Panthers keep streak going

The streak lives on.

It's been eight years since Mark Hahn's wrestling program at Glenbard North lost a DuPage Valley Conference dual, and the Panthers' 28-27 win over West Aurora on Thursday kept that streak from ending.

"We want to keep winning conference (titles)," said Panthers senior Jimmy Chase. "We want to put No. 11 under our belt."

Glenbard North has also won 10 consecutive DVC tournaments.

The Panthers (3-1) earned an 8-6 edge in matches won, but the Blackhawks (2-2) posted a pair of pins and a technical fall to take things down to the wire.

Glenbard North led 28-23 when the night's final match took center stage in Aurora, between a returning state place-winner in the Blackhawks' Mario Gonzalez and Panthers' Danny Eldridge.

Gonzalez needed a pin in the match at 189 pounds, but Eldridge fought it off, holding Gonzalez to a major decision and giving Glenbard North the win.

"That was a gutsy match by Eldridge," Hahn said.

The Panthers led 9-6 after Chris Wahrman (215 pounds) and Tyler Knudson (285) bumped up in weight and won a pair of decisions. The Blackhawks followed with a pair of wins - a decision by Nick Drendel (103) and a pin by Brandon Walz (103).

The Panthers' Dan Rios used a late reversal to win a 1-point decision at 119 before the Blackhawks' Josh Zinzer held off a late charge from Joe Gosinski to win a 1-point decision at 125 pounds.

The Panthers' two returning state champs, Tony Ramos (130) and Jimmy Chase (135) won by pin and major decision, respectively, to give the Panthers a 22-18 lead.

"Ramos and Chase went out and did what they had to do, and Joey Gosinski wrestled a heck of a match against Zinzer," Hahn said.

At 152 the Panthers' Steve Ferraro came from behind against Loren Galloway to win an 11-9 decision in overtime, before a technical fall from West Aurora's Jesse Pena at 160 cut the Panthers' lead to 25-23.

Glenbard North's Charleston Soko posted a 3-0 decision at 171, setting up the night's finale between Gonzalez and Eldridge. Gonzalez nearly had Eldridge stuck at the end of the first period as the buzzer sounded.

"Credit that kid for fighting off that pin," said West Aurora coach Mike DiNovo. "We wish the outcome was different tonight, but the guys put everything on the line and they wrestled tough."

"We had a couple one-point matches that could have gone either way tonight," Zinzer said. "We needed one more of them to fall our way."