Batavia bounces West Aurora
Two-hundred and 20 pounds was emblematic of the one-sided victory the Batavia wrestling team handed West Aurora.
Connor McKeehan was losing for virtually the entire match against West Aurora seasoned veteran Julian Lopez.
But the Bulldogs’ junior, trailing by 5 points, caught Lopez in a move and suddenly terminated the match in the last half-minute.
It was one of seven 6-point matches the Bulldogs chalked up during their 56-21 victory over West Aurora Saturday morning in Batavia.
“I am a big-time third-period wrestler,” McKeehan said. “It was not a very good match for me in the first two periods. I was lousy. I did what I needed to do for the team.”
Mitch Kruse and Michael Doranski then followed with back-to-back falls from Batavia at heavyweight and 106 pounds, respectively, ballooning the Bulldogs’ insurmountable lead to 56-12 in the process.
Joey Shump opened the schools’ annual dual, normally a quadrangular but reduced to a triangular, with an impressive 14-1 major decision at 120 pounds.
West Aurora (7-13) actually took a 6-4 team lead when AJ Ponce was awarded a forfeit at 126.
But it would prove to be terribly short-lived as Batavia (12-12) went on an unanswered rampage to seize control.
Charlie Smorczewski, Marc Goodin and Trevor Kilgallen all had falls in succession for Batavia between 138 and 152 pounds.
“We bounced back against West Aurora in a big way,” Batavia coach Scott Bayer said after Schaumburg secured a 42-32 victory in the opening match. “I was happy with how we ended our day. (West Aurora is) a better team than the score indicated.”
Batavia extended its scoring bonanza to 28 straight points when Nick Offutt won via forfeit at 170 pounds one match after the Bulldogs’ Jon Wagner won decisively, 14-2, at 160 pounds.
“I got in on a single-leg (takedown),” Wagner said. “I brought up my hand and caught him in an inside cradle. I wrestled all right (against Schaumburg in a 6-1 loss).”
West Aurora state hopeful Trevon Williams finally ended the Batavia carnage with a first-period fall at 182 pounds.
But Noah Frazier was even more impressive at 195 pounds; the sophomore needed only 19 seconds to put another six-spot on the board for Batavia.
Jonathan Doyle was a true bright spot for West Aurora.
The freshman 113-pounder continued his breakout campaign with a technical fall against Schaumburg during the Saxons’ 46-29 victory, and Doyle was finished in less than a minute with his first-period fall against Batavia.
“I was working on things that I have been working on all year,” Doyle said. “I never let up and was making all my shots. I had high expectations coming into the season. I have handled (being state-ranked) pretty well.”
In the only simple decision of the match, West Aurora 113-pounder Ethan Lesher accounted for the final team score with his 10-4 verdict over the Bulldogs’ Ryan Marsh.
“Batavia and Schaumburg both wrestled great,” West Aurora coach Mike DiNovo said.