Maine West ends Vernon Hills' streak
A pin-happy Maine West ended the 10-match winning streak of host Vernon Hills Friday night in the Central Suburban League wrestling opener for both sides.
The Warriors (5-3-0, 1-0-0) used six pins to roll past the Cougars (10-1-0, 0-1-0) en route to a 48-30 victory.
"We came out ready to go tonight," said a happy Warriors head coach Chris Brassell, who watched his club break open this tight contest before a large crowd inside the Cougars' postcard-sized wrestling gym.
"We have eight seniors in our starting lineup, but a handful of sophomores who have stepped in and done really well thus far, to help us get out to a good start after losing two great guys from last year's team which went 16-5-0 overall."
"This team is real close - on and off the mat - and we all push each other to work harder in order to get better," added senior Sean Muellner, who was a sectional qualifier a year ago, and has gotten out to a 8-0 start this season.
"Last year was my first season on the varsity, but the disappointment of not getting downstate made me hungry and helped motivate me during my offseason training, which began at 5 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday morning leading up to the start of school this fall."
Muellner's pin in 5:20 at 152 pounds followed a thrilling victory by teammate Alex Peguero (145), who found himself in trouble in his match with Jake Psaras, who opened up a 10-5 lead toward the end of the second period.
"Just a great effort by Alex who trailed by five but never gave up, stayed composed, and trusted himself when it counted to get the pin to give our team a big boost heading into the final couple of matches," said Brassell.
Zach Chisovitsiotis (126), Ilia Tomov (132) and sophomore Hyusein Isuf (138) all recorded pins for the Warriors. For Isuf it was his eighth win on the season without a loss.
The home side enjoyed a trio of falls, the first by Casey Wood at 220 to open the night, with teammates Will Ludolph (106) and Matteo DeLeon (138) adding 6 points each to the Cougars' score line.
"We finally won our own tournament during the Thanksgiving break, the first time ever for our program but we got beat up during those 10 matches in two days, so right now we're a little short-handed which caused us to bring a couple of guys up from JV to fill out our lineup," said Cougars head coach Jerry Miceli.
Vernon Hills is without starters Alex Gill, Garry Gurevich, Sean Lee and Eduardo Sosa currently, all four key figures in the Cougars' big win over league rival and state-ranked Evanston to clinch the tourney title in which Miceli spoke of.
"It's a long season, but we'll be in good shape once we get everyone back, and we sort things out in our lineup," the coach said.
The Cougars will face Riverside-Brookfield, Morris and Chicago Hubbard on Saturday, while the Warriors host Lake Park, Glenbrook South and Thornton Fractional South.