Burlington Central has successful 3-0 Saturday
Burlington Central junior Omar Awad was in unfamiliar territory as he entered the final match of a quadrangular wrestling meet on Rocket Hill Saturday afternoon.
The Rockets led Geneva 30-24 heading into the day's final match at 145 pounds. Awad didn't need to beat Geneva junior Nick Bradberry; he simply needed to avoid being pinned, which would have given the Vikings 6 points and forced a tiebreaker based on criteria.
"I was wrestling defensively because I didn't want him to pin me," Awad said. "It's pretty hard to do."
With time running out in the third period, coaches, teammates and fans on both sides were in full voice as Bradberry put Awad's back to the mat and went for the pin. He nearly got it, but Awad somehow managed to keep one shoulder off the ground, in the referee's opinion. Time expired and Bradberry won the match 11-4 to earn 3 points, however, the Rockets won the meet 30-27 on a day when both teams wrestled short-handed.
"I thought I had him," said Bradberry, who improved to 26-10. "He was laying flat, but I guess the referee didn't see it that way. He was pretty tough fighting off his back and did a good job. I probably should have just adjusted a little better and I would have had the pin."
The victory lifted the Rockets to 3-0 on the day and 16-7 overall. Burlington Central also defeated Elgin 50-10 and East Aurora 50-18.
Other non-forfeit winners for the Rockets against Geneva included DeMitrius Phillips (145 pounds), Joe Gannon (152), Tim Maroder (189), Tim Vincent (215) and heavyweight Brent Sunderlage.
Maroder won a 1-0 decision over Geneva's Ryan Ward, thanks to an escape point early in the third period. Ward nearly scored a 2-point takedown in the final seconds, but Maroder was able to keep his opponent from earning the 2 crucial points.
"I knew he was behind me when I was on my knees, so I had to get up right away because he didn't have control yet," Maroder said. "I had to scramble at the end there to keep my 1-point lead. It was too close to the end of the period to give up a takedown. I wouldn't have been able to escape."
A highlight for Geneva was a pin by Eric Timko at 2:59 of the 160-pound match.
"I like to ride on top because it's easy for me to break people down and ride people out because all the conditioning in practice helps me a lot," Timko said. "When I'm there I usually try to go for a half with a wrist so I can get the pin. I can tell when someone's about to go over. I just run, go all out, get them to their back and hold them there. That's what happened today."
The Vikings defeated Elgin 44-24 and East Aurora 48-13.
Elgin, which forfeited four matches in each meet because some varsity underclassmen were competing in junior varsity and freshman conference meets, was led by two wins apiece by Ivan Ceballos and Nate Andresen.
Ceballos scored an 8-5 decision at 160 pounds against Geneva. He then "wrestled up" at 171 pounds against Central and earned a 17-5 victory.
Andresen (103) ran his personal record to 22-6 with his 13th and 14th pins of the season. He pinned his opponent from Central with 51 seconds left, and he won by a fall against a Geneva wrestler 48 seconds into the final period.
"My first match against Burlington Central was a pretty good match," Andresen said. "I wrestled more aggressively and it turned out pretty good for me. The match against Geneva didn't start off so well, but I picked up the pace, saw and opening and I took it."