Bronco Wrestlers Cruise to Win over Palatine

Following up his disappointing finish at the Moore-Prettyman with a tough loss at Prospect, senior wrestler Daniel Davidson was a bit relieved when he secured a pin in the final seconds of his first round match with Palatine on Friday, Dec. 2.

“It’s good to finally get that monkey off my back,” Davidson said following Barrington’s 68-0 convincing win over Mid-Suburban West foe Palatine.

Davidson, who was not much of a factor in Barrington’s wins this season (first place finish at the Moore/Prettyman and then a win over Prospect) secured a first period pin with just eight seconds remaining in the first period.  Davidson’s fall gave Barrington an early 23-0 lead and was just one of four pins for the Broncos, three of which happened in the first round.

Junior Ben Calamari followed up Davidson’s first period fall with a pin of his own, a 52-second victory over Palatine’s Tyler Gibson.

“We are doing great as a team,” Calamari said of the Bronco’s early start of the season.  “We are going to keep working, and hopefully make a run to get downstate.”

The Broncos wrestling team has made consecutive trips downstate and ended last year undefeated in dual meets during the regular season (only dual meet loss was in the 3A state meet) but Calamari believes the team can’t focus on that.

“We can’t think about last season,” he said.  “We can only think about now and how we are doing this season.”

“We are going to take it match by match,” Calamari went on to say.  “We have some tough duals this season.”

For the Broncos, Calamari’s quick work of Gibson wasn’t even the fastest on the evening as Coord Weisman managed a 37-second pin in the meet’s unofficial last match (forfeits were awarded to Barrington’s Nick Shealy and Michael Lurz in the final two bouts).  Weisman was also one of five title winners from the Moore/Prettyman.

“If we can wrestle the way we are capable of wrestling, it will be pretty tough to beat us,” varsity wrestling coach Ken Hoving said of the team’s four pins.  

Junior Mark Shealy was the first Bronco to record a fall at the meet, and continued his run of pinning opponents (won award at Moore-Prettyman for most pins in the fastest time with his third place finish at the tournament) with his second round pin that gave an early 11-0 lead.

“We are hungry this year,” Davidson said of the team’s goal.  “Our first goal was to win the Moore/Prettyman and now it is really setting in that this could be the season for some great things.”