January 25, 2020
- DeKalb 261.5
- Naperville Central 246
- Naperville North 160
- Neuqua Valley
- Waubonsie Valley
- Metea Valley
Naperville Central crowned five champions at the 2020 DuPage
Valley Conference Tournament held at Naperville North High School. The team took second place to DeKalb by 15.5
team points. DeKalb is currently ranked
3rd in the state by IWCOA rankings.
The Redhawks won 24 matches in the event while losing only 10. All 14 Hawks won at least one match. Central had nine wrestlers reach the finals,
winning five and the remaining five wrestlers competed for 3rd place
with four taking the bronze. DeKalb and
NCHS won 12 of the 14 weight classes.
Senior Captain Tyler Driessens (120) led the way for the
Redhawks, winning both of his matches by fall.
He becomes a conference champion for the second time. Driessens pinned Clark of NN in the
finals. Driessens win in the finals was
his 100th varsity win in a Redhawk singlet. Quite a milestone for the captain. Senior Angelo Eklou brought home gold at
220. He won 11-5 in the semifinals and
defeated LeBreck of NV by fall for gold.
Senior Captain Ryan Silva (145) did not give up an offensive point in
route to his championship. Silva won
16-3 in the semifinals and defeated Takana of NN for the blue ribbon in the
finals. Newly ranked junior Shane Roth
(170) wrestled impressively winning by fall in the semis before upending Yu of
NN in the finals by a score of 13-5.
Freshman Ethan Olson, wrestling at 106 pounds, received a free pass to
the finals where he pinned Lopez of DeKalb for his trip to the top of the podium.
For additional Redhawks won in the semifinals and competed
for a championship, taking 2nd place. Senior Elrin Esporlas (138) advanced to the
finals with a 6-2 victory before losing to Boumans of NV 0-5. Senior Sean King (160) came from behind with a
fall in the semifinals before dropping to Gillum of DeKalb 0-8. A pair of Redhawk sophomores, Tommy Porter and
Ayden Lutes, both earned a silver medal wrestling at 113 and 145
respectively. Both Porter and Lutes
competed against highly ranked wrestlers and both scored the opening
takedown. Porter defeated Spatafora, NV
7-3 in the semifinals before losing to Arranda of DeKalb for the second time
this year. Porter reached the 30-win
mark with his victory, his second time reaching that achievement in as many
years. Lutes scored a quick double leg
takedown against the state champ before losing 12-27 to Lopez of DeKalb. Lutes defeated Newton, NN 8-5 in the semifinals.
Senior Tariq Sikander and junior Austin Longmire both took 3rd
place, both with falls at 182 and 195 respectively. Sikander won two matches by fall in the
consolation bracket, the 3rd place match to Zirin, NN. Longmire also won two matches by pin. His 3rd place stick was against
Zdenovec, WV. Senior Bryce Cooperkawa
was one of only two Redhawks to wrestle four matches in the conference
tournament. The 132 pounder won three
including a 17-1 technical fall in the place match against Murphy, NV. Junior Ethan Jones, 126, finished 2-2 on the
day, taking 4th place. Jones
won 7-2 in the preliminaries and won by fall against Sullivan, WV in the consolation
semifinals.
Next weekend it’s the junior varsity’s turn to compete for
conference gold. The combined JV1 and
JV2 tournaments will be competed simultaneously at Naperville Central’s
fieldhouse on Saturday, February 1st. The varsity will next wrestle in the IHSA
Regionals at Marmion High School on Saturday, February 8th. The top three placewinners at the Regionals
in each weight class will qualify for the IHSA Sectionals the following weekend
with a chance to then qualify for the state tournament the weekend after
that. Additionally, the team winner of
the IHSA Regionals then qualifies for the IHSA Dual Sectional which will be
held on February 25th.
GO REDHAWKS!