Benjamin, St. Charles East get last laugh at Lake Park

Justin Benjamin is the kind of kid who just likes to leave 'em smiling.

Benjamin, a 138-pound wrestler for St. Charles East, walked up to the scorers' table before his match Friday against Lake Park's Ryan Riser, checked in, then with a smile complimented one of the scorers on his mustache, eliciting more than a few laughs.

But on the mat Benjamin was all business. He scored three near falls in the first two periods en route to a technical fall in 5:44.

Mathematically, that won the meet for the Saints, who prevailed 59-18 to finish 7-0 in DuKane Conference duals.

"Coming into this dual today, I knew it was a conference meet so it was an important match for me to win," Benjamin said, "but I basically just wanted to have fun out there."

And his pre-match mustache remark?

"I just walked up to the head table, and his mustache just caught my attention and I just thought I should tell him I liked it," he said with a laugh.

It took the Saints less than an hour to dispose of the sturdy Lancers and improve to 25-4 in dual meets this season. Four of those wins came by forfeit, including three to start the meet, which gave St. Charles East a quick 18-0 lead.

The Saints never looked back, riding pins by David Gordon at 126, Peyton Schroeder at 132, Tommy Schroeder at 160 and Carter Maggio at 170. Tommy Schroeder and Maggio's pins were both done in 1:06, an odd coincidence.

Getting spotted 18 points to start a conference dual might seem like an advantage, but not to St. Charles East coach Jason Potter.

"I know they are a little banged up; so are we," Potter said. "We've been giving a few weights up all year long. I know their pain, It's hard to spot a team, especially a competitive team, (points), but the meat of my lineup is the bottom through the middle.

"We just go out and try to win the matches in front of us."

Lake Park is learning the ropes of a new conference under first-year coach Ryan Ferguson, a 1992 graduate of the school.

Even though Friday didn't go as planned, he's got a young team, so the future is bright. Case in point: Sophomore Shane Piper, who barely got off to a 2-0 lead over Gavin Tatar before pinning him in 1:35.

"For the most part we're a group of freshmen and sophomores," Ferguson said. "It's great long-term, but there will be struggles short-term, so you just have to kind of roll with it.

"Shane, like many of our guys, is really coming along strong. He's starting to buy in to what we're trying to teach, our philosophy. We're starting to see major improvements with him. He's a wrestler."

But Lake Park has some experience, too. Senior DeMarco Lee jumped out to a 5-0 lead before pinning Xander Song in 3:07.

"My strategy is always going to be energy conservation," Lee said. "He was definitely stronger than me, but he kept driving his pressure into me, so I turned that around on him."