VALPARAISO | Times No. 2 Portage began the new year with a bang Wednesday in a dual meet at No. 4 Valparaiso.
The Indians flexed their muscle in a dominating 42-18 win against the Duneland Athletic Conference foe Vikings, winning nine of the matches, including three by falls and one technical fall.
“Some kids wrestled hard, wrestled tough,” Portage coach Leroy Vega said. “There were a couple matches I thought we could’ve won but didn’t win.
“Overall, it’s nice to come back after the holidays and having to go out there and having to wrestle.”
Winning by pin were Gaige Torres (113), Louis Escobedo (120) and Travis Williams (220).
Vega was most impressed by Danny Roach who won by technical fall at 152.
“He’s starting to turn it on,” he said. “He’s a senior this year, and he works hard in the wrestling room and it’s showing on the mat. We tell the guys the hardest guy drilling is the one with the most takedowns, and he’s leading our team in takedowns. He’s always going forward and attacking.”
Vega said the match was a good springboard into to some upcoming tough matches before the DAC meet.
“Saturday, we wrestle against Crown Point, who beat us 29-28 a couple weeks ago,” he said. “After we wrestle them we wrestle LaPorte in a dual meet, and then we get ready for the conference meet. The season is going pretty fast.”
Several Valpo wrestlers were battling the flu bug and the team was missing a few spots, but coach Jim Smith didn’t want to make any excuses.
“We didn’t get it done,” he said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and work harder in practice.”
Derrick Suttles won by fall at 195 and Kyle Rafferty outlasted Aaron White 4-3 at 275 to lead the Vikings.
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