Wrestling: Sandburg edges Glenbard North

Updated: January 7, 2012 8:49PM

Sandburg’s Jim Pellegrino had met up with Glenbard North’s Richard Browne often over the years but never had defeated him.

But on Saturday in Orland Park, Pellegrino finally beat Browne and his 3-2 win in a tiebreaker at 106 helped the Eagles to a 25-24 win over the Panthers.

That was one of the three one-point decisions that went Sandburg’s way in the rematch of last year’s Class 3A state semifinal match, which Glenbard North won.

“He’s a tough opponent and I’ve wrestled him multiple times in my career and this was the first time I beat him,” Pellegrino said. “It was good to win the close matches. This was a big boost for our team after just losing to Marist.”

The third-ranked Eagles (18-2) won eight matches while the sixth-ranked Panthers (9-4) owned a 6-1 edge in bonus points, thanks in part to a fall from Dan McHale in the opener at 285.

Jim Panozzo followed Pellegrino with a 2-1 win over Chris Gonzalez at 113 to create a 6-6 tie through the first three matches of the meet.

And that was critical since the Panthers won the next three bouts to build up a 16-6 lead that helped keep them in front most of the way.

“We knew there would be a lot of close matches and if we won the majority, we’d give ourselves a chance to win,” Eagles coach Eric Siebert said. “Glenbard North is good and I don’t think you want to face them at the end of the year.” 

In a matchup of defending 112-pound state champions, North’s Jered Cortez used a 7-0 first period to capture a 9-2 win over Sebastian Pique at 120.

After Jon Marmolejo won a major decision at 126, Johnny Gosinski followed with a decision to give the visitors an early 10-point advantage.

Sandburg responded with a decision from Mitch Cook at 138 and a major decision from Colin Holler before North’s Brian Murphy won by technical fall.

At 160, Eagle C.J. Brucki edged Jimique Davis 2-1 before teammate Chris Pajak followed with a decision to pull the hosts to within 21-19.

Ricky Robertson gave the Eagles the lead for good with a decision at 182 and Sandburg’s Bill Gore and North’s Cesar Vega exchanged decisions after that.

“We knew that it would be close and figured that it would be 7-7 and they won 8-6,” Panthers coach Mark Hahn said. “We had some guys who did a nice job but they won a couple of close ones that I thought that we should have won.”

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