Buffalo Grove surprises Rolling Meadows
Buffalo Grove fired the first upset of the Mid-Suburban League wrestling season when it came all the way back from a 17-point deficit to defeat visiting Rolling Meadows 35-30 Friday night.
The Bison, which opened the evening with just one senior in its starting 14, stunned one of the favorites to win the MSL East with some unexpected power from the lower part of its lineup.
One key was a spectacular 9-8 victory by freshman Chase Ori at 103 pounds to start five consecutive victories which lifted the hosts past the Mustangs (2-2, 1-1), who appeared to be in control at 24-7 before the Ori triumph.
“It's just (one) night in a long season, but it was great to see the guys wrestle hard and with a never-give-up attitude from all of the them, even when we found ourselves down by 17 points,” said Bison coach Dave Durlacher, who pointed to a pair of results that helped iginite the crowd as one key.
“The win by (Chase) over a senior and sectional qualifier from last season (Chris Sanchez) was a key win for us, but so was (Brian Busch's) at 152. He never quit, like so many others tonight.”
Busch, a junior, found himself in a bit of trouble against Marc Herff after the Mustangs senior went up 10-5 late in the third period. But Busch surprised his opponent with a takedown near the edge, and a subsequent near fall drew him even at 10-10 to send the bout into overtime. Just 17 seconds into the extra period, Busch pulled out a 12-10 victory.
Teammate Matt Zabrin followed with an impressive 9-1 major decision over Dennis Caravello, who was competing for the first time this season, to give the Bison a short-lived 7-3 lead.
Returning state qualifier Joe Caprio needed just 32 seconds to record a fall at 171 pounds, which helped start a series of knockout punches from the visitors and help them build the 24-7 lead.
Tom Devona's major decision at 189 and back-to-back falls in less than 35 seconds by both Jordan Diaz (215) and heavyweight Martin Markowski tested the mettle of an inexperienced Bison club, which just last weekend went 0-3 at the Leyden Quad against the host Eagles, as well as Crystal Lake South and New Trier.
“This team is so different than last season, because of how hard it works in the room every day, and the bond we've developed, which has brought us all together as a team,” said BG senior Eugene Blackmon, who won 31 last year and last week dropped a well-wrestled 5-2 decision to top-ranked Nick Fontanetta of Crystal Lake South.
Blackmon had to enjoy watching his rookie teammate Chase Ori pull out a victory in the final 20 seconds with a furious flurry, which resulted in a long conversation at the scorer's table by both coaches to review the points awarded by the officials before the 9-8 final was official.
Blackmon followed with a 7-2 win at 112 pounds before Hunter Ori, in his first match of the season, Christian Campo and Eric Veverka (130) all recorded pins to help put the Bison on top for good.
Jordan Rathje put a dagger in the hopes of the Mustangs with his methodical 15-4 major decision at 135.
Kory Jauch, the Mustangs' state-ranked 140-pounder, ended the evening with a fall at 3:50.
“Our worst fears were realized tonight,” said Mustangs coach Dave Froehlich. “We knew we might have some trouble at a few weights (here) and there, and we lost two matches in the final seconds, in addition to not winning matches that we thought we should have.
“But Buffalo Grove wrestled hard, and deserved to win tonight, and we'll have to get back and work on some things to get ourselves ready for our next (duals) in the MSL after the break.”
The Mustangs travel to Niles West today to compete in a quad with the host club, as well as Reavis and Mundelein, while the Bison welcomes eight clubs at its annual Rex Lewis tournament Saturday morning.