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Barrington, Conant take control in MSL

Barrington, Conant, Prospect and Wheeling have dominated the wrestling headlines in the Mid-Suburban League during the last four seasons.

However, with Wheeling losing nearly all of its starting lineup from a year ago through graduation and reigning league champion Prospect battling the injury bug, it was Barrington and Conant flexing their collective muscle over their league rivals Thursday night in Hoffman Estates.

That's where the MSL West duo claimed overwhelming victories to open league play to get their seasons off to a flying start.

"Wheeling graduated 17 seniors, and most of its starting lineup, and Tom (Whalen, Prospect head coach) has injury woes so it wasn't the usual battle of the top four teams but it's still always nice to beat the great MSL programs when you can," admitted Barrington head coach Dave Udchik.

His Broncos (4-0-0) defeated Wheeling (61-9) then finished off the evening at host Conant with a 52-21 victory over Prospect.

Conant (3-0-0) doubled up Prospect, 44-22, before ending its 2-0 night with a 51-18 triumph over Wheeling.

"It's way early for all four teams, and all of us have a lot of work to do in order to be in a good spot at the end of the season but I like the way we came out and competed against two teams that we have a lot of respect for," said Conant head coach Chad Hay.

The Cougars, coming off a third-place finish at their own Thanksgiving tournament (Hruska Invite) last weekend, broke open a tight match with Wheeling by recording three falls from 182-220 pounds, all of which was fueled by a 21-7 major decision from Filippo DeFrenza at 160.

The senior was in the middle of another explosion of sorts against Prospect, using another major (17-5) to inspire his teammates who kept the Knights at bay.

"It was a good night for us. We fought hard, especially some of our guys up from the JV to fill in - guys like Ethan Richert who really stepped up," began DeFrenza, who enjoyed a breakout year last year with a 33-8 overall record.

"Cormac (Kane) was back in our lineup, and that's huge for us because he's a two-time state qualifier, and a real character guy, and he makes our lineup so much more dangerous also."

The Cougars registered five pins against Wheeling, but the headline bout of the evening was between Wheeling senior John Smith and Nicky Amato, two high profile state qualifiers.

Smith, who won 43 last season, opened the scoring with a takedown just inside a minute with Amato, twice a state qualifier, drawing back even with a reverse with 5.5 seconds remaining in the first period.

Smith would start down for the second period, and his escape would eventually be the match-winning point, despite several chances from both to score, particularly in the third period.

"Even though it was a low scoring match, it was an exciting one to watch, just off of the scrambling efforts by both guys," said Wheeling head coach Charlie Curran, who recently celebrated the birth of his first child, a daughter.

"It's nearly a brand new roster this year, so it's going to take awhile for us to sort things out but we'll take our lumps along the way doing so."

Curran's team was no match for Barrington, which on this night, saw its upper weights inflict the most damage on its opponents.

Luke Rasmussen, who stunned the high profile field last weekend at the Moore-Prettyman to claim top honors at 160 pounds, picked up where he left off with two pins at 170 before teammates Conor Prettyman, Jack Hartman and Dayven Shinhoster lowered the boom.

"It was good to see two young guys (Jack and Davyen) really come through for us - Davyen in his season debut - but all around the lineup, we wrestled well, and did some very good things but there's still some glaring holes in our game we need to clean up," said Udchik.

The Broncos' boss was quick to add how thrilled he was with the comeback victory from Marko Hennin (132), who fell behind Chad Vilchez (Prospect) only to get back level at 6-6 with 7.5 seconds remaining in regulation before getting a hard-fought 8-6 victory.

"Tough night for us all the way around," began Knights head coach Tom Whalen. "Yes, we have 3-4 guys out with injuries, but it's not an excuse, and if we hope to compete at the standards set in our program, the guys are going to have to grow up and get after it."

Whalen did praise Joe Caringella for his pair of technical fall victories on the night.

  Barrington's Kai Conway wrestles Wheeling's Andy Madrigal in the 152-pound bout Thursday in Hoffman Estates. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Conant's Nicky Amoto controls Prospect's Max Ward in the 145-pound bout Thursday in Hoffman Estates. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Conant's Toby Tobin controls Prospect's Joey Gagliani in the 113-pound bout Thursday in Hoffman Estates. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Conant's Alex Guiliano, bottom, controls Prospect's Joe Miller in the 126-pound bout Thursday in Hoffman Estates. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Barrington's Cael Dyer wrestles Wheeling's Kyle Kong in the 126-pound bout Thursday in Hoffman Estates. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
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