Wrestling: Stevenson surges past Mundelein
Starting at 195 pounds, visiting Mundelein had its chances against Stevenson on Friday night in the North Suburban Conference wrestling opener for both squads.
Halfway through the meet the Mustangs only trailed the three-time defending NSC champions 22-16.
But then disaster struck after that point as the Patriots went on a stunning 35-point streak of unanswered points the rest of the way to win going away by a final score of 57-16.
Returning state qualifier Logan Kvien (9-2) got Mundelein (3-4, 0-1) started off on the right foot as his pin in 3:17 staked his squad to an early 6-0 advantage.
Stevenson junior Max Gomez followed with a 19-7 major decision over sophomore Jason Guadarrama before a forfeit win by Stevenson 285-pounder Anand Batbaatar gave the Patriots a 10-6 lead.
Stevenson 106-pound freshman Ben Swidler pinned his opponent in 3:45 before elite Mundelein senior Dane Durlacher (10-0) posted a 19-6 major decision over Yoni Leibovitz at 113 to cut the lead to 16-10.
Returning state qualifier Tommy Frezza (6-1 at 120) recorded a pin in 2:57 for the Pats. But Mundelein junior Reese Durlacher (10-0 at 126) pinned his man with 33 seconds left in the third period to pull the Mustangs to within 22-16 halfway through the dual meet.
That would be the end of the road for Mundelein, however, as technical falls by Stevenson teammates Michael Karp at 138, and Jake Simon at 145 increased the lead to 36-16 with four matches remaining.
"I knew it was going to be a tough meet, Stevenson is a good program, and we're a few years away right now," said Mundelein coach Craig Stocker, who was the former head coach at Lakes. "We just don't have the bodies in the room at the middle weights so we're going to keep battling, keep developing them, and it's just a matter of time."
Once again the Mustangs had to forfeit at 152 as Stevenson's Muzi Sitshela picked up the win to boost the lead to 26 points.
Junior Ivor Guerguiev was impressive at 160 with his pin in 52 seconds before 170-pound sophomore teammate Matt Millman recorded a pin in 3:11 to keep the Pats' streak of wins alive.
"Mundelein has some firepower at some weight classes, but they also have some young guys," said Stevenson coach Shane Cook, whose team will have some showdowns at the Grant triple-dual meet Saturday. "So we wanted to go out and wrestler our best this being our first home meet and our first conference meet."
Senior Dan Ganzman put the finishing touches on the meet with a hard-fought 5-4 decision over Mundelein's D.J. Preston at 182. Stevenson wound up winning the final seven bouts of the meet.
"We've got a lot of guys that are first-year varsity wrestlers," added Cook. "But we have a lot of guys that are program guys who are doing the right things, and now they have a chance to be in the varsity lineup."