St. Charles East nips Neuqua Valley
The Neuqua Valley lead was vaporized by three consecutive St. Charles East pins at the lower weights, and the Saints' first victory over their longtime conference rival in 10 years came down to the final match.
The Wildcats' Matt Slavik needed a pin outright for a team victory; a technical fall would have sent the teams' Upstate Eight crossover wrestling dual meet into criteria.
But his St. Charles East counterpart, sophomore Ian Crawford, vulnerable at times, preserved the Saints' 33-31 victory by merely succumbing to a simple decision Friday night in St. Charles.
The Saints (7-4) captured six of the last eight decisions, four by falls, to storm back from a 22-3 deficit after the opening six matches.
Neuqua Valley, whose only coach in program history, Mick Ruetiger, directed the Saints for 15 years, fell to 6-6.
The momentum swing was palpable after the Saints' Ryan Rubino (103 pounds), Austin Hrubec (112) and prized freshman Isiah Vela (119) had consecutive pins to reduce the Wildcats' 19-point lead to 22-21.
“Anytime you can get three pins in a row the momentum is going to be going your way,” St. Charles East coach Steve Smerz said.
“It's all about matchups in wrestling,” said Ruetiger. “We can't get pinned in those situations. The kids know better than that. We were in poor position.”
Vela improved to 9-0 on the season with eight falls with his first-period abbreviated victory.
“I know in the lower weights we're going to do pretty well,” Vela said. “I guess I just caught him off-guard and (pinned) him.”
The Saints took their first lead of the night at 125 pounds; freshman Jake Mende rallied from a 3-0 third-period deficit with a reversal and two takedowns to forge a 6-5 victory over junior Troy Kendryna.
“That's kind of how Jacob is,” Smerz said. “He'll beat you in the third (period) if he has to.”
Neuqua Valley regained the lead at 28-24 when Julian Ochoa terminated his match late in the third period with a fall, but it proved short-lived when the Saints' Nick Ruffino trumped his fall with one of his own at 135 pounds.
The Saints' 30-28 cushion was then extended to five with sophomore Brad Kearby prevailing in a hard-fought match at 140 with Neuqua Valley junior Chris Koulianos.
Neuqua Valley had its nine-year winning streak against the Saints halted when Slavik failed to earn any bonus points in the final match.
The Wildcats received back-to-back falls from Drelyn Hunt and Luke Pigott at 152 and 160 pounds to take the early lead.
“I usually wrestle at 60,” Hunt said. “I knew it was going to be a tough match no matter what. We just have to work harder in the (practice) room.
The Wildcats' Connor Swier scored 14 straight points to earn a major decision at 189 pounds, and heavyweight Andrew Geers had the only point of the 285-pound match.
St. Charles East junior Tyler Sullivan and Neuqua Valley junior Sam Demkoski allowed 3 combined points against them in their respective wins at 189 and 215 pounds.