Declan Sons knew he wanted to start off the dual for St. Charles East the right way.

Coming into his first match after the holiday break, the Saints’ junior knew that he needed to set the tone for his team in the 132-pound match against Batavia’s Kyle Pasco.

And while he initially went in looking to get some points, he found something even better.

“I got his leg and then I saw him reaching for my hands,” Sons said. “I saw the cradle was there so I took it. Got him on his hips and knew I could just pin him from there. It was a good match and got me excited.”

Sons earned a win by fall in just 55 seconds, while setting the tone for the Saints, who won 10 of the 13 matches to secure a 56-16 victory over the Bulldogs to remain perfect in DuKane Conference duals.

“We had a pretty good lab heading in and we wanted to make sure that this wasn’t a trap night,” Saints coach Jason Potter said. “We didn’t want to come out flat, and with Declan we knew that it could be competitive. But for him to come out and get us bonus points right off the bat, that’s something that we’re always searching for.”

Sons’ win by fall was one of eight bonus-point victories on the night for the Saints, and one of four straight to start off the dual. Liam Aye (138) and Gavin Woodmancy (150) also had wins via fall, while Jayden Hernandez (144) added a win by technical fall to give the Saints a 23-0 advantage off the bat.

“We know that our depth is in the middle there and those guys set the tone for the team,” Potter said. “It’s just a real confident spot in our lineup and especially when the postseason duals start up, we feel real confident there.”

It wasn’t the only streak of four straight matches of bonus points for the Saints. Cooper Murray (215) and Matt Medina (285) each had wins by fall, Maximus Aye (106) secured a 13-2 victory by major decision and Ohio State commit Dom Munaretto added a win by technical fall for the Saints’ final win of the night.

Isaac Lenard (157) and Ben Guzkiewicz (175) added wins by decision, while Will DiFatta (113) won by forfeit.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that are really good,” Sons said. “Our junior class is really good, and then you’ve got guys like Dom and Isaac adding with that. At the beginning of the year, you don’t really know what you’re gonna get from your team. You just try to focus on yourself, and then hope the team comes along and comes together. But our lineup is looking really strong right now, and we’re just hoping that we can all stay healthy.”

The dominance from the Saints to start the match proved to be too much for the Bulldogs to recover from.

“Obviously these guys are a tough opponent,” first-year Batavia coach Seth Winkle said. “I thought some of our guys battled and some of them came out flat. It’s always hard wrestling over break. I’d say we had a mixed bag, but we’ve just got to get back to work.”

The Bulldogs did manage three victories on the night, all of them counting for bonus points. Colin Peyton (165) had a 17-7 major decision for the Bulldogs’ first victory of the night, while both Jack Brown (190) and Ricky Alfaro (126) each had victories by fall.

“Colin wrestled a real good couple of periods, and he’s got all the talent in the world and can be as good as he wants to be,” Winkle said. “The same can be said for Jack, where when he decides to go and put in on a guy, he can. And Ricky, anytime you have a freshman get a win in a dual like that it’s something to be proud of, especially in the last match of the night.”