Wheaton North pins Batavia

It was Senior Night for the Wheaton North wrestling team Friday, and the team's four-year men wanted to leave no doubt about their legacy.

Mission accomplished.

Four of the five Falcon seniors won their matches, three by way of the pin, en route to a 46-25 DuKane Conference victory over Batavia. In all, Wheaton North recorded 6 pins to improve its record to 5-2 in league and 14-15 overall.

"What this program means to me is family," said senior heavyweight Kameron Vine, who pinned Batavia's Steven Weirich in 1:11 in the meet's second match. "With them here, I've kind of built this family."

Added 170-pounder Nathan Love, who pinned the Bulldogs' Anthony Bradley in 2:26 after taking a 7-0 lead: "We're all pretty close. A lot of wrested together as a little kids, in the Little Falcons."

Wheaton North's other pin-recording senior was Moises Sanchez, who did the job in 1:18 against Tanner Oakes.

But the underclassmen were no slouches. Sam Lemp raced out to an 8-0 lead before pinning Batavia's Geremy Lewis. Logan Balosky went ahead 5-0 over the Bulldogs' Mark Romero before pinning him in 1:53. And it only took 1:42 for Paul Murphy-Hoff to pin Noah Ajazi.

"Tonight, we gave up six pins - you can't do that," Batavia coach Scott Bayer said. "You simply can't."

The Bulldogs were led by freshman Cael Andrews at 113, who jumped out to an 8-0 and nearly pinned Wheaton North's Viktor Castro as time expired in the second period. He ended up winning 10-0, which gave his team a 10-9 lead at the time. It was his 30th victory of the season.

"I really went out there expecting to win and that's what happened," Andrews said. "I went out there attacking and I knew I could do it."

Also winning for Batavia was junior Mikey Caliendo at 152, who jumped out to an 8-0 lead before pinning Wheaton North senior Peyton Lomenick in 1:15.

There was plenty of drama. At 138 pounds, senior Nick Lemp slipped past Batavia's Riley Woods 2-0 to increase the Falcons' lead to 30-10 after 8 matches, which was all the scoring they would need. He said there was a definite game plan Friday, and it had less to do with X's and O's than it did with something else entirely.

"We tried to go out, bang it in their head," Lemp said. "It's really all a mental game. You have to be mentally strong. You have to be mentally strong and go out there and work your offense and wrestle hard."

Lemp's coach, Kevin Formanski, is in his first year at the helm, and though he hasn't known the seniors for long, he appreciates their contributions.

"We have 11 seniors, and I think of the 11, maybe 9 of them have been four-year Wheaton North wrestlers," Formanski said. "They've committed to the program. We never skip a beat with kids like that. They are great role models and great examples."