Prospect's MSL East dominance continues against Wheeling
Prospect's wrestling team took a giant step toward winning the Mid-Suburban East crown for a fourth consecutive time after easing past Wheeling 35-19 on Friday night inside the Jean Walker Fieldhouse in Mt. Prospect.
The Knights' current group of seniors can complete a perfect 20-0 four-year record should they defeat both Elk Grove and Buffalo Grove in their final two duals of the regular season.
"We knew it would be a tough one tonight, but the guys battled all the way through and we got several key performances when we needed to help us come away with the victory," said Prospect coach Tom Whalen.
In a slow-moving contest which average nearly ten minutes per bout, the hosts broke in front from the onset, using victories from Lucas Reinhardt and Matt Wroblewski at 195 and 220 to help open up a 7-0 advantage.
"Matt's win was big for us because he bumped up nearly 40 pounds to wrestle one of their top guys at 220 and win, and I thought (Tanner Strobel's) win at 152 really helped us finally get the lead for good," said Prospect senior Bobby Jarosz (160), ranked No. 9 in this week's Illinois Matmen state poll. "We are almost 100 percent healthy right now, and with everyone in place hopefully from here on out, we should have a pretty potent lineup for the conference tournament, then regionals."
Jarosz gave the Knights (11-6, 3-0) helped extend their lead with a nicely orchestrated 11-2 major decision triumph to bump the Prospect lead to 25-19 following Strobel's 8-1 defeat of Jaylan Shaw.
Heavyweight Zach Yfantis got the Wildcats (15-4, 2-1) on the board with a pin at 3:05 before Andrew Baysinger edged Manny Ramirez in the last 12 seconds to win his 106-pound bout 4-3.
After that, it was a see-saw affair during the next four matches, many of which saw coaches from both clubs make the walk to the scorer's table to discuss calls from the chief official, only to see their protests fall on a deaf ear.
Andy Madrigal (113) and Mason Skloot gave the Wildcats a brief lead. Skloot, normally at 113 pounds, moved up to 120 pounds.
"We've had four guys out sick and in the hospital this past week, and tonight we were without J.P. Smith (flu), which forced us to throw a couple of freshmen in our starting lineup," said Wheeling assistant coach Nick Blackshaw. "But that's no excuse for the final result - Prospect is a very good team, and one of the best in the state as far as we're concerned."
Whalen was quick to praise the efforts of both Alex Preissing (126) and his teammate Miguel Romero (132), who went back-to-back in recording impressive major decision victories to put the Knights back in front at 18-13.
Tristan Guaman (138) and Andrew Lara (145) won by narrow margins to get Wheeling back in front one last time at 19-18 before Prospect reeled off four straight.
"We got bonus points when we really needed them, with Bobby, Joe Siracusa (170) and Alex (Koczwara) ending the night with a pin for us at 182, and that's the way to close out a very tough opponent," said Whalen.