Glenbard North overwhelms Waubonsie Valley
Dominance at the lower to middle weights has long been an unmistakable linchpin of the powerhouse Glenbard North wrestling program.
Waubonsie Valley found out the hard way in the schools' first DuPage Valley Conference dual meet on Thursday in Carol Stream.
The programs met on a near-annual basis at the Panthers' quadrangular during the Warriors' years in the Upstate Eight Conference.
But it was all Glenbard North against Waubonsie Valley, which was further handicapped by the strength of its lineup - the upper weights - making a slow return from the Warriors' Class 8A football semifinal appearance.
Glenbard North had a quintet of pins and added a pair of forfeits in the upper weights to cruise to a 58-12 triumph.
Austin Gomez and Mike Milan are a formidable one-two punch for Glenbard North at 126 and 132 pounds, respectively.
The defending conference champions had back-to-back falls as part of a 33-point unanswered blitz for the Panthers.
The two make for ideal training partners.
"Austin and I practice together all the time," Milan said. "We work hard every day of the week. We practice hard every day."
Jesse Mateo started the Panthers' avalanche with a first-period pin at 106 points; Glenbard North (8-1, 2-0) would never trail again after the sophomore trumped the opening win of the night for Waubonsie Valley by senior heavyweight Tyler Caldwell.
Nick Caroscia followed with a whitewash for the Panthers at 113 pounds, and Abe Assad initiated the run of truncated matches at 10 pounds for Glenbard North.
Gomez, the defending Class 3A champion at 113 pounds, and Milan both extended their season-long winning streaks to 10 matches with their falls.
Michael Scalgione had the Warriors' first offensive points to earn a hard-fought win at 138 points, but Glenbard North was soon back in business as Anthony Marre had another quick win at 145.
The sophomore was wrestling with a heavily bandaged forehead.
"A mishap in gym," Scalgione joked. "Let's just put it that way. (The one-sided matches) come from working hard in the (practice) room. If we work hard in the room, it shows on the mat."
Brandon Fierro fell a point shy of winning by technical fall; Tommy Czernek then stretched the Panthers' cushion to 43-7 with a fall at 160 pounds.
The Warriors (0-2, 0-2) finally received some good news as junior Nick Sondag accounted for half their points with his pin at 170.
"I knew we were kind of outmatched in the dual," Sondag said. "I wasn't happy with the team results, but a fall is a fall. I was going to go out there and take it to them."
Jorge Rivera captured the final contested match with a thrilling 12-11 win at 195 pounds for Glenbard North.