Streamwood overwhelms St. Charles North
Streamwood proved too strong Wednesday night as it breezed past visiting St. Charles North 59-18 in an Upstate Eight River Division dual wrestling meet at Streamwood.
The pin-frenzy Sabres (4-3-0) recorded their first division victory of the season with four falls, plus a technical fall in the finale from Jeremy Gumila to go above .500 for the first time in a long time, according to head coach Bill Peach.
"To tell you the truth, I do not remember the last time we were over .500 at this time of the season and for that matter, the last time we beat North in a dual, so this is a good night all the way around."
"One of the reasons for this early success is we have a great group of seniors, many of whom have been with the varsity for three years - especially the group of Sunny (You), Charles (Crumlett) and Jeremy Gumila," added Peach.
That trio produced a potent attacking performance, collecting the last 17 points to finish things up on a bright note.
"We're lucky to have four guys in our room all around the same weight," began Crumlett, who recorded a pin at 138 pounds in 1:42. "We're all basically workout partners - sometimes having full matches against each other but always training with and against each other in the room."
By the time this dual came around to this group the night was all but over, thanks in part to some solid work from their teammates as well as a young, inexperienced North Stars club, which also happened to be short-handed.
"This is a team with a handful of guys who are first-time varsity wrestlers, so the break-in period can be a tough one, especially early on. We were down three starters, including Chad Reynolds and Dominic Testa, making it very difficult to compete against a team that was nearly at full strength," admitted North head coach Ben Hummel.
The highlight of the evening for the visitors came from junior Kolbe O'Brien, who after dominating the field last weekend at Rockford East, did so again at Streamwood with a terrific effort en route to a pin in 1:31 over Diego Maldonaldo at 126 pounds.
"Kolbe had a great year last season at 106, and it looks like has easily made the bump up three weight classes this season after watching him during the first three weeks of this season," offered Hummel.
"I learned from my mistakes last year, and did a lot of work in the offseason to improve, and so far things have gone well for me," said O'Brien, who won 31 matches last season on his way to advancing to the state tournament.
"I wasn't happy with going 0-2 down there, so the goal is to get back downstate and improve on that and to hopefully win myself a medal," he said.
Teammate Spencer Binning (195) would give the Stars their only other points on the night, aside from a forfeit at 113, by registering a pin at 1:43.
Gerardo Sanchez got the Sabres off on the front foot with a hard-fought 6-4 victory in OT when his takedown 90 seconds into the first extra session was enough to dispatch the North Stars' David Washington.
Emilio Lopez (160) and Adam Seqouia (182) would bookend a forfeit at 170 pounds with first period pins, before a trio of falls would break things open for good.
Juan Ramirez (120) would extend the Sabres' advantage with a well deserved 9-3 decision over Bruno Zuniga after a big second period, including a near fall in the final moments to give him a 7-1 lead heading into the last two minutes of regulation.