St. Charles East pins loss on St. Charles North
For a while, it looked as though the members of the St. Charles North wrestling team would be enjoying its Thanksgiving dinner in style.
Unfortunately for the North Stars, though, the squad had yet to see the best St. Charles East had to offer.
Trailing by 14 points entering the newly created 126-pound weight class, the Saints' Isaiah Vela, Nick Ruffino, Peter Bellino and Ramon Lopez completely altered the direction of the schools' Upstate Eight Conference River dual meet Wednesday night at St. Charles North.
The Saints' quartet all turned in dominant performances as part of a 20-point run, and Ian Crawford capped the night for St. Charles East with a second-period fall in the match-closing 182-pound division.
With its 42-26 victory St. Charles East captured its season opener by earning bonus points in all eight of its victorious matches.
“We talked about that coming in,” St. Charles East coach Steve Smerz said of the need to counteract a forfeit at 113 pounds. “We knew we were OK (with the score 20-6 in favor of North) because we still had our ‘big guns' coming up.”
Vela, the top returning local athlete among Class 3A state medal-winners last winter, secured a technical fall 13 second before the final buzzer to narrow the Saints' deficit to 20-11.
Ruffino allowed no offensive points in authoring a major decision at 132 pounds, and St. Charles East had its second lead of the night when Bellino terminated his match at 138 pounds with a fall.
Lopez, a promising freshman, had the last of the Saints' four straight victories with a third-period technical fall at 145 pounds.
“We knew we had to step it up because we were missing some starters,” Ruffino said. “We did what we had to do.”
But Tim Noverini would have something to say in abruptly ending the Saints' unanswered run.
The only two-time state qualifier in program history, the North Stars' four-year standout knotted the team score at 26-26 for only the second time with a first-period pin at 152.
“(Noverini) is one of the best wrestlers in the state,” Smerz said.
With only three matches remaining, though, the Saints continued the theme of truncated bouts.
None was more significant than junior Cameron Carlson securing a fall at 160 pounds; Brad Kearbey mathematically eliminated the North Stars with his major triumph at 170, and Crawford had the last of the Saints' 4 pins to account for the final score.
“(Bonus points were) really the difference,” St. Charles North coach Ken Moromi said. “They just have some horses who score points.”
St. Charles North (0-2. 0-2), which opened its season with a tough loss to Geneva on Tuesday, received wins from heavyweight Wes Pasholk, Conrad Noverini (106 pounds), Anthony Perrelli (113) and Mike Perrelli (120) in building its early 20-6 lead.
“Overall, we're a much better team (than years past),” Moromi said.
Spencer Santoro put St. Charles East (1-0, 1-0) on the board with a first-period pin at 195 pounds, one of 10 new weight classes adopted nationwide.