West Aurora claims regional championship
The West Aurora wrestling program is back with a vengeance.
Saturday afternoon and evening at the Class 3A Naperville Central regional, the Blackhawks more than compensated for their third-place showing last week at the DuPage Valley Conference tournament.
Displaying fortitude in both the championship and consolation brackets with several close wins, West Aurora not only advanced nine wrestlers to the Downers Grove North sectional this Saturday but also captured its fifth team title in the last decade with a 202.5-182 victory over Hinsdale Central.
“Their kids always find a way to win the close matches at tournament time,” Hinsdale South coach Mike Matozzi said of the Blackhawks.
“We talked about confidence and belief,” West Aurora coach Mike DiNovo said. “We work on that like takedowns.”
West Aurora led the 11-team field with four champions—three secured or cemented with takedowns in the waning seconds—added three runners-up and two consolation champions.
Nicholas Drendel, the reigning state runner-up for West Aurora, was dominant once again, running his season-long winning streak to 35 matches with three effortless performances at 125 pounds.
“I still felt like the team had good energy,” Drendel said of the two lost days’ practice due to the blizzard. “I think everybody stepped up to the plate today. I actually haven’t paid any attention (to Internet rankings).”
At 119 pounds, West Aurora senior Alberto Tijerina had an escape in the final 20 seconds and secured his monumental—in terms of the team standings—9-6 win over Hinsdale Central sophomore Terry Ward with a last-second takedown.
After Drendel made it back-to-back West Aurora champions with his 15-2 dismantling victory at 125 pounds, fellow returning state qualifier Miquel Venecia extended the Blackhawks’ string to three with a 7-3 win at 130 pounds.
“I knew coming into the tournament that it was going to be a tough weight class,” Venecia said. “After that (semifinal win over state-ranked Jimmy Nehls of Downers North), I felt more confident.”
Greg Jacquez became the final titlist for West Aurora when he took down 35-match winner Dave Tessiatore (Downers North) with one second remaining to earn the 3-1 win at 140 pounds.
Alex Contini (152 pounds), Aaron Hett (171) and heavyweight Austin Beebe earned automatic sectional bids by advancing to the final for West Aurora; Brandon Walz (103) and Michael Ortiz (215) had abbreviated wins to advance out the third-place bracket.
Batavia standouts Augie Watson and Joey Shump were the sole survivors for the Bulldogs, who finished seventh.
Watson whitewashed Contini for the title at 152, while Shump became the 37th consecutive victim of Hinsdale South 112-pounder Sebastian Pique in the finals.
“These past few weeks I have been working on my defense to bring it back to where it was,” said Watson.