St. Charles East, W. Aurora go 2-1
There is never a shortage of subplots when the annual eight-team Mega Dual wrestling tournament is held.
Longtime Upstate Eight Conference rivals West Aurora and host St. Charles East had yet another barnburner.
The city rivalry between Neuqua Valley and Naperville Central went in favor of the latter.
Wheaton Warrenville South, meanwhile, anxiously waits for its five starters from its state runner-up football team to return to the fold.
But it was traditional state powers Lockport and Rockton Hononegah who ended up leaving St. Charles as the only unvanquished wrestling teams in the three-round format Saturday afternoon.
West Aurora and St. Charles East entered the second round after respective wins over Oswego and Naperville Central, and the Blackhawks’ 36-26 victory was much tighter than the final score indicated.
In a flurry of one-sided matches to begin the match, the Saints’ Isaiah Vela and Nick Ruffino trumped the Anthony DeCarlo pin at 126 pounds with consecutive falls to give St. Charles East a 12-6 after three matches.
The Saints’ lead expanded to double digits at 16-6 when Peter Belllino had a near-technical fall at 145 pounds.
But Greg Jacquez returned the momentum to West Aurora for good at 152 pounds.
The Blackhawks’ returning state qualifier needed only 54 seconds to terminate his match.
“The key (to the win over St. Charles East) was mental,” said Jacquez, who also won a nail-biter over his foe from Rockton Hononegah. “We’re not going to stop coming at you (as a team). We’re going to be in your face full force.”
Nathan Pealstrom and Brandon Farias extended the West Aurora run to 12 points with simple decisions at 160 and 170 pounds, only to see St. Charles East 182-pounder Ian Crawford give St. Charles East a 19-18 cushion with his hard-fought victory.
Brandon Warren and Julian Lopez, also undefeated for West Aurora, then had back-to-back wins, both in physically demanding matches, at 195 and 220 to up the Blackhawks’ cushion to 24-19.
Any hope St. Charles East had of reversing the trend was spoiled by forfeits at 285 and 113 pounds.
Ryan Rubino and West Aurora freshman Carlos Jacquez had a highly entertaining match at 106 pounds, with the former prevailing 10-5.
Jason Weber captured the match-ending bout at 120 pounds to give St. Charles East a 6-6 deadlock in the 12 contested matches.
“We were right there with them,” St. Charles East coach Steve Smerz said. “It was a good dual meet. I thought (our wrestlers) fought hard the whole time.”
“I knew it was going to be tough,” said Rubbino, who had two falls and a major decision for the Saints on the day. “As a senior captain, I couldn’t be more proud of the way the younger guys wrestled.”
Vela, the Saints’ reigning state medal-winner, matched his senior teammate with two falls, plus a technical fall.
“I was working on my moves against the younger guys,” Vela said. “We’re getting better (as a team). We’re improving a lot.”
The Saints (4-1) scored the opening 19 points of their third-round match against WW South to hand the Tigers their third loss of the afternoon, 46-24.
West Aurora moved on against Rockton Hononegah in a battle of unbeaten teams in the third round.
Hononegah (8-1) dropped the Blackhawks to 5-5 on the season after opening the match with the maximum 6 points in five of the first seven matches en route to the 46-25 victory.
“The match against Hononegah was still competitive,” said West Aurora coach Mike DiNovo, who sat three important starters as a result of an “overbooked dual-meet schedule.”
Heavyweight Austin Beebe and Carlos Jacquez had back-to-back pins for West Aurora against the Indians.
“I like feeling those guys out before getting into my match,” undefeated Beebe (6-0) said of his twin third-period falls.
Warren (9-0) and Greg Jacquez (7-0) remained unbeaten on the season as well for West Aurora.
Despite missing three starters, including returning all-state heavyweight Andrew Geers, Neuqua Valley acquitted itself in admirable fashion.
The reigning Class 3A Bolingbrook regional champion enjoyed stellar performances from its upper-weight contingent.
Matt Slavic (152 pounds), Nick Parker (170), Connor Swier (182) and Casey Greenberg (220) were victorious in all their matches.
The Wildcats began their morning with a 42-26 win over Oswego, fell to Hononegah 39-33 and had a late run to turn back Naperville Central 51-26.
In its win over the Redhawks, Naperville Central had all the momentum when Tom Mitrenga recorded a fall at 160 pounds to conclude a 14-0 run.
Parker and Swier, however, completely altered the match with consecutive falls to give Neuqua Valley a 24-14 lead; Greenberg then had the Wildcats’ third quick pin in four matches to extend their unanswered run to 21 points in sending the Redhawks to 1-5 on the year.
“We wanted to go out there and finish (our matches) as soon as possible,” Greenberg said. “We have to dominate at the upper weights to dominate our duals.”
“They have solid kids up and down the lineup every year,” Naperville Central coach Rob Porter said of the Wildcats. “You have to send someone out good to beat them. (Neuqua Valley) is a good measuring stick for us.”
“We can separate from people at the higher weights,” Neuqua Valley coach Mick Ruettiger said. “(In the 6-point loss to Hononegah) I thought we got pinned in some spots that we shouldn’t have.”
For Naperville Central, which suffered a 32-31 defeat at the hands of St. Charles East and a one-sided loss against Lockport, 132-pounder Kirk Cherep joined Mitrenga in the flawless tournament department.
Steven Franke, a senior, was the lone WW South athlete to earn the same distinction; the 170-pounder had a pair of pins and a technical fall in the Tigers’ matches against St. Charles East, Lockport and Hononegah.
“Overall, we have young, inexperienced guys who need to get better fundamentally,” WW South first-year coach Matt Janosek said. “It’s great competition here. We have to control what we can--and that’s get better every day.”
WW South fell to 2-7 with its three defeats.