Maine West wrestlers cruise to victory

An all-out assault by Maine West (14-6, 3-1) led to a 63-9 pasting of District 207 rival Maine East in a Central Suburban North wrestling dual in Des Plaines Friday night.

The Warriors, back on the mats for the first time since Dec. 23, built an insurmountable lead by recording 6 falls in their first 9 matches. That included a pin in 3:45 to open the night by heavyweight Christian Nunez and ended with Danny Lowe's pin at 0:47 at 145 pounds to give the homeside a 42-6 cushion.

"The guys came out aggressive and battled hard in matches that (they) were behind in, to come back and get a victory," said Warriors coach Lance Weber. "That's what I am most proud of tonight."

Lowe (25-3) and teammates Oscar Gomez (160) and Charlie Vana (171) followed a technical fall win at 4:55 by Chris Pack (19-2) with inspired efforts to open up their respective bouts with plenty of takedowns before putting away their counterparts by virtue of a fall.

The misery continued for a young Maine East (4-14) team when 103-pounder Peter Giannos (18-8), Eisen Punnoose (119), Jeff Vernola (21-6, 130) and Pawel Mirek at 140 registered pins.

Punnoose and Mirek, in particular, each found themselves in trouble, until both used second-period explosions to not only overcome deficits, but to also finish off their opponents in grand style.

Next up for the Warriors, whose lone loss in the CSL is to Deerfield, will be a quad at Rolling Meadows today with Antioch and power DeKalb in as guests to the host Mustangs.