St. Charles East routs short-handed Geneva
Elijah Chiaro seized his opportunity literally in the spotlight Thursday evening for the St. Charles East wrestling team.
With the remodeled Saints' gym completely darkened with the exception of the wrestling mat in a DuKane Conference dual meet with Geneva, Chiaro terminated his 160-pound match with 34 seconds remaining in the second period.
Four other St. Charles East athletes would have truncated matches with falls, and Geneva was forced to forfeit 30 additional points with five forfeits.
As a result, the Saints cruised to a 66-7 victory over the short-handed Vikings.
"I was the first one up," Chiaro said. "I just went out there and got after it. I was really happy to finish the turn off (my final takedown). It was a great way to kick off a dual for my team."
Five matches later, the Saints had an insurmountable 36-0 lead by scoring the maximum number of points as Frank Szymanski, Jalen Farmer and Brock Donati had consecutive falls between 195 pounds and heavyweight.
Gavin Tatar and Carter Maggio received automatic 6-point wins when Geneva could not field a competitor at 170 and 182 pounds.
Geneva (3-14, 0-4) received its only wins when Maguire Hoeksema and Dylan Schlegel recorded back-to-back wins, a major decision and simple decision, at 106 and 113 pounds.
The Saints (9-8, 3-1) were staring at a third straight loss at 120 pounds, only to have Max Sztuk snare victory from the jaws of defeat.
Trailing Geneva sophomore Nicky O'Keeffe by 4 points with the third-period clock almost exhausted, Sztuk had a reversal and 2-point near-fall to knot the match at 11-11.
The Saints' sophomore then won 35 seconds into overtime with a takedown.
"I was going into it not with the right mindset," Sztuk said. "I gave up a couple of points I should not have. I took some bad shots. I never give up in my match."
In a stern test between two seasoned veterans, Jake Penzato had two third-period takedowns to subdue the Vikings' lone returning state qualifier, Ian Huck, 11-6.
The Saints' only returning state qualifier, Peyton Schroeder, then had a fall in the last contested match at 138.
The Vikings' Hoeksema and Schlegel were the bright spots with their respective 15-6 and 9-3 victories.
"You have to blank (the team score) out," Hoeksema said. "You have to fight for your match and just worry about that. Yeah, I got tired at the end, but I just have to push harder than the other guy."
Schlegel never trailed after a takedown and 2-point near-fall sequence to begin his match at 113.
"It was hard-battling, a lot of conditioning," Schlegel said of the key. "I was trying to put my takedowns in the very beginning. He had a mis-shot where I was able to capitalize and punish him."