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St. Charles E. tops Geneva

Ryan Valesh has made the most of his opportunities for the St. Charles East wrestling team.

With Isaiah Vela, the Saints’ returning state medal-winner missing their Upstate Eight Conference River showdown against Geneva, Valesh earned 6 points with his second-period fall.

The pin began a run of 6 straight wins, translating into a 29-point unanswered run, and St. Charles East took command of the River Division with its 41-23 victory Thursday night in Geneva.

The Saints improved to 10-3 overall and flawless in the division at 5-0; St. Charles East has only Batavia left to derail its divisional aspirations.

Geneva, the defending River champion, fell to 8-9, 4-1.

“It all starts with the (pre-match) handshake — if he is going to come after you or be more passive,” Valesh said. “(You have to) keep grinding, keep grinding and eventually something good is going to happen.”

The fall gave St. Charles East the lead for good at 12-11, and state veteran Nick Ruffino had a technical fall at 138 pounds to extend the run to 11 points.

The pivotal moment then followed at 145 pounds.

St. Charles East freshman Ramon Lopez failed to score in the opening two periods, but his 5-point deficit to start the third evaporated in a heartbeat.

Lopez caught his foe in a compromised position and stunned the Geneva crowd with a fall 38 seconds into the period.

“It’s at least a 9-point (team) swing,” Geneva coach Tom Chernich said of the dramatic fall.

“All year I have been down in my matches,” Lopez said. “I felt like I was in the match, although the score didn’t show it.”

“Lopez might only be a freshman, but he’s never out a match,” St. Charles East coach Steve Smerz said.

Brad Kearbey pushed the run to four straight by scoring the only offensive points at 152 pounds midway through the third period on a takedown.

Cameron Carlson had a takedown, 2-point near-fall sequence late in the second period to score the final points in a 6-2 triumph over Geneva 160-pounder Mike Villanueva.

Ian Crawford borrowed the Lopez script by securing a third-period pin at 170 pounds after not scoring in the opening two periods.

“That’s what happened to us last year against Geneva,” Smerz said. “They had two pins in matches we were winning.”

Bobby Byker finally ended the Vikings’ drought with a reversal at the buzzer, and Jake Boser followed the home-team win at 182 with another close shave at 195.

Peter Banks’ pin two seconds before the final buzzer typified the night for St. Charles East, which also received a Ryan Rubino fall at 113 pounds.

Brad Martens’ technical fall was the Vikings’ centerpiece when the squad captured three of the opening matches to take an 11-6 lead.

“I thought it was going to be a much closer meet,” said Chernich, who was without three starters. “But they were missing starters, too. I think they’re the better team when we’re at full strength.”

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