Saints shine throughout
St. Charles East 130-pounder Frankie Mazza was in a whole bunch of trouble early.
But the Saints' sophomore wrestler not only extricated himself but also completely turned the tide of his match to give St. Charles East a crowing achievement Wednesday night in Batavia.
Mazza, who was in danger of being pinned in the opening period of the dual meet, regained the momentum with a reversal and secured a fall of his own moments later.
The surprising turn of events, with only three matches remaining, had a major bearing on the Saints' 38-19 nonconference victory over the Bulldogs.
"That was the end of the meet right there," Batavia coach Tom Arlis said.
"That was a huge swing," St. Charles East coach Steve Smerz said. "Frankie showed a lot of pride there."
Had Ryan Colby prevailed with a fall, the Saints' lead would have been reduced to five, meaning any result could have transpired over the final three matches.
Instead, the Mazza fall meant Batavia needed two pins and technical fall to induce the tiebreaker, or three falls outright to win by a point.
The Saints eked out two close decisions over the trio of ending matches to win their ninth match of the season against three defeats; Batavia fell to 7-7.
"When he turned me, I told myself that I couldn't get pinned," Mazza said. "We hadn't beaten this team yet. It was a big moment for me, my first year wrestling varsity."
Batavia could not have desired a more favorable draw as junior sensation Andrew Rudd opened the meet at 152 pounds by earning the third lead change in the final 30 seconds in his hotly-contested match with Nick Scimeca.
Rudd trailed by one in the final five seconds, only to use a reversal-2-point near-fall sequence to snare the 8-5 win.
Danny Watson had little trouble extending the Batavia team lead to 7-0 at 160 pounds with a major decision, but Billy Diamond gave St. Charles East the momentum for good at 171 with a third-period technical fall.
"Coach Smerz said before we started wrestling that bonus points mattered the most," Diamond said. "We had never beat Batavia. It feels good to take it to them, especially this being my senior year."
The match at 189 pounds pitted the Saints' Adam Schaeffer against Batavia favorite Matt McCarter, and the two entered the match with a combined 32-3 record.
But Schaeffer gave St. Charles East the lead for good with a workmanlike 7-1 decision, and the Saints' 20-point unanswered burst was reality when sophomore Alex Maynard had a first-period pin at 103 pounds.
The Saints' winning streak had reached five as the Maynard fall was proceeded by hard-fought wins by Steve Schenck and Blake Griffiths at 215 pounds and heavyweight, respectively.
Logan Arlis and Tyler Patton had key wins for Batavia at 112 and 119, but when Cody Crawford proceeded the Mazza fall with one of his own Batavia was left searching for answers.
"It was one of those nights," Arlis said. "I don't want to take anything away from St. Charles East. We were flat and looked lethargic."