Dundee-Crown handles Burlington Central
Burlington Central faced an uphill climb right at the start of its Fox Valley Conference dual meet with Dundee-Crown Thursday night on Rocket Hill.
Due to four forfeits, the Rockets trailed 24-0 before a single match had been completed.
The Chargers did not make it any easier. D-C won six of the 10 contests - three by pins and one by a technical fall to win the meet, 54-24.
"We started a slow but the guys are starting to click," D-C coach Tim Hayes said. "Our upperclassmen have been doing their job. They are starting to fall in the right weight classes."
"We are a little depleted right now with injuries and grade issues," said Central coach Ashton Brown. "We are facing teams with 14 kids on any given day and Dundee-Crown has one of the best reputations in the Fox Valley."
Central won all four of its matches by pins.
Justin Genez won the first competitive match, pinning D-C's Tom Tayler at the 1:45 mark of the 106 pound contest.
D-C (4-3, 2-1) won the next three contests. Uriel Lopez took the 113 pound match by technical fall, winning by a 17-2 margin.
Teammates Matthew Impastato (126) and Amairie Jones (132) followed with two falls, both in the first period.
Central (0-7, 0-3) took the 138 and 145 matches by pins, also in the first frame. Gavin Underhill won the 138 competition and Nathan Kim took the 145 match.
"Nathan Kim and Gavin Underhill are setting great examples for our guys in the practice room," Brown said. "We saw in these matches that they don't stop. They are not always the first one to score but they certainly give it six minutes. And they do everything they can to make sure they get their hand raised."
Central's Greyson Gardner and Charger Joahan Cruz battled in the most contested match of the evening. Neither side scored in the first two periods of the 152-pound competition. Cruz scored five points in the last frame on a reversal and a near fall to win, 5-0.
"It was a good match. Cruz wrestles well," Hayes said. "He ended up getting a reversal and put the kid on his back. I thought he had the fall a few times but it doesn't always go that way."
D-C's Victor Rivas notched the final Charger fall of the match, pinning Aiden Pfeiffer at the 5:30 mark of the 170 pound contest.
Noah Ross, Central's 195 pounder, won his match by pinning Damian Sandoval with 51.6 seconds left in the contest.
D-C's Dominick Poremba earned a major decision at 160 pounds, winning 14-0.
"It was a good team effort," said Hayes. "Even our guys who lost, took challenges."