Barrington outlasts Hersey
Power vs. power.
That's what it was Thursday night when Barrington met host Hersey in a Mid-Suburban League opener between two of the league's best wrestling clubs.
The Broncos fired the first blow when their big men swept four straight matches to overcome an early Hersey lead - before Connor Mannina closed out the Huskies with a major decision at 125 pounds as Barrington captured a 36-23 victory.
"Hersey is so good and technically a very strong team, but tonight we stayed away from majors, tech-falls and pins, and we got some big wins when we really needed them to help us get a very big conference win," said Broncos coach Al Strobl following a nearly 21/2-hour match.
"We stayed away from giving up (too) many bonus points, and Kalvin (Argueta) got us going with a pin (at 171) and then Dan Santoro and Troy Morrison followed with another huge pin for us, and we got big points and wins when we needed them," said Brncos senior Ryan McQueen, who felt his club responded well after a finish out of the top five last weekend at the Moore-Prettyman invitational.
"I think most of us felt that we could have competed better at our tournament, but it might have helped (us) to get focused and ready for tonight's dual with Hersey."
Early on it appeared it was the Huskies who were more than ready when they opened an 11-3 lead on the strength of wins by Zach Whitehead (140) to open the night - and a pair of major decisions from the state qualifying duo of Demetrios Mitchell (145) and Jeff Koepke at 160.
Sandwiched in between, the Broncos' Luke Miller (152) grabbed a hard earned 3-2 win over Sean Bonner after building a 3-0 lead after four minutes.
The Huskies slowly watched their lead disappear for good when Argueta recorded a fall at 2:51 over Jason Olson, before Dan Santoro majored Hersey big man Freddy Scales 11-3 to give the Broncos their first lead at 13-11 - one they would not relinquish.
"We had the advantage of having both Kalvin and Dan (weighing) in at 171 .. and you saw how athletic and quick Dan is (even) against big, strong guys like Scales, and how much of an advantage it is for him," Strobl said.
The assault from the Broncos' men at the top continued when Troy Morrison wasted little time in his pin (1:06) of Joe Castellanos. That set the stage for heavyweight Aaron Castagna, who outlasted Mike Dragonich (3-1) when his takedown with 30 seconds to go in regulation proved the difference.
Sophomore Adrian Gonzalez (103) methodically put away Jose Serna (15-2) to help finish off a 28-0 Broncos run that gave them a 26-11 edge.
"Credit (Barrington) tonight," said Hersey coach Jim Wormsley. "They looked to be hungrier than we were, and they deserved the win."
Stephon Scales and Conrad Bugay pulled the Huskies within 26-17 before Mannina sealed the deal with a 14-4 major decision that put the Broncos up 30-17 with two matches remaining.
"I knew going into my match that a (major) would put the match out of reach for Hersey, and that's what I went for in that final period," said the junior Mannina, who collected his desired result with a 4-point explosion in the final minute against Snodgrass.