St. Charles East nearly flawless against SCN
The St. Charles East wrestling team was virtually assured of not losing to its city and league rival before the annual pre-Thanksgiving dual match even began.
The Saints were assured 36 points due to St. Charles North not being able to field a contender at six weight classes.
St. Charles East secured five pins and pair of decisions against a lone loss to dominate the Upstate Eight Conference River Division match 71-6 in St. Charles Wednesday night.
The host North Stars, for the second year a row, were able only to capture one match, a pin from promising freshman Coleb Koble at 106 pounds.
Isaiah Vela is the Saints’ four-year standout; the returning state qualifier terminated his match at 138 pounds midway through the second period.
“Our team is very strong this year,” Vela said. “I have high expectations for the team this year. I’m just trying to get the team to the next level (the Class 3A dual-meet state series).”
St. Charles North actually tied the match after the second bout when Koble had a fall to beat the first-period buzzer.
The 6 points the North Stars’ freshman earned negated the deficit St. Charles North began the night after forfeiting heavyweight.
“I have a lot of background in wrestling,” Koble said. “The experience I had (was the difference) in the match.”
But it was all St. Charles East the remainder of the night.
Scoring 66 points in succession over the final 12 matches, the Saints only blemish occurred in the final match when one of its athletes cost the team a point due to unsportsmanlike behavior.
Highly regarded sophomore Anthony Rubino began the onslaught with a second-period fall at 113 pounds.
Quinn Doherty was awarded a forfeit at 120 pounds, and Austin Hrubec had one of only two matches go all six minutes.
The junior outlasted Roy Rushing at 126 pounds; Ryan Valesh had the second of five falls for St. Chares East at 132 pounds.
Following Vela, Jake Mende made it three straight pins for the Saints with the fastest match of the night at 61 seconds.
“We’re looking for some good competition,” Mende said. “We’re always going to come out hard against teams like St. Charles North, our crosstown rival.”
In the most entertaining match of the night, Jason Weber defeated freshman Reynolds 17-10 at 152 pounds.
“The upper weights aren’t going to be filled (this season),” first-year St. Charles North coach Ben Hummel said. “We don’t have any seniors in the entire program. We’re building from the ground.”
Blake Flalka ended the one-sided match with a fall at 182 pounds for St. Charles East.