Wheaton North keeps pace in DVC
Despite dropping a dual meet to Glenbard North last month, defending DuPage Valley Conference champion Wheaton North is not about to hand the league title over to the Panthers.
The Falcons have not dropped a conference dual since that 30-21 setback before Christmas, and on Thursday they claimed the final 13 bouts in a 69-3 defeat of Waubonsie Valley in Aurora.
The Warriors' talented senior Lucas Bratland won 18-12 at 145 pounds to notch his 24th win and put the home team ahead 3-0. But Wheaton North (18-5, 6-1) responded with four straight pins en route to winning the next 13 weight classes on the way to the lopsided victory.
"I thought we wrestled really well except for a match here or there that we could've have done a little better in," said Falcons 126-pounder Jaime Suarez, who recorded one of the team's six pins. "I think we're ready for conference."
Suarez, a two-time state qualifier who improved to 27-4 on the year with his 12th pin, thinks Wheaton North was a little intimidated in that early-season dual with Glenbard North and has made big strides since.
"I don't think we were really ready yet and (some teammates) were a little scared of the name Glenbard North," he said. "But the past tournaments that they've been in and we've been in, we've placed higher."
The Falcons, who have one final DVC test Friday against Naperville Central, also picked up pins against the Warriors from Quinlan Nelson (152 pounds), Jeff Dowell (160), Collin Rosenberg (170), Natan Jara (182) and Tyler Podnar (132). They'll head into the DVC meet at Metea Valley the following week as a co-favorite along with Glenbard North.
"We knew coming in that they were probably the team to beat right now (in DVC)," Warriors coach Brad Caldwell said after his young team fell to Wheaton North. "Them and Glenbard North are neck and neck. It should be a lot of fun next week watching them compete for it."
Despite what the scoreboard read, Wheaton North coach Travis Cherry felt his team was not at its very best.
"I thought we came out kind of flat," he said. "I know the score doesn't reflect how I feel right now. I thought we could have done better. I thought we had some opportunities to score points and we didn't."
That said, he couldn't complain too much about a 69-3 conference win that featured six wins by fall.
"Yeah, they wrestled well. They wrestled well," Cherry said. "We have a pretty tough schedule. We kind of settled a little but tonight and I hope we wrestle a little better tomorrow night."
Bratland's win was not the lone highlight for the Warriors. Waubonsie Valley honored Steve Skorup - a freshman coach this season - who has coached for more than three decades, including 25 years in District 204. There was a presentation for Skorup on and a number of former wrestlers were on hand.