Familiar duo leads Saints

It is now or never for St. Charles East wrestlers Danny Mercadante and Cody Crawford.

The Saints' four-year varsity performers not only have designs on stellar seasons but also are the most likely candidates to negate the considerable losses to graduation of Billy Diamond and Adam Schaefer.

At St. Charles North on Wednesday night, the two St. Charles high schools held their annual pre-Thanksgiving Upstate Eight Conference season opener.

And some things have not changed much since the creation of North High School.

The Saints have never lost to their cross-town rivals, and Mercadante and Crawford were once again mainstays for St. Charles East.

Mercadante began the festivities with a second-period technical fall for St. Charles East, and Crawford needed only 36 seconds to subdue his foe at 130 pounds.

With a number of one-sided matches, not to mention three North Stars forfeits, St. Charles East had a 42-point unanswered run to swap St. Charles North 53-18.

Mercadante went up four weight classes for his final campaign.

"I had a growth spurt and started lifting every day," Mercadante said. "I just wanted to go out and dominate. Diamond and Schaefer were huge losses."

The two conference champions have passed on the legacy, and Crawford had more than victory on his mind when he took the mat.

"The goal was to get the underclassmen prepared for the season," said Crawford. "My plan was to go out there and get the pin. It's going to be hard to fill (the holes left by Diamond and Schaefer), but we have a lot of quality guys right there."

The North Stars (0-1) actually took a 15-11 lead when senior Casey Ro secured a hard-fought 3-1 decision at 215 pounds to augment back-to-back pins at the two previous classes by Steve Casio and Brian Landreville.

But Rafael Flores swung the momentum permanently in the Saints' favor with a first-period fall at heavyweight, and the North Stars soon mired in a series of defeats.

One-hundred-12-pounder Brandon Rubino made it 17 out of 18 possible points with a first-period pin after North was forced to forfeit at 103 pounds.

Joe Dede and Roy Rodriquez had the most competitive match of the night at 125 pounds; the two were scoreless after two periods, and the former had an escape for the only point of the showdown with a third-period escape.

The Saints' Frankie Mazza completed the East run with a fall; North's C.J. Miller claimed the final match at 145 pounds.

"Obviously, St. Charles East is a very tough school," first-year North coach Ken Moromi said. "I was just proud that my kids fought hard."