Neuqua Valley the class of West Aurora Mega Duals

It was the culmination of three intensive days of wrestling, and Neuqua Valley emerged with the least scars.

The Wildcats entered the West Aurora Mega Duals on Saturday morning following a critical Upstate Eight Conference victory over St. Charles East on Friday night.

The six-time defending league champion was coming off its first loss of the season one night earlier against state powerhouse Providence Catholic.

But the Wildcats, behind their fearsome foursome of Matt Cavallaris, Alex Cizek, Andrew Spangler and Nick Proctor, were the lone program to go undefeated on the day against a series of perennial contenders.

West Aurora and the original St. Charles High School were fierce rivals in the Upstate Eight before the former bolted for the DuPage Valley and latter was split into two high schools.

The host Blackhawks and St. Charles East have been mainstays in the Mega Duals since their inception, and their encounters, typically in the first session, have done nothing but rekindle the rivalry.

There were two matches in the go in the schools' morning session, and the teams were deadlocked at 31-31.

The battle at 119 pounds featured two returning state qualifiers in the Saints' Brandon Rubino and the Blackhawks' Nicholas Drendel.

"Any time you have two returning state qualifiers it's going to be something," said St. Charles East coach Steve Smerz.

Rubino turned a close match into a critical majority decision as his 11-3 triumph was the product of two near-falls over the last two periods.

Joe Dede followed Rubino with another hard-fought win - this time over Nate Zinzer, 3-0, at 125 pounds - and the Saints escaped with a 38-31 victory.

St. Charles East had two more donnybrooks against DuPage Valley contenders, dropping a 36-31 dual to Naperville Central and concluding its day with a 40-32 win over Wheaton Warrenville South.

Ryan Rubino (103 pounds), Brandon Rubino, Dede, Alex Maynard (135), Nick Scimeca (152) and heavyweight Raphael Flores left Aurora without being vanquished.

"There was a lot of key things (in the win over West Aurora)," said Smerz. "I was happy to see us win more matches wrestled (against Naperville Central). Raffy (Flores) had a nice weekend."

St. Charles East is 3-2 on the young season.

West Aurora seniors Nolan Meehan (152 pounds) and O.J. Quintanilla (130) had pivotal pins to orchestrate the Blackhawks' 40-27 victory over Oswego.

Byron Swanson went undefeated on the day for West Aurora, which fell to 3-4 overall with a third-match 44-16 loss against Lockport.

"I did what (coach Mike) DiNovo taught us," said Swanson. "(The duals were) an eye-opener for us. I think we're going to start working harder."

"There were some good things and not so good things," said DiNovo. "(The St. Charles East loss) was right down to the end with a lot of hard-fought matches."

"That's a team that's not going to be going away," Naperville Central coach Tom Porter said of West Aurora.

Neuqua Valley improved to 6-1 on the young season by nipping Rockton-Hononegah 30-27 and posting one-sided victories of Wheaton Warrenville South and Oswego.

Its quartet of state-ranked athletes was unblemished as well on the day.

"As a team, I thought we did good," said Proctor, the Wildcats' top-rated 171-pound senior. "We came out here and pretty much dominated Wheaton Warrenville South and Oswego."

Spangler extended his season-opening winning streak to 10 matches at 160 pounds for Neuqua Valley.

"I think overall we've done a very good job," Spangler said.

In the Wildcats' razor-thin victory over Rockton-Hononegah, bonus points and close matches in their favor settled the outcome.

"Our kids kept their focus," said Neuqua Valley coach Mick Ruettiger. "We wanted to get as much match time as possible. We won the close matches (against Hononegah) - that was the difference. We have to be the risk-takers."

Naperville Central also entered its three dual meets full of momentum coming of its surprisingly convincing victory over host West Aurora Friday night in DuPage Valley action.

Jon Williamson and Joe Savina went undefeated on the day at 112 and 160 pounds, respectively, for the Redhawks.

Naperville Central stands at 7-2 after bookend wins over St. Charles East (36-31) and Hononegah (41-27); the Redhawks dropped a 43-17 verdict to a powerful Lockport squad in their middle match.

Naperville Central, a returning team state qualifier, has state-ranked Andy Kovalsky and Adam Gebner to anchor its fortunes, but it was Josh Tardy who secured its victory over Hononegah (6-3).

The Indians fought back from an early 24-6 deficit that Kovalsky inaugurated with a pin with back-to-back falls to climb to within 32-27 with two matches remaining.

But Tardy recorded a fall 29 seconds into the third period in his 130-pound match to secure the victory.

"I was doing some score-counting, and all I had to do was stay off my back," Tardy said.

"We get a chance to see the kids in a high-competition environment," said Naperville Central coach Tom Porter. "It's an opportunity to get some good matches in."

The Redhawks' league rival, WW South, had a 29-25 victory over Oswego to even its record at 3-3 after losses to Neuqua Valley and St. Charles East.

Spartak Chino, the Tigers' returning all-state 140-pound junior, won two matches at 145 pounds after rejoining the team following the state-championship football run.

"The transition hasn't been too difficult," Chino said. "I was working out all summer, wrestling a couple of times a week."

WW South junior Mark Savenok improved to 9-0 with a pair of pins and an injury-default victory at 130 pounds.

"I felt as though I could have 'stuck' (pinned) him (without the injury)," Savenok said.

"It's all about kids wrestling," WW South coach Ryan Ferguson said. "We've got to get through our injuries. We're banged up."