Burlington Central posts two BNC wins
Ray Rushing and Christian Quiles helped Burlington Central start the second half of the season on the upswing with a pair of impressive victories over visiting Marengo and Genoa-Kingston Tuesday night in a Big Northern Conference wrestling double dual at Central.
The Rockets (6-5, 4-4) broke open a close match in their opener with Marengo when Ray Coklin and TJ Titock would bookend Quiles' pin at 160 pounds with a technical fall and fall at 152 and 170 respectively to build a 13-point cushion. Then later, Rushing and Quiles were part of six pins by the home side in Central's rout of Genoa-Kingston to close out the night before a nice Tuesday evening crowd who braved frigid temperatures to cheer on the home squad.
"It was a pretty good night all the way around, and a great way to start the new year," said Rockets' head coach Vince Govea, who even with a couple of regulars out of his lineup watched his club defeat Marengo 47-25, before overwhelming Genoa-Kingston 63-9.
"We started a little slow against Marengo and we've told the guys in order to be a good dual-team, you've got to get off to a good start but the guys pulled themselves up and really got it going, which carried over into our second dual for sure."
Coach Tim Keefer's Indians stayed level with the Rockets through 138 (18-18) but the visitors slowly saw their chances to win their second straight on the night disappear with the aforementioned trio putting 17 unanswered points on the scoreboard before Marengo's (2-5) top wrestler, Kyle Gara, eked out a hard-fought 3-1 decision over Kyle Blankenburg, who gave the No. 9 rated Class 2A 195-pounder all he could handle for six minutes.
Matt Overstreet and Bret Lopez would put an end to the Indians' hopes of getting back into this contest with back-to-back pins at 220 and 285 (Lopez' in just 27 seconds).
"Matt has been at .500 or little better in his first three seasons with us, but things have begun to click with him, and now his confidence is way up, and you can see he now believes in himself this season," said Govea of Overstreet.
Freshman Austin Macias ran his record to a perfect 18-0 after recording a pair of falls on this night, the second in 28 seconds to start the dual with Genoa-Kingston.
"Austin already leads by example as a freshman, and he's also part of some young guys who are starting to understand how important it is to train harder each and everyday because they know it's the time to step it up," said the junior Rushing, who has won 14 matches in his first season with BC after his transfer from St. Charles North.
Both Rushing and Quiles feel Govea and his staff have provided the inspiration and leadership needed for both young and old on this club, while putting their mates through the grinder in and out of the room in order to prepare many of them for the postseason.
"You don't realize how quickly the season goes, but when January rolls around, things get more intense with each week, and coach has really pushed to make our commitment to our being fit and well conditioned a priority," added Rushing.
"I feel our conditioning is second to none, and it's the type of thing that's going to make the difference when the matches really mean something," offered Quiles, who finished second overall at the Ed Ewoldt Invitational two weekends ago.
"Our warm-up before practice is 45-50 minutes, and each time out you can see how everyone is getting a little more stronger with each session."
One of the few seniors in the BC starting lineup, Quiles dominated during his bout against Marengo, which resulted in a pin at 5 minutes, then had all he could handle when Govea bumped him up to 170 against Genoa-Kingston, and Joe Murray, whom he outlasted 8-4.
"I like it a whole lot better at 60," joked Quiles, who did admit his fitness likely was the difference during a grueling third period when Murray would attempt to take a bite out a 5-1 advantage after two periods.
Titock would record a pin at 3:16 as he too moved up from his usual spot in the lineup at 170 to 182.
The senior Blankenburg, who won 14 last season, was involved in the most exciting bout against Genoa-Kingston, coming back from a 3-0 second period deficit, to draw even at 3-3, before scoring a takedown with 10 seconds left in regulation to stun Anthony Lacko 5-3 in his 195-pound match.
"We've had our ups and downs, and some struggles during the past year or two because we've been so young, but you can see how the team has matured, and how the addition of some of our new guys has really made a difference in the room, and I think everyone around here knows (now) that if we continue to work hard, some very good things can happen," said Govea.