Young Fenton triumphant vs. ICCP, R-B
With eight sophomores and a freshman in its lineup, the Fenton wrestling team is a youthful group this winter.
But that hasn't stopped the Bison from getting off to a strong start in the Metro Suburban Conference.
Fenton improved to a perfect 4-0 in league dual meets after knocking off Riverside-Brookfield and IC Catholic Prep in a triangular match Thursday in Bensenville.
The home team defeated R-B 45-30 and ICCP 65-12.
"All of our guys wrestled well," Fenton coach Brian Hastings said. "They are wrestling a little more aggressively, wrestling a little tougher. It's nice to see. We just want to keep working hard and keep getting better and try to get good experience."
Against the Bulldogs the Bison received pins from David Burch at 145 pounds, Ramiro Bracamontes at 170 and Ricardo Saucedo at 220.
Daniel Ramirez won 24-8 at 152 pounds, Jeremy Piskorz emerged with a 5-1 decision at 138, Kevin Guevara had a 9-0 shutout at 160 and John Quinto notched a 13-8 decision at 106. Abraham Otero and Quinn Wilcoxen won via forfeit.
Ramirez also cruised to a 20-5 major decision against the Knights, while Guevara and Manuel Lozada recorded pins. ICCP forfeited eight other matches.
"Coach wanted us to wrestle really hard," Ramirez said. "We are a young team, a lot of the guys only have two years of experience. It was a bit of a rough start (to the season) for us, but we've been picking it up as our practices increase."
Missing as many as six starters from its lineup, ICCP had just five wrestlers compete in each match. The Knights lost state champion Joey Bianchini to graduation and had two other state qualifiers decide not to come out for the sport this season.
The Knights did win three times against R-B - Malachi Morris (160) and Ryan Kenneally (220) each had a pin and David Vargas (285) was victorious via forfeit.
"We tell the guys, we are unfazed," ICCP coach Kevin Sliva said. "We don't care about the team score as long as everyone is wrestling their hardest and improving and we are doing that. We are still a young team and we just want to be ready for when we are peaking in late January."
Vargas and Kenneally also had pins against Fenton. Vargas continued his excellence on the mat in improving to 12-1 on the season. Finishing fifth in Class 1A a year ago, the senior placed first at the recent Plano Invite.
"I'm just trying to improve every day," Vargas said. "We have a great coaching staff and I'm grateful they are willing to put in the time with me one-on-one. I always try to be confident in my matches and I also try to visualize my matches, what to do and what not to do.
"So far I'm happy but not satisfied with what I'm doing. I want to keep pushing and hopefully do well at the end of the season. I want to see how good I can get from now until the end of the year."