Maine East rolls over Maine West
Baltazar Cabrales and his Maine East wrestling teammates thrilled a big Family Appreciation Night crowd in Park Ridge Thursday night with a 69-18 win over crosstown rival Maine West.
The Blue Demons (12-10-0, 3-2-0 Central Suburban North) recorded five pins, and used another five forfeits from their injury-plagued opponents to finish above .500 in CSL North action, much to the delight of Cabrales and his head coach Austin Bautista.
"This is a great way for our seniors to go out, and just a great night before all of the Demons' wrestling families as well," said Cabrales, now 24-6 on the year after his pin at 152 pounds.
"Coach (Bautista) has come in and changed the culture of Maine East wrestling. He works hard, is always there for us in the early morning to get in extra work, and with so many young guys on our roster, the future is looking really bright," added the Demons' star, who hopes to go into criminal justice in college.
"This Family Appreciation Night means a lot to all of us. It's a night. when we can recognize each and every wrestler in our program (boys and girls) and their families because it's with their support that our student-athletes can come out here and compete, and do the same in the classroom as well," said a proud Batista, who starred at Maine East, and later at UW-Whitewater, where he was a three-time D-III national qualifier with 136 career victories.
The home side would go out to a 12-0 advantage before the Warriors (1-4-0) would get back even following well-executed pins from both Rahil Sadruddin (170, 12-8) and Jack Roback (182, 18-7) but the combination of pins and forfeits were too much for the visitors, who soon found themselves chasing a huge deficit.
"It's been a tough season in that we have never been at full strength due to injuries we've suffered, but credit this group because they go out and fight, compete with a lot of energy and pride, then come back into the room and give 110 percent the next day," said Warriors coach Chris Brassell.
"There are times our youth and inexperience show just as it did tonight, but this is a fantastic bunch of guys to be around, and with a little bit of luck, we'll get a few more back for conference and regionals, then see what happens."
Claudio Castellanos gave the Warriors six points with his pin at 132, while the Demons' quartet of Armand Graham (113), Angel Villegas (145), Martin Oshana (195) and Kevin Wingate (285, 10-3) did the same.
Wingate was runner-up last weekend at the Conrad Invite at Leyden.
Maine East will host the CSL conference tournament on Saturday, January 25.