just back from a fourth-place finish at the prestigious Granite City Invite last weekend.
"We're really young at nearly every spot in our lineup, but I am excited to see how all of these guys come along in a year or two and I can't wait to come back from college and watch how far all of them have progressed," said Crosby, 33-14 last season, and one victory away from advancing into the state tournament.
"Zack is not very vocal, but he leads by example each and every time he steps into the room, and out into one of his matches, so I am not surprised to hear him talk about his teammates they way he did tonight," said Cameron.
Crosby, who will wrestle next fall at Notre Dame College in Cleveland, gave the Storm an 8-0 advantage after his tech-fall at 5:26, with Sami Aldabbagh increasing the lead to 14-0 with a pin at 3:26.
That's when the aforementioned Andrews and Turner took over.
"Crosby is very good, but we knew if we could keep it close then with our depth, and talent starting with Donovan we would be in good shape sooner or later," said Andrews, who along with Donovan and Drew Fugiel (126) were sectional qualifiers last season.
Donovan, Nolan Vincent (120) and Fugiel would give the Rams the lead for good by combining for 15 unanswered points, with a tech-fall, major and pin to make it 31-14.
With a pair of forfeits wrapped around another tech-fall from Scott Szabo at 138, the rout was on.
"With the injuries we've had this season, a lot of guys have filled in and done very well, which is a tribute to the depth we have this year, and if we continue to wrestle this way, we should be in good shape next week against West Aurora, then the stretch run," offered Andrews.
"Donovan cut weight to compete at 106 last weekend at the Berman, and gave us our best finish there (second) overall, while guys like Vincent and Szabo were very strong tonight as well. It really was a terrific team effort against a team that fought hard all night long," said Carlson, whose club is at the Lincoln-Way East mega-duals Saturday.
"Again, it's tough giving away so many points to forfeit, but I was really proud of the guys tonight," said Cameron. "I would have never figured on having the holes in our lineup that we've had, but we've still seen improvement from everyone from the very start of the season, and even though we've wrestled teams like Marist, McHenry, Plainfield East and others, the hard work and effort has continued to be very good."