Glenbard North comeback catches Glenbard East

Glenbard North proved no lead is too big of a lead to come back against. On Thursday night in Lombard, Glenbard East found that out when the Panthers won 39-29.

The Rams grabbed an early 29-9 lead over the Panthers when Glenbard East won six straight matches as 215-pound Spencer Settecase had a 15-0 tech fall over Dan Buyle and Spencer George (285 pounds) pinned Ryan Donahoe in 24 seconds to take the commanding lead.

But the tide soon switched once it got to the bottom of the lineup. The Panthers won the next five matches all by pinfall to grab the victory. Johnny Gosinski (103), Bryan Gonzalez (112), Wade Hazard (119), Joey Gosinski (125) and Brian Murphy (130) all won by fall for the Panthers.

"We knew they were tough as heck on the top, but we knew that we were tough as heck on the bottom," Glenbard North coach Mark Hahn said. "They have some absolute studs at 215 and 285. Our guys responded well at the bottom of the lineup and both sides took advantage of bad matchups. In some of our earlier matches we had a tough time just staying off of our backs."

Murphy, who had a lot of pressure to not get pinned himself because the score was 33-29 going into the final match, took control early on and led 10-2 after the first period before rolling up P.J. Burnett in a cradle to seal the victory 21 seconds into the second period. But the Panthers were not 100 percent confident they would pull out the win, in fact, they were slightly nervous.

"We were a little worried that we fell behind by so many points early on," Murphy said. "But we also knew that we have been awesome at the bottom. We have a great line-up at the bottom. All of the guys on this team go in and work very hard. Tonight it helped us pull this out."

For Glenbard East coach Kevin Carlson, this loss showed just how far they have come. Out of the 14 matches, the Rams won half of them with the only difference being all the pins. Of the Panthers' seven wins, six were by fall.

"We had a really good start and built a bit of a lead," Carlson said. "They have a lot of skilled wrestlers at the lower weights. But to split seven matches with a team like that is really good. I am very proud of my guys. It looks like we need to start a new streak now. And I have to shave my beard."