Naperville Central defeats Maine West 40-24
February 21, 2012
The Naperville Central, 11-10, wrestling team has qualified for the IHSA Dual State Tournament by defeating Maine West 40-24. The dual was held at West Aurora. The top eight teams in the state will meet in Bloomington on Saturday, February 25. This is only the second time in school history that NCHS has qualified for state, the last time being 2009.
The dual started at 182 pounds. Luke Roth scored 6 takedowns including three in the final period to win by a major decision 13-4. Ryan Berg followed at 195 pounds and put up 6 takedowns of his own to win by a major decision 13-4.
Maine West countered with wins at 220 and 285. Vince Piazza battled six minutes by lost by a major decision 5-15 and Joe Saleh stepped into the line-up but was pinned in the first period. Maine West held a 8-10 dual team lead.
Central fired back with five straight wins. Derek Wilke won a key match at 106 pounds defeating Sunny of MW by a score of 12-4. Mitch Lee won a rematch from sectional with a 8-2 win at 113. Steven Splan scored a fall at 120 pounds and Ben Williamson locked down a fall at 126 pounds. The freshman won his 30th match for the season. At 132 pounds, Kirk Cherep battled Gratz to a 3-3 tie through regulation. Neither wrestler scored a takedown in overtime and both wrestlers rode out in the 30 second double overtime periods. Choosing top, Cherep held on in sudden victory and won by not allowing an escape. The 4-3 decision saw the team score bump up to 30-13 with Maine West's top wrestlers coming up.
At 138 Andrew Meder scored a takedown in the third period. The score helped to hold Korbecki of Maine West to only a decision 3-9. Hunter Stephens faced state qualifier Zayas and lost by a technical fall 2-18. Trace Murry was pinned in the second period at 152 pounds. The three win by Maine South closed the team score gap to 30-24. Naperville Central needed just a win in the final two bouts to ice the dual.
That win was delivered by captain Tom Mitrenga at 160 pounds. Mitrenga sxored a takedown early in the match and used a bar-arm to turn Vogal to his back. Just 1:03 into the match, the official slapped the mat signaling the fall and sending the Redhawks to state.
After a short celebration, Kyle Klass fought for five takedowns and won by major decision 12-4. The five takedowns put Kyle at 95 total for the year. The win gave the Redhawks four more team points to make the final score 40-24. Central scored nine wins out of the 14 weight classes.
Naperville Central will face Barrington in the elite eight on Saturday, February 25 at Bloomington. The dual will begin at 9:00 am. The winning team will advance to the state semifinals and will earn a state trophy. Semifinals, third and championship duals will be held later in the day on Saturday. No wrestling team from NCHS has advanced to the semifinals.
Naperville Central will hold it's awards banquet on Monday, February 27th at the school cafeteria at 6:30.
GO REDHAWKS!