Big spurt leads Buffalo Grove past Prospect
Buffalo Grove spoiled senior night at Prospect on Friday evening by defeating the hosts 42-29 in a Mid-Suburban East dual.
The Bison (13-6, 2-2) effectively put a sluggish start behind them. Buffalo Grove reeled off 30 straight points, highlighted by stunning victories from Christian Campo and Joe Madio, to put the visitors in front 33-21. The outcome was all but sealed one bout later after Brian Egan outlasted Emilio Alvarado in OT with a 5-3 triumph at 135 pounds.
“It was a fun night for us out there,” said Bison coach Dave Durlacher, who was without two of his best in Eugene Blackmon and Jordan Rathje.
Campo (19-6) and Madio (10-3) shocked Knights standouts Joe Abu-Bakr (27-8) and Josh Boggess (16-6) to fuel the victory.
“(They) deserved to win tonight because they outwrestled us,” said Prospect coach Tom Whalen, who lost Harry Hamilton (145) to an elbow injury and default to BG's Jake Maddow. Bakr tweaked a shoulder during his exciting bout with Campo, which in the final 90 seconds of regulation required a GPS system to follow the pair who were all over the mat in search of precious points down the stretch of Campos' 11-7 win.
“We haven't been very good at scrambling all year-long, so we made it a point to work on (it) during this past week, and tonight we did pretty well at it,” said Durlacher. “Especially Christian, who is the type of funky wrestler who will give his opponents fits at times.”
“I tried to make (Abu-Bakr) do what he didn't want to do in that match, and in that final period I sensed he was getting tired, and that my conditioning might make the difference in the end,” said the senior 125-pounder, who still had to fight hard to gain his victory after Abu-Bakr closed to within 8-7 when he kept his toes in to finish off a takedown near the edge.
Madio (130) was trailing defending MSL champ Boggess 4-2 when he caught the sophomore and quickly administered a pin at 3:05.
“Those two matches turned the tide for Buffalo Grove, and after that we were in trouble,” said Whalen.
Egan (13-8), a sophomore, was hit with a stalling call with six seconds remaining in regulation to pull Alvarado even at 3-3 to send the 135-pound match into overtime. But an aggressive Egan pushed the pace before recording a takedown in front of the Knights' bench to finish off his counterpart 5-3.
“That was a real gutsy performance from Brian, who had a tough call go against him late in that match, but came back to get us a big win to help increase our lead,” said Durlacher.
Early on it appeared the hosts would have an easy time of things after Mike Etchingham, Mike Geweniger (18-12), Max Triveline (20-8) and Terry Thomas (22-6) went 4-0 from 171 through 285 to start the night. But a fall from freshman phenom Chase Ori (17-1) slowed the Knights for good, as did back-to-back forfeits at 112 and 119 to help set up the Bison's dramatic run.
“The theme this season has been not to give up, and tonight no one gave in, especially Christian and Joey, who provided the spark we needed,” said junior Matt Zabrin, who moved his overall record to 19-4 after his fall at 160 pounds.
Joe Randazzo (25-6) and Brandon Thompson (22-7) provided their club with a 7-5 decison at 140 and technical fall at 4:04, respectively. But it was too little too late for the Knights, who travel to Dundee-Crown today to compete with state power Oak Park-River Forest, as well as Lane Tech, Rockford Boyland and the host Chargers, among others.
Buffalo Grove will participate in the 16-team tournament at Batavia today.