Sunday, January 14, 2018

Naperville Central wins the 20 team Marty Williams Invitational

January 13, 2018

Naperville Central won the 20 team Marty Williams Invitational held at Mahomet-Seymour high School.  The Redhawks won the event by 145 team points.  It was the 4th year in a row for Central bringing home the top trophy.  There were 18 competitors that wrestled for the Redhawks and all placed 10th or better.  NCHS had three champions and one runner-up.  Central won 12 of the place matches.

  1. Naperville Central 617
  2. Mahomet-Seymour 472
  3. Metamora 409
  4. Rochelle 377
  5. Belleville West 373
  6. Normal West 371
  7. Mattoon 342
  8. Mt. Zion 313.5
  9. Byron 309.5
  10. St. Laurence 301.5
  11. Champaign Centennial 292
  12. Richland 289.5
  13. Manteno 247.5
  14. Bishop McNamara 240
  15. Pontiac 215
  16. Riverton 211
  17. Peoria Notre Dame 196
  18. Champaign Central 151
  19. Rantoul 147
  20. Decatur Eisenhower 116


The tournament started with each wrestler in pool competition followed by bracket competition.  The pool competition determined which bracket a wrestler qualified.  Central finished with a record of 27-8 in pool competition and 31-15 in bracket competition.

Senior Nick Keating was crowned tournament champion at 145 pounds.  Keating used a last second takedown in his finals match to defeat Villabos of Rochelle by a score of 5-4.  Fellow Senior Derek McDaniel won the gold medal at 160 pounds.  He locked down a 5-2 decision against Morgan of Mahomet-Seymour.  Junior Jackson Punzel came from behind to win a title at 182 pounds.  Punzel, down 5-6, scored a takedown and near-fall points in the final 20 seconds to win 9-6.

Tyler Driessens scored a couple of falls to qualify for the finals at 106 pounds.  He lost by a score of 3-9 to finish in 2nd place.  Unseeded sophomore Leo Keating entered the tournament as a non-scorer but won 4 of 5 matches to finish in 3rd place.  A pair of mid-heavyweights also took the bronze for the Redhawks.  Ben Cianchetti finished 4-1 with three pins at 220 pounds while Angelo Eklou had a pair of pins himself at 195 pounds.

Colin Baumgartner competed very well at 113 pounds.  He lost a couple of heart-breakers, 7-9 in the semifinals and a 9-10 overtime loss for 3rd.  Still Baumgartner came away with a 3-2 record with a couple of falls.

Elrin Esporlas took 5th place, Anthony Peldolino and Fabricio Navarro took 6th, Ryan Silva and Cameron Palmer took 7th, Ryan Chitwood, Matt Kaszuba, and Sean King took 9th, Tariz Sikander and Carson Enfield took 10th.

Naperville Central put together a freshman/sophomore team and competed at the Oswego F/S dual tournament on Saturday.  The Hawks finished in 7th place.  Austin Nesci and Bryce Cooperkawa both won three matches at the event.

Next up the Redhawks will compete in DVC action.  On Thursday the Hawks will host Lake Park for the final home event for the year and also Senior Night.  On Friday the Hawks will travel to Wheaton North.  Both events have JV competition starting at 5:30 with varsity starting around 6:30.  Seniors and their parents will be recognized between the JV and varsity events on Thursday.

On Saturday, January 20 Naperville Central will compete in the DVC JV1 and JV2 tournaments.  The JV1 event will be held at Lake Park High School while the JV2 event will take place at Glenbard North High School.  Action starts at 9:00am.  Central will send a team to Libertyville for a wrestling jamboree.  The varsity will have Saturday off this week and will focus on their DVC efforts for next week.


GO REDHAWKS!