Wrestling: Lakes hangs on in a wild one against Mundelein

Tuesday night's dual meet between host Mundelein and Lakes was probably one of the wildest season-opening wrestling meets you will ever witness.

The visiting Eagles jumped out to a 22-0 lead before the Mustangs eventually clawed to within 37-36 with one match remaining in a contest that featured 12 pins out of the 14 total weight classes.

So it was only fitting that the meet would end on a fall as Lakes sophomore Brandon Burdette pinned sophomore Isaac Antunez in 3:29 to carry the Eagles to an exciting 43-36 nonconference victory over Mundelein and their former coach, Craig Stocker.

"The season-opener is always going to be a little sloppy, but the goal is to win in February," said Stocker, who has three returning state qualifiers on his squad. "The older guys looked strong, our three state qualifiers all got pins, and the one thing we are lacking right now is senior leadership with only three seniors in our program."

Starting at 145 pounds, junior Mickey Kane and 152-pound sophomore teammate Logan Abanero got Lakes going with pins as the Eagles staked themselves to a quick 12-0 advantage.

Then 160-pounder Isa Abdeljaber added a 9-1 major decision over Felipe Calixto before a pin by Ohio transfer student Gavin Kafka made the score 22-0 in favor of the visitors.

"This was my first chance to get to watch everyone on the team and it was really exciting," said Kafka, who is from central Ohio. "It was the first meet of the year so there were a lot of nerves going around, and I don't think you will see so many pins the rest of the year."

Logan Kvien, a state qualifier last year, recorded a pin in 3:11 for the Mustangs at 182 before 195-pound teammate D.J. Preston's pin in 1:29 cut Lakes' lead to 22-12.

But the Eagles responded to that brief surge when 220-pounder Jack Brunati posted a 6-1 decision over Jason Guadarrama and 285-pounder Brett Heraty pinned his opponent in just 1:02 to boost the lead back to 31-12.

Mundelein 106-pound senior Dane Durlacher (fourth in Class 3A) pinned his man in only 33 seconds before 113-pound teammate Max Sanders added a pin in 1:17 to cut the gap to 31-24 with four bouts left.

Lakes 120-pound junior Joey Kleppin came up huge with a pin in 3:07, but that was offset by Mundelein junior Reese Durlacher's pin in 3:27 to make the score 37-30 with two matches to go. Reese Durlacher also competed downstate for Mundelein last year.

Burdette built a 7-2 lead after one period before pinning Antunez 55 seconds into the second period to set off the Lakes celebration. The crowd was on their feet for many of the matches leading up to the deciding pin.

"The kids really came together, they cared about who was on the mat, and it was like it was their brother out there wrestling," said first-year Lakes coach Jack Troesch. "We knew we had to get those pins early on because they had some thumpers at the lower weights. Brandon Burdette wrestled with all his heart, he didn't need the pin, but everyone getting into the match pushed him to get that win."