Six pins help carry Dundee-Crown past Cary-Grove
Pin, pin, pin. Win, win, win
That has been the motto for the Dundee-Crown wrestling program for many years.
Aided by 6 pins, the Chargers moved to 6-0 overall and 1-0 in the Fox Valley Conference with a 48-21 win over Cary-Grove in the FVC opener for both teams in Carpentersville Thursday night.
"We were more experienced," said Dundee-Crown coach Al Zinke, now just 15 wins shy of 500 for his career. "That is why we were able to win. We are missing four starters. So, we aren't where we want to be yet. We have a lot of work to do."
Dundee-Crown senior Ryan Horcher registered the quickest pin for the Chargers. The 152-pounder pinned Cary-Grove's Jake Gerhardt in 37 seconds.
"My game plan is to go after it," said Horcher. "In the first couple seconds, I try to size things up and then I attack. Most of the kids I wrestle are bigger than me so I have to use my quickness and be faster than my opponent."
Other Chargers compiling pins were Cody Muscat (130, 41 seconds), Jeremy Lee (125, 1:43), Austin Tanner (140, 1:24), Chris Rust (145, 3:42) and Jonathan Blume (189, 4:53).
The best match of the night came in the 215 encounter between Dundee-Crown's Mike Lukowski and Cary-Grove's Paul Rands. Lukowski outlasted Rands, 5-1.
"It was a great match between two warriors," said Zinke. "Both are not only very good wrestlers, but excellent kids. It was a great match to watch. Mike always wants to be challenged and he excepted the challenge tonight. Paul Rands is also a very good wrestler."
Also for the Chargers, Niko Villanueva (103) won by decision while Jeremy Hanley (112) won by forfeit.
Cary-Grove 285-pounder Rudy Egler was the Trojans top wrestler. Egler registered the Trojans' only pin of the evening, pinning D-C's Ronny Dumas In 1:48.
"Rudy shows what hard work can do," said Cary-Grove coach Dan Cyszewski. "Usually hard work in practice equates to good effort in matches. Rudy really wrestled well tonight."
Alex Hargrove (119), Josh Nelson (135) and Jake Stewart (160) won by decision for the Trojans (0-2, 0-1) while Mike Loschiavo (171) won by forfeit.
"Boy, Dundee-Crown is always tough," said Cyszewski. "They have a great program. It was an exciting match and I am proud of the kids. We brought a lot of energy tonight. If we bring that much energy to all our matches we will be successful."