Maine West looks sharp, tops Maine East
Maine West rolled over an undermanned but spirited Maine East wrestling club Friday night in a Central Suburban League crosstown dual in the Demons’ historic fieldhouse.
The visiting Warriors (5-2-0, 2-0-0) were fueled by a handful of forfeits and a trio of pins from Adeel Afshar, Kevin Mendoza and Joey Vogeny to record a 54-19 victory in advance of a trip to the 29th annual Wildcat Invite at Wheeling on Saturday. The field there features state power Sandburg, the reigning Class 3A state champion.
“We would have liked to get out to a better start than we did tonight, but we knew (Maine East) had some good guys at the lower weights,” said Warriors coach Lance Weber. “But we fought back to wrestle well when we needed to, and coupled with a few forfeits along the way, we were able to get a nice win over one of our conference rivals.”
Maine West opened with back-to-back forfeits at 220 and 285, with Ese Mora and Jamie Marquez having their hands raised in the center circle. Then it was time for the Demons to shine, beginning with a fall for Brandon Lopez (106) at 4:57, followed by a wild 16-10 bout between DJ Meyers of Maine West and Noel Huicochea. Meyers trailed 14-3 before Huicochea had to fight off a valiant comeback , which included a 3-point near fall and 2-point reversal.
Yousef Khoshaba edged Cameron Burkhardt to to give the Demons a clean sweep of the lower weights and tie things up at 12-12.
“We gave up a lot of points tonight, but I can say this group always shows a lot of heart and effort in every match, and for a starting lineup with six sophomores and just one senior, they wrestled hard all night long,” said Emiliano Hernandez, who was a state champ in 1979 at Maine East.
The veteran coach liked what he saw from both Batman Ontogtolch (152) and Richell Baltazaar (170) as they won thrillers against Jake Riportella (5-3) and Andrew Christiansen (8-6).
But Afshar, Mendoza and Vogeny made quick work of their Maine East opponents.
Afshar, a four-year star for the Warriors, stayed undefeated after his fall (5:38) at 132 pounds. Mendoza won at 152, and Vogeny bumped up to 182 to top Gorgas Garmoos.
“We didn’t need the pin tonight because of all of the forfeits Maine East gave away, but it was important to go out, wrestle hard and be a strong influence for the rest of the team,” said Afshar, who fell 1 victory short of advancing to the state tournament in this same building last February during sectionals.
“That loss has stayed with me from the moment it happened, and it’s the motivation for me to get downstate this year,” said Afshar, who led Maine West with 36 wins last season, one more than state qualifier Vogeny.
“Adeel does everything at 100 percent — in the room, during competition and in the classroom — and he has the type of drive needed in order to succeed in everything,” said Weber. “This team continues to get better with each week, and once we get everyone back together and at weight, we’ll be ready to go at full strength for the second half of the year.”
The Warriors went 10-0 in their season opening tournament at Vernon Hills to win the 11-team event. Still on the schedule after this weekend’s Wildcat Invite are a CSL dual at Highland Park, a visit to the Krupke Lake Park Classic on Dec. 21 and a quad at De La Salle on Dec. 28.