Batavia romps to UEC River crown
The pageantry was elevated to a new level when the Doranski brothers took the mat at the Batavia Fine Arts Centre Thursday night.
The Batavia wrestlers needed all of 51 combined seconds to secure back-to-back falls.
The Bulldogs' showdown with archrival Geneva never came to fruition as the siblings' consecutive pins at 113 and 120 pounds nearly equaled the entire Viking output.
Batavia completed an undefeated run to win its first Upstate Eight Conference River Division championship in four years with a resounding 43-14 victory.
Mike Doranski, the Bulldogs' only returning state qualifier, needed only 31 seconds after his freshman brother Dylan achieved his pin at 113 pounds in 20 seconds.
"I'm not sure what it did for the team," Mike Doranski said of the Dylan's rapid fall. "But it was huge for me. (How he performs) always sways how I wrestle."
The Bulldogs' rout was complete when 220-pounder Dylan Uzumecki and heavyweight Mitch Krusz ended the night with the last of the Bulldogs' 4 pins.
Batavia outscored Geneva, which won 4 of the 14 matches, 13-2 in bonus points.
"It's still Geneva," Krusz said of wrestling with the match long decided. "We want to go out there and beat them as bad as we can. Having it locked up made it easier for the later matches."
The dual match was performed before a near-capacity crowd in the Bulldogs' fine arts auditorium.
But Geneva (12-8, 4-2) would never come within single figures of the lead after Batavia scored the first 19 points of the match.
Josh Fischer (106 pounds) and Seth Winkle (126) had bookend wins around the Doranskis' falls.
Geneva coach Tom Chernich said an early deficit is not a major concern in wrestling, but the Vikings' major decisions from Colin Parsons at 132 and Mike Huck at 145 were the only bonus points Batavia surrendered.
There were several protracted matches that went the distance, almost exclusively at the expense of Geneva.
Jake Birkhaug followed the Winkle blueprint almost note for note at 170 pounds.
The senior surrendered the opening points, only to forge an escape and takedown in the second period.
Just like Winkle at 126, Birkhaug rode out his opponent to eke out a 3-2 win.
"Their average guys (record-wise), I felt, wrestled better than our average guys," Chernich said.
"Last year, we lost to St. Charles East and Geneva," Mike Dornaski said. "This year we beat them both. The program is improving a lot."
"The key is the guys were wrestling for each other," Batavia coach Scott Bayer said. "They know what dual-team wrestling is."
Joe Posledni (138 pounds), Dan Ngo (160) and Derek Nutley (182) were the other winners for Batavia.
Brock Perry and Austin Chaon had simple decisions for Geneva at 152 and 195.