West Aurora toughs out a win over Glenbard East
Nick Spagnola had no margin for error whatsoever Thursday night in Aurora.
In the Upstate Eight Conference Valley dual meet between West Aurora and Glenbard East in the penultimate weight of 145 pounds, senior Erik Olson dominated his match for the host Blackhawks to create the fifth consecutive team lead change.
But there would be no sixth straight for the Rams.
Spagnola had the only offensive points of the match against the Rams' Matt Leonard to give West Aurora a 29-24 victory in the battle between undefeated league teams.
"We finally have our team back," West Aurora coach Charlie Curran said of the Blackhawks' highly deceptive 11-10 overall dual-meet record largely due to injury-induced forfeits.
"I was a little nervous at first," Spagnola said of taking the mat with West Aurora holding a slim 2-point lead.
Any type of victory by Leonard would have given the Rams (20-5, 4-1) the victory and firm control of the Valley. But it was Spagnola who provided West Aurora (4-0) with the league-changing win with his 6-3 win.
"I was kind of excited the whole time," Spagnola said. "I wanted to wrestle my style. I knew the team was riding on me."
Olson had a 15-2 major decision in the preceding match to give the Blackhawks the lead for good.
In the previous four matches, contested from 113 to 138 pounds, West Aurora and alternated wins with its longtime DuPage Valley Conference rival to produce four straight lead changes. Neither team led by more than 2 points during the sequence.
Reigning West Aurora all-stater Isaac Jacquez and Johnny Acevado had clutch wins for the Blackhawks. But the Rams' Nick Donovan and Drew Fogiel stopped the Blackhawks' momentum with key victories.
West Aurora bolted out of the gate with the first 13 points behind wins from returning state qualifier Alex Gonzalzes - making his season debut - Joe Griffin, Steven Norman and Josh Mayhew between 160 and 195 pounds.
"We knew they were going to be coming out and wrestling strong," Glenbard East coach Kevin Carlson said of West Aurora.
Glenbard East, though, would use bonus points in the form of falls from Bryan Andrews and James Ost and 220 and 106 pounds, respectively, to reduce its deficit to single figures.
Glenbard East had looked at the 285-pound match to narrow the gap even farther. But the Blackhawks' Devin Moore had a 3-1 upset at the heaviest weight.
"I thought the swing match was at heavyweight," Carlson said. "That was a match we thought we could win. It was a 6-point swing."