Watson clinches Batavia's win over Saints
One of three brother tandems on the Batavia wrestling team, Augie Watson has had to defer to his older sibling Danny for much of the season.
But the younger Watson stole the spotlight, even though his older brother improved to 36-1 on the year with another one-sided victory.
Augie Watson, with Batavia clinging to a 7-point lead over St. Charles East in nonconference action Friday night, clinched team victory for the Bulldogs when he recorded a fall in 28 seconds at 140 pounds.
The Saints closed out the dual meet with back-to-back pins, but dominating wins by Danny Mercadante and Nick Scimeca only made the final score tantalizingly closer as the Bulldogs prevailed 36-35 in the teams' regular-season finale in St. Charles.
"I went out there knowing I needed a pin to win the match," Augie Watson said. "Obviously, there were a lot of uneven matches. In the end, we just pulled it out."
The blind draw could not have been any kinder for Batavia: the meet began at 160 pounds, and Andrew Rudd jump-started the Bulldogs' attack with a closer-than-expected 8-5 decision over St. Charles East sophomore Mike Caddy.
Danny Watson then put on a clinic for the Bulldogs: the senior had a technical fall 23 seconds into the final period.
The Bulldogs' surprise story of the year, junior Luis Campos, dominated his match at 189 pounds, earning a fall midway through the third-period to increase the Bulldogs' unanswered run to 14 points to start the match.
But the Saints would answer in kind.
Carl Larsen, one of eight seniors honored by the program, put St. Charles East on the board with a second-period pin at 215 pounds.
Blake Griffiths needed even less time at heavyweight; the senior needed only 39 seconds to reduce the Saints' deficit to 14-12.
The early trend of bonus-points matches continued as Batavia 103-pounder Evan Christiansen beat the second-period buzzer with yet another fall.
Junior Brandon Rubino, the Saints' state-ranked 112-pounder, turned his best second near-fall opportunity into reality with a pin late in the first period.
"When I go out there, I'm in the zone," Rubino said. "That's just the way I wrestle. I wanted to make it a quick match."
Rubino is one of the few athletes to defeat Logan Arlis the past two seasons, and the Bulldogs' standout continued his perfect season with a hard-fought 10-4 victory over the Saints' Alex Maynard at 119 pounds.
Arlis improved to 34-0 on the year but actually trailed after the first period.
Batavia increased its precarious lead to 23-18 with Arlis' win, but it was only fitting that Nick Ruffino earned a technical fall for the Saints to set the stage for the match of the night.
Charlie Ryan and Cody Crawford needed no introductions, and the athletes' four-year careers added a lively footnote at 130 pounds.
But Ryan, overcoming two injury delays, had two near falls to win 10-7.
"We were both aggressively going after it," Ryan said. "I was lucky that I pulled it out. I hurt my shoulder at the Batavia Tournament, and it has been bothering me ever since."
Tyler Patton had a 13-2 decision at 135 pounds to put Augie Watson in position to seal the match.
"We never actually trailed," Batavia coach Tom Arlis said. "St. Charles East was constantly battling back."
"It's pretty hard to win a dual meet when you win six matches (out of 14)," St. Charles East coach Steve Smerz said. "Every time we wrestle Batavia it's a good, hard dual meet. That's what makes you better."