St. Charles East finishes 1-2 at own quad

St. Charles East 119-pound wrestler Brandon Rubino rarely escapes a match without bleeding and his opponents rarely beat him.

Wrestling with a mask to protect his broad nasal bridge from becoming irritated and bleeding again, Rubino won all 3 of his matches during Saturday's quadrangular in St. Charles.

Unfortunately for the Saints, the team wasn't nearly as successful. After spanking Homewood-Flossmoor 56-21 in the opener, the Saints dropped a 38-20 decision to a strong Hinsdale Central team before just coming up short to Willowbrook, 34-29, to conclude their busy day.

"We would've liked to have won that last one," Saints coach Steve Smerz said. "We've got to win some of those close matches. We lost a couple of those close matches."

St. Charles East trailed Willowbrook 31-24 but still had a chance with Nick Ruffino at 130 pounds and Alex Maynard at 135 pounds. The team's hopes faded though when Willowbrook's Dave Mizaur edged Ruffino 4-3 in a hard-fought nail-biter. Maynard would conclude the meet with a technical fall victory over Kevin Steder, but it was a little too late for the Saints.

Fresh off its fourth consecutive title at the Glenbard West Invite last week, the Saints knew they were going to have a difficult time against Hinsdale Central.

"They're tough top to bottom," Smerz said. "We knew going in giving up 12 points (forfeits at 171 and 215 pounds) that it was going to be tough with that type of team."

Rubino, Ruffino, Joe Dede, Alex Maynard and Rafael Flores all scored victories against the Red Devils.

Maynard matched Rubino in having an undefeated day,

"He had a good day," Smerz said. "He's one of our leaders. He's the quiet leader who works hard in the room and makes everyone better."

Flores, Dede, Ruffino and Nick Scimeca all won a pair of matches. Scimeca's only blemish was a tough 5-0 decision to Willowbrook standout and state-ranked Steve Congenie.

"I thought overall that we wrestled pretty tough all day," Smerz said. "There was definitely some good matches and some good challenges that we needed."

Rubino answered all three of his challenges even while donning a protective mask that had a few fans joking that he looked like Hannibal Lecter.

"It's miserable," Rubino said about wearing the mask. "It looks cool and everyone else likes it, but it's weird and hard to breathe, and by the third period you feel a lot different. I'm all sweaty and can hardly see."

In the victory over Homewood-Flossmoor, the Saints only yielded points on a pair of forfeits and when dropping the decision in the 189-pound class.