WW South knocks off Naperville North

The Wheaton Warrenville South wrestling team made the most of its regular-season finale by beating host Naperville North 40-21 on Thursday night.

However, both squads took away positives as the postseason fast approaches. The DuPage Valley Conference meet is Jan. 27 at Metea Valley.

"They have continued to get better over the course of the season," said Tigers coach Matt Janosek. "The guys are wrestling tough. There's work to be done, but they're putting in a good effort."

WW South held its ground after the Huskies, on their senior night, rallied. The Tigers were lead leading 26-12 when Naperville North's Walter Johnson won by fall at 113 pounds and teammate Ben Kruk at 120 prevailed by decision to pull their team to within 26-21.

Enter WW South's Dominic Duve at 126 pounds, who earned a fall at 3:40.

Janosek said that in a situation such as that, he doesn't tell his wrestlers to focus on the current score.

"I want them to focus on the match, but we talk about getting bonus points. Dominic's victory was huge considering the two prior matches. It stopped their momentum," Janosek said.

Micah Burgess then won by technical fall at 132 and Andrew Janiec racked up a decision at 138 to put the finishing touches on WW South's victory.

The rest of the Tigers' victory list included Aideu Waszak at 106 (decision), Peyton Berry at 145 (major decision), Nate Dolan at 152 (decision), Max Wilson at 195 (major decision), Ramiro Ferrer at 220 (fall) and John Cooper at 285 (forfeit).

After a trip to Waubonsie Valley on Friday, Naperville North's focus will turn to the DVC meet. Coach Tom Champion is stressing to his team that all members participating in the postseason will start at 0-0.

"Next week our training will have the freshmen, sophomores and juniors preparing for this postseason and next season. I want the seniors to be mentally all in. This is it for them," he said.

Johnson earned his fall at 4:28.

"There was a scramble. I was on the bottom and I was trying to get out," Johnson said. "I caught him in a headlock and I just held it."

Champion held a team meeting during an intermission in the meet where the Naperville North varsity cheerleaders performed. The meet started at 145 and the 106 bout took place after intermission. The Huskies were trailing 23-12.

"He said the lighter weights had to step up," Johnson said.

Also earning victories for Naperville North were Drake McIntyre at 160 (fall), Gabe Matar at 170 (decision) and John Simmelink at 182 (decision).

Kruk and Matar are both honorable mention selections in their respective weight classes in the illinoismatmen.com rankings.