Stevenson gets the best of Mundelein
It's always a dogfight when Mundelein and Stevenson meet on the wrestling mat.
Friday's North Suburban Lake dual meet was no exception as the host Mustangs and Patriots hooked up in a see-saw battle that went down to the final few matches to decide the outcome.
And when all was said and done, it was Stevenson that had captured a narrow 34-31 NSC Lake Division victory as defending state champion Danny Sabatello was one of the many keys to the Pats' victory.
Starting at 140 pounds, Mundelein (8-1, 1-1) took a quick 6-0 advantage when Payton Cruz (9-0) pinned his opponent in 1:12.
Stevenson (6-1, 2-0) bounced back with a 12-3 major decision by Justin Weber at 145 before 152-pound teammate Mark Futterman's pin at 152 gave the Patriots a brief 10-6 edge.
Another one of the seven pins in the meet came next as Mundelein's Max Infanti pinned his man in 4:54 to put the hosts up 12-10.
At 171, Mundelein's Pablo Mata and Ken Waks appeared to be headed for overtime tied at 4-4. But Mata showed a flair for the dramatic as his takedown with two seconds remaining carried him to a 6-4 decision and a 15-10 Mustangs' lead.
Stevenson 189-pounder Ryan Levine's pin in 59 seconds put his squad back ahead 16-15 before 215-pound senior teammate Brendon Weber (11-0) added a 9-4 decision over Rolando Gonzalez to extend the lead to 19-15.
But as was the case all meet long, Mundelein answered with a 16-8 major decision by Brandon Galster at 285 to deadlock the score at 19-19 with six bouts left.
Mundelein's Ray Ceniceros posted a 13-7 decision at 103 for a 22-19 lead before a pin by Stevenson 112-pounder Scott Dahlin's pin put the visitors up 25-22.
The Mustangs tied the score at 25-25 on an 11-4 decision by 119-pounder Nick Dudzinski (9-0) before Stevenson 125-pounder Max Nolan recorded a pin with just 1.5 seconds left in the match to give the Pats a 31-25 lead with two bouts to go.
That set the stage for the showdown between defending state champion Sabatello (11-0), who moved up from 125 pounds to 130 pounds to face Mundelein junior Matt Ornoff, who was a 2009 state placewinner.
Ornoff (8-1) shocked the hostile crowd by taking an early 4-0 lead over Sabatello, but Sabatello cut the lead to 4-1 after one period before forcing a 4-4 tie after two periods.
Ornoff's escape with 1:05 left gave him a 5-4 lead, but Sabatello recorded a takedown with 42 seconds remaining before holding on for a 6-5 decision and clinching the Patriots' team win with a 34-25 lead at that point.
“I think both coaches knew we matched up equally at a lot of weights and it came down to who wanted it more,” said Mundelein coach Tom Buenik. “Sabatello is the defending state champ and we caught him with a nice 4-point move to start off with. But he's a tough kid, he wanted it, and he got the win.”
Mundelein 135-pounder Dan Winberg got a pin in 3:34 to close out the meet. Both teams won seven matches.
“This was just a great team effort overall, we had some seniors step up big and get some pins for us, and Danny's win over Ornoff was big to seal the victory,” said Stevenson coach Shane Cook. “He's the guy that the program follows and it was a fight to the end. We put the match on his shoulders and he came through for us.”
“He knows Ornoff is one of the best in the state and he (Sabatello) wanted to wrestle him,” added Cook. “He battled back, he showed the true heart of a champion, he never panicked, and he came out on top in the end.”