West Aurora falls to DVC's elite, GN
Five days after wrestling at 145 pounds, Glenbard North's Vince Ramos took the mat at 160 pounds Thursday to take on West Aurora's Jesse Pena. Ramos took an early shot, and Pena's strength hit him like a ton of bricks.
"The first shot I took, I was like, 'Wow, this isn't like last week,' " Ramos said.
Ramos won a 5-2 decision over Pena in a 41-24 Panthers' win in a DuPage Valley Conference dual at Carol Stream. The Panthers took eight of the 13 matches wrestled against a Blackhawks team that continues to build for the postseason.
"Some of the guys stepped up big. I'd still like to see fewer mistakes, but I think they wrestled well," said Blackhawks coach Mike DiNovo. "We're a work in progress."
The Panthers (8-1, 2-0) got a technical fall from Danny Monaco at 145, then a pin from Corey Hope at 152 to set up Ramos' match.
The senior was up 2-1 when an arm injury nearly took him out of the match. Ramos laid on the mat in pain but sprang to his feet just as the referee was signaling to the table that an injury default was imminent.
"It was just adrenaline," Ramos said. "I didn't want to give the match up. I had a 2-1 lead, and I knew I could hold on to it. Then when you're out there, you don't think about it. The adrenaline takes over."
The Panthers' Charleston Soko trailed Tim Soloff 9-7 with 10 seconds left in his match at 171, but took Soloff to the mat with a headlock and earned back points for a 12-9 win.
Was Soko aware of the clock or the score?
"No," he said. "I was just wrestling."
West Aurora's Mario Gonzalez was up 17-7 on Billy Schwartz at 189 before earning a pin with three seconds left in the match, and the Blackhawks' Dan Carey ended a wild match at 215 against Chris VanGundy by earning a takedown and back points as time expired in an 11-6 win.
"We've talked about wrestling smart, wrestling aggressive and wrestling with heart," DiNovo said. "Carey's coming along great."
Panthers heavyweight Jeff Jones put his squad up 28-15 with a 3-2 win in four overtimes against Juan Perez, teammate Joe Gosinski earned a 13-1 major decision at 103, and Jamie Warcynski won by pin at 112 pounds.
West Aurora (4-4, 2-1) forfeited at 119, but the Blackhawks got pins from Tanner Andrews at 125 and Josh Zinzer at 130 and a 5-3 overtime win from Vince Morris at 135. Geno Capezio posted a pin at 140 for the Panthers.
"We did OK, but we're banged up," Ramos said. "We're still trying to put it all together."