Batavia rusty in its return; W. Aurora goes 2-1
Batavia wrestled on Saturday.
Such a simple statement might not seem like a big deal but it meant a whole lot to the Bulldogs.
A skin condition outbreak resulted in the postponement of meets against Glenbard South, Marmion and Harlem back in December and poor weather forced Thursday's Western Sun meet against Rochelle to be postponed. Finally when Saturday morning arrived the Bulldogs were back on the mats for the first time since Dec. 19.
The unanticipated lengthy hiatus combined with a few injured wrestlers didn't bode well for the Bulldogs as they were only able to beat Romeoville, before falling to Marist and West Aurora in a quadrangular.
"There's been a long time since we last wrestled so I knew we were going to be rusty coming back," Batavia coach Tom Arlis said. "We also had a couple kids out sick so we knew we were going to be with our backs to the wall."
Batavia (7-9) had no problem making due without Tyler Patton, Jake Schulz and Auggie Watson in a 60-10 victory over Romeoville but they proved especially vulnerable in a 45-24 defeat to Marist.
The Bulldogs tried to bounce back in the meet's final dual against West Aurora but ultimately fell 40-34.
Against the Blackhawks, the Bulldogs enjoyed a slim 31-30 advantage with only 3 matches remaining, but Greg Jacquez pinned Matt Goodin at 140 pounds and Byron Swanson scored an 11-3 decision over Dylan Findley at 145 pounds to seal the victory for West Aurora.
"It was a good weekend for us," West Aurora coach Mike DiNovo said. "We went in here knowing we could go 3-0 and also knew both Batavia and Marist had some top notch, state-ranked guys and other skilled wrestlers where we could lose to one or both of them."
The Blackhawks suffered a nerve-racking 32-27 loss to Marist early Saturday morning before throttling Romeoville 69-6 and then edging Batavia.
"That was a good win over Batavia," DiNovo said. "That took a lot of teamwork and pin points. Marist was a tough one, but I thought some of our guys wrestled extremely well and matched up well with their better guys."
Miguel Venecia, O.J. Quintanilla, Nicholas Drendal and Jacquez led the way for the Blackhawks.
The Bulldogs received standout performances from Logan Arlis, Rich Smith, Luis Campos and heavyweight Pat Martin. All four wrestlers went 3-0 on Saturday.
"It was good to get back out there and compete," Martin said. "We had some guys who had to step in for some injured kids and they worked hard."
There was a lot of interest at 119 pounds. Arlis scored a 10-1 decision over Venecia while Venecia upset Marist's Sean Raddatz earlier in the day. Arlis, who beat Raddatz in the state semifinals last season, beat Raddatz this time by technical fall.