Wrestling: Buffalo Grove’s Zabrin dominates regional foes
by jon kerr Contributor February 7, 2012 2:00PM
Buffalo Grove's Jordan Rathje (top) takes on Deerfield standout Lenny Bloom in the 145-pound final in Saturday's regional at Stevenson High School. Bloom wound up winning 6-3. | Brian O'Mahoney~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 10, 2012 8:25AM
They call Buffalo Grove High School senior Matt Zabrin, “Chewy” for a reason.
In the fall, on the football field, he eats up opposing offensive lineman, throwing his 170-pound frame into holes with reckless abandon.
In the winter, he eats up opposing wrestlers, throwing his slimmed-down, 160-pound frame around the mat with the controlled aggression needed for the sport.
“When you get to a certain level, it’s not about physical,” Zabrin said. “Everybody knows the same moves. It’s all mental.”
That mental edge was on display Saturday at Stevenson, where Zabrin blew through his three regional matches. In the title bout, he easily dispatched Lake Zurich’s Scott Hoff 8-1. Hoff, who is 34-5, is no slouch. He was coming off a North Suburban Conference championship.
Zabrin is quick to credit his teammate and good friend, Jordan Rathje, when asked about his 35-1 record. The 145-pound Rathje, who advanced to sectionals with a second-place finish, provides a good counterpunch in heated practice sessions.
“He pushes me, I push him and ‘Coach’ pushes both of us,” said Zabrin, a four-year varsity starter. “I’m sure he’ll be back for sectionals looking for revenge (from regionals).”
Another shared experience is Izzy Style Wrestling, a popular school based in Schaumburg. Instructors teach students specific techniques to gain advantages in matches. It’s that slight edge Zabrin craves, with winning being the by-product.
“(Izzy Style) does a great job mentally preparing you for everything,” Zabrin said. “They say once you wrestle, everything in life is easy.”
It won’t be easy in the sectional round, where it truly is do or die. It will be another chance for “Chewy” to chew up the opposition, with a berth in the state series on the line.
“It would be great — athletically and socially,” Zabrin said. “I know all of our buddies would come down to support us. It would be unbelievable.”
Recap: Buffalo Grove ended the team portion of its season with a fifth-place finish (101.50 points) in Saturday’s Stevenson Regional.
Five wrestlers qualified for sectionals, and the Bison crowned two regional champions: Zabrin and Brian Egan (132), who improved to 28-8 in the process. Still, it was not a day to celebrate in the eyes of their head coach.
“We were so-so. We had a better weekend at our conference (meet),” said BG coach Dave Durlacher. “You either step it up or go home and your season’s over, and I think a couple of our guys had had enough. We got all our good kids, the ones we were counting on.”
After scoring a tech fall against Deerfield’s Sam Tortorella in the regional semis, Egan (28-8) earned a 6-3 decision over Cary’s Mike Underwood in the finals.
Durlacher was pleased with the work of Egan, who finished second at the conference meet.
“He had a decent bracket but he’s really coming on,” Durlacher said. “He’s wrestling with confidence.”
Other sectional qualifiers were Chase Ori (21-10) at 120 and Eddie Haro (20-20) at 285. Haro won an exciting third-place, overtime decision over Stevenson’s Brad Meyer in the day’s final match. Ori (21-10) edged Barrington’s Matt Conrad 4-3 in the third-place match.
High hopes: The sectional tournament means another shot for Zabrin and Rathje to make it Downstate. Zabrin got hurt in the conference meet last season and did not advance, while Rathje was a State qualifier in 2011.
“They are our hammers — they put the most time in. The kids feed off them,” Durlacher said. “We’d be disappointed if they didn’t contend for a sectional championship.”
On the schedule: Bison qualifiers compete at the Barrington Sectional on Friday and Saturday.
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