Batavia pins its way past Geneva

Geneva at Batavia always makes for interesting storylines on the local prep sports scene.

Thursday night at Batavia, there was a special series of exhibition matches preceding the schools' DuKane Conference dual match.

It has been widely discussed on wrestling websites, especially in the last two years. It is not inconceivable in coming years that there will be a wrestling state tournament for girls.

Eight girls - representing Batavia, Geneva and Kaneland - competed.

Julia Pelech gave her male teammates at Batavia the ultimate harbinger of what was to come between the two archrivals. Pelech pinned her opponent from Geneva in the second round.

Five Batavia boys would follow suit - and two others would record technical falls - as the Bulldogs turned back Geneva 46-27 in DuKane Conference action.

"I would have made the match even shorter," said Pelech, who competes for the Bulldogs' JV boys team otherwise. "I wanted to get in an even better position."

Batavia scored the first 23 points of the night against the Vikings.

Like a Saturday invitational, the draw came at 106 pounds.

Batavia received first-period falls from Cael Andrews and Tanner Oakes at 113 and 126 pounds, respectively.

Kaden Fetteroff opened the Bulldogs' night of fireworks with a technical fall - meaning a score of 15 points or greater - 27 seconds before the third period ended.

Geneva (2-8, 0-3) would respond with its fair share of truncated matches.

Nicky O'Keeffe had a first-period pin for Geneva at 132 pounds, as did Dean Andersen at 152,

The Vikings' Justin Rupnow needed only 25 seconds to end his match at 160 pounds.

"I was able to get him into a standing position, overpower him and throw him to his back," Rupnow said.

"This was my first match certified (at 132)," said O'Keeffe. "I felt like it was my match."

Geneva climbed to within 29-21, but Batavia pulled away to win its first league match as 182-pounder Jackson Tonkavich and heavyweight Alex Richards both had pins.

"It's a lot of fun when you have high-scoring matches like that," said Richards.

The schools had a double forfeit at 220 pounds.

The Vikings' Preston Leake bested Noah Ajazi 7-5 at 145 pounds for the only match that went all three periods.

"We have a young team," Batavia coach Scott Bayer said of the all the one-sided matches. "They have a young team. That's the mark of inexperienced teams. They have to learn how to dual-meet wrestle."

The Bulldogs (5-9, 1-2) did not even have their most accomplished wrestler, undefeated 145-pounder Mikey Caliendo.

But Riley Woods made up for the Caliendo absence by pinning the Vikings' only returning state qualifier, Ian Huck.

"I'm not surprised by that at all," Bayer said of the Woods win.