Elmwood Park senior Jaime Galo carried a tremendous amount of pressure Thursday night as he prepared for the final match in the Tigers’ Metro Suburban East home dual meet against Guerin.
With Elmwood Park trailing by five points, Galo needed a pin at the 285-pound weight class to give the Tigers a victory.
For nearly two minutes Galo had his opponent, Guerin senior Michael Szczygiel, on his back, just inches away from touching the mat. But no matter how hard he tried, Galo just couldn’t finish. Galo had to settle for a technical fall after beating Szczygiel 16-0.
“The first thing coach told me was I needed a pin to win it for the team,” Galo said. “I tried my best but I couldn’t get it done. Honestly that was the most frustrating match I’ve ever had. He was a really strong kid and he always found a way to bridge out of it.”
With the match all knotted, the referee referred to his rule book. It took until the sixth criteria, number of technical falls, to determine the winner. Galo registered the lone tech of the match, giving Elmwood Park a 34-33 victory.
“This is my sixth year as a head coach and I was never involved in a criteria,” Tigers coach Neil Posmer said. “I don’t think I was ever even involved in one as an assistant so you could add on another 10-12 years.”
Galo (8-2) weighed in at 264 with Szczygiel at 215, so the Tigers’ heavyweight had a distinct edge.
“I knew I had the advantage with the weight, but he played out real well,” Galo said. “I knew he was going to try and be off his feet and be scrappier and move around. That caused me change up my game plan.”
“He had the weight advantage but I tired to keep that the furthest thing from my mind,” Szczygiel said. “But this match is something new for me. I didn’t know I could bridge with a guy that had 50 pounds on me while I’m on my back. I just wanted to try and get the tie and then let it be decided by something else.”
Posmer was impressed by both Galo and Szczygiel.
“[Galo] went out there and took it to him, but I give a lot of credit to the Guerin guy,” Posmer said. “He’s up a weight class, fighting a guy 50 pounds heavier and he fought hard from his back.”
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Galo has high hopes for the rest of this season. He made it to sectionals as a sophomore but missed the postseason last year for personal reasons.
“It’s state or bust,” Galo said. “It’s my senior year and I’m sad that it’s almost over but I’ve had a great run with Coach Posmer. I’m a kid who had no experience in wrestling and didn’t join until sophomore year and he’s taught me everything I know.”
Elmwood Park had three forfeits and Guerin had two. With double forfeits at 106 and 113, there were only seven matches during the meet.
The Tigers registered victories by Marco Padilla at 120, Jakub Zwierzynski at 132 and Armando Padilla at 138.
The Gators’ victories came from Frank Marinopoulos at 160, Kyle Carter at 195 and the only female wrestler at the meet, Florina Carrillo at 145.