Wrestling: Batavia dominates matchup against rival Geneva
Kaden Fetterolf personified the Batavia wrestling freight train on downhill tracks Thursday night against archrival Geneva.
His Geneva 138-pound opponent never stood a chance.
Fetterolf extended his season-long winning streak to 14 matches with a fall just the midway mark.
The Bulldogs would ultimately captured eight of the 10 contested matches and received 18 additional points on three Geneva forfeits.
Batavia freshman 106-pounder Jack Duraski was the lone victor for his team to not receive bonus points in the schools' DuKane Conference dual match in Batavia.
The Bulldogs, ranked No. 12 in the coaches' poll, routed Geneva 58-6 to improve to 10-4 overall and 3-1 in the league.
Geneva is 6-4, 1-1.
"I'm not surprised," Fetterolf said of the final team spread. "We came into this dual just to destroy them."
Fetterolf has a simple formula for remaining undefeated as the holidays approach.
"Being confident, trusting my training and doing what I do best," Fetterolf said.
Cael Andrews' technical fall at the next weight for Batavia, 145, came in the opening moments of the third period.
The Bulldogs' other undefeated wrestler, 195-pounder Jackson Tonkovich, terminated his match in the third period.
Batavia heavyweight Christian Allen then made it back-to-back pins.
"Tonight was the only night I went back to heavyweight," said Allen, who is an astonishing 75 pounds lower than the 285-pound maximum weight. "But it was all about the momentum you get from your opponent. It was an easy trip (for the takedown-inducing fall)."
Duraski concluded the one-sided match with a hard-fought 4-3 win over the Vikings' Joey Sikorsky at 106 pounds.
Batavia scored the first 33 points of the match as Ino Garcia and Aidan Huck opened the night with consecutive forfeit wins at 113 and 120 pounds.
Zach Szuberia had an 11-0 whitewash at 132 before highly prized freshman Chase Osborne received yet another 6-point win when Geneva did not field an athlete at 138.
The Fetterolf pin and Andrews' technical fall soon followed.
Geneva finally broke through with consecutive wins as Nicky O'Keeffe and Maguire Hoeksma had completely opposite simple-decision wins at 152 and 160 pounds.
O'Keeffe had a pair of takedowns and a reversal for all the points in his match.
But both Hoeksma and Mason Yanez were threatened with being pinned.
Hoeksma was able to complete a reversal on the Yanez attempt before adding two 2-point near-falls of his own in an 11-5 win.
"I was hoping to get four or five wins, but we only had two," Geneva coach Tom Chernich said. "Pretty disappointing. Nicky was our one bright spot."
In a girls exhibition match at the halfway mark, the Bulldogs' Sydney Perry, the IWCOA defending state champion, turned back fellow nationally-rated combatant Attalia Watson from Homewood-Flossmoor at 135 points.
Perry was winning 7-3 when Watson had to retire with an injury.