Highland battles back to overtake Triad in “MAMO” alumni games
Triad took it to Highland a few weeks ago in the schools’ first-ever alumni football game. But another group of HHS grads found athletic redemption over the weekend of Aug. 5-7, as four former Bulldogs faced off against four former Knights during the second-ever “Men Among Men Olympics” (MAMO), which consisted of the two teams competing in various events against one another.
Team Highland, which consisted of Matt Pellock, Bryan Gilomen, Chris Robards and Garrett Schmidt, fell behind 3-0 after losing to Team Triad in tennis, basketball and dodgeball. The Bulldogs were on the verge of losing the overall team competition when they fell behind 2-0 in ping pong.
However, Highland ended up defying the odds on more than one occasion and battled all the way back to repeat as MAMO champions. The Bulldogs also won the MAMO in 2007.
Team Triad was made up of Jordan Faulkenberg, Brian Stachowski, Maheep Pannu and Kyle West.
HHS alumnus Gilomen was chosen as the MAMO Most Valuable Player for his invaluable contributions to the winning team.
Tennis
In tennis, which opened the overall MAMO competition at Triad High School, there were four singles matches, with seeding Nos. 1-4. If the singles matches split, one doubles match would be played as tiebreaker.
The singles matches did split, so a tie-breaking doubles match was needed to settle the ultimate victor. All matches were played in an eight-game pro set.
Scoring wins for the Bulldogs were Pellock and Robards. Pellock, who is the HHS boys and girls tennis coach, swung to an 8-5 victory over Faulkenberg at the No. 1 singles spot, while Robards bested Maheep 8-3 at the No. 3 position.
The Knights carved out wins at the second and fourth singles spots. At No. 2, Stachowski bounced Schmidt 8-1, while West cruised by Gilomen 8-2 in the fourth and final singles match.
And in the tie-breaking doubles match, Triad’s Faulkenberg and Stachowski edged Pellock and Schmidt 8-5.
“They beat us regularly in high school, so if there is a negative version of the word nostalgic, it was that,” Schmidt said about the deja vu of losing to the Knights in the intense tie-breaking doubles match.
Basketball
Next up was hitting the hard court for some hoops action at Triad High School for a best-of-three, featuring 3-on-3 games with a substitute. The games were played to a final score of 11 by 1s and 2s.
Former Highland High School basketball coach and former Triad Athletic Director Jeff Faulkenberg refereed what turned out to be a closer than expected series that ended up tipping in Triad’s favor.
The Knights edged the Bulldogs 11-8 in the first game and 11-7 in the second contest.
“We knew that when you pick you gotta roll, but not even that could beat those guys,” Gilomen said. “It was like playing the Monstars from Space Jam, except Michael (Jordan) had other plans and couldn’t make it this time.”
Dodgeball
Dodgeball was also played at Triad High School, and it was played under a best-of-five format. Each team started with two balls in hand.
With the games split at 2-2, the deciding match was clinched by Triad on a disqualification after Highland’s last remaining hope, Schmidt, stepped out of bounds.
Ping-Pong
The match was played at Pellock’s house and it featured four best-of-three singles matches, with seeding Nos. 1-4. Games were played to a final score of 21, alternating the server every five serves.
If the singles matches split, a best-of-three doubles match would be played as tiebreaker
Highland lost the first two matches and was on the brink of elimination after already trailing Triad 3-0 in competitions. But the Bulldogs battled all the way back. Schmidt got Highland on the board with a 21-10, 21-12 win over Maheep before Gilomen followed that up with a 21-15, 21-19 triumph over West to even the singles matches with the decisive doubles match looming.
Gilomen stood up and said that he wanted to take the paddle beside Pellock to give Highland its last hope at staying alive in the competition. Highland and Triad went the distance before the Bulldogs survived to win in stunning fashion by scores of 21-18, 11-21 and 21-16.
“This is my house!” Pellock exalted.
Bowling
The match was played at Hi-Top Bowl in Highland and was played in a best-of-three format in league-style play, which means all four individuals combine for a total team score.
Highland overwhelmed Triad behind the strong arms of Schmidt and Pellock, winning by convincing margins of 582 to 451 and 611 to 487.
“We weren’t perfect, but only because we didn’t have to be,” Schmidt said.
Volleyball
The match was played at E.L. Flanagans in Highland and featured a best-of-three format with each game played to a final score of 25, with the winning team having to win each game by at least two points.
This match also went the distance, with the Bulldogs taking game one at 25-21, only to see the Knights bounce back to win the second game by the same margin of 25-21.
There was a sense on the court that Triad might be able to make a surprise move late, but the duo of Gilomen and Robards quickly spiked that thought to the ground in game No. 3 to seal the match win for Highland with a convincing 25-16 game three victory.
“At this point, we knew there was a decent shot that the 2004 Boston Red Sox would be getting some company in the history books,” Robards said.
Golf
The final competition Sunday morning was a tense meeting that was nothing short of an epic finale. The showdown came at a mutual site at Oak Brook Golf Club. The match was played as a two-man team scramble, with one point awarded for each hole won, not the total score.
The pace of play started off tight, but as the drama unfolded, Triad quickly gained a seemingly insurmountable four-hole lead after the 12th hole. With the Faulkenberg/West tandem up six holes on the Gilomen/Schmidt duo, Pellock/Robards had no choice but to attempt a furious comeback while they were only leading by two holes over Stachowski/Maheep.
Gilomen and Schmidt were able to hold par with Triad the remainder of their time on the links; they finished the 18th hole down six.
At the same time, Pellock and Robards took each of the next five holes from Triad’s Stachowski and Maheep. This put Highland in a situation where they only needed to have the 18th hole in order to claim the MAMO prize.
Triad’s final hopes were dashed as Stachowski’s nearly 50-foot putt from the fringe trickled by the hole, forcing Triad to give up their bottle of champagne that had been sitting on ice anxiously waiting to be opened from the previous morning.
The four Highland alumni said the only thing left to do was for Triad to go home and “start cleaning the grief and shame off of their clubs” while Highland began to celebrate and savor the sweet taste of victory over their long-time rivals — just as they had done in 2007.
This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Highland battles back to overtake Triad in “MAMO” alumni games."