Meadows wins topsy turvy opener at Leyden

A thrilling ending nearly gave new Leyden wrestling coach John Kading a storybook finish his first time out.

Kading experienced a roller-coaster ride Tuesday night at Farina Fieldhouse in Franklin Park, watching his team fall far behind before roaring back into the lead - only to have visiting Rolling Meadows edge the Eagles with a win in the last match of the night for a 37-33 season-opening victory.

"Wow ... that was a good one for the fans, wasn't it?" said Kading, who came over from 2A state power Mt. Carmel to take over the Leyden program. "We obviously are not happy with the result, but aside from that I am very proud of the effort our guys gave on a night when we had nine first-timers in our varsity lineup."

The hosts enjoyed a brief lead when Alex Solano opened the night with a 12-5 win at 120 pounds before the Mustangs won five of the next six bouts to build a 25-6 advantage.

"Our big three guys we'll count on - Jackson Kohlberg (126), Liam Collins (138) and Michael Womeldorf (160) - did what we expected, with Hector Campos (132) really impressive in his 132-pound match," said Rolling Meadows coach John Bassler. "But it was Liam's win over their best guy (Shane Dziadosz) that was a big win for him, as well as us."

Meadows is still without three-year starter Nick Delporte plus a handful of others still working their way back after contributing to the Mustangs' deep Class 7A playoff run.

"Liam was great in his match with (Dziadosz), who was one win away from advancing into the state tournament last year," said Bassler, "and that's the type of win that can really help him later on when it comes time to seed regionals and sectionals."

Collins defended a quality single from the Ledyen star midway through the second period to stay 1 point (3-2) behind heading into the final period. An easy out to start the third period gave Collins a 1-point escape, and that's the way it stayed when the two headed into overtime.

Once there, after an exciting flurry in the early exchanges, a persistent Collins recorded a takedown at the edge to help extend the Mustangs lead at that point to 13-3.

Freshman Jimmy Lonigro held off Michael Fiedler (6-4) at 145 to give the Eagles 3 points. But consecutive pins from Dulgan Tungalag (152) and Womeldorf gave the visitors a 19-point cushion (25-6).

But that was it for the Mustangs, who saw their big lead vanish.

Erick Aguilar and Alejandro Quinonez jump-started the Leyden comeback with pins, a forfeit at 195, plus a 7-1 decision from Anthony Feliciano.

With the Eagles in front 27-25, heavyweight Fernando Corona added another 6 points to the lead with a pin at 4:57.

"Our big guys really came through for us tonight - particularly Corona," said Kading.

Eric Guerra (106) drew the Mustangs closer (33-31) with a pin at 0:51 to set the stage for Sean Boggess, who came through in flying colors during a wild contest at 113 pounds with Hector Rodriguez.

Each contestant took turns in the lead. But with Rodriguez in front 7-5 at the start of the second period, a takedown and reversal within seconds of each other soon saw Boggess close out his opponent with a pin at 2:47.

"This team has a lot of fight in it, and that's how you win close matches and that's how Sean won tonight to help give us a big win," said Kohlberg.

Both teams compete at the 37th annual Chris Hruska Classic at Conant this Friday and Saturday.