1/6/2024
- NCHS 61 - South Elgin 18
- NCHS 46 - Downers Grove North 3
Naperville Central finished off a busy week of wrestling with two more dual victories, one against South Elgin and the other against hosts Downers Grove North. The two wins improves the Redhawk record to 18-6 on the season with just one more dual contest left in the regular season.
Central won eight of eleven matches versus South Elgin. Jacob Cochran (113), CJ Bierman (138), Hagan Taylor (144), Henry Rydwelski (175), Niko Besteiro (215) and William Erbeck (285) all won by fall. Vince Bern (132) was a winner by major decision 15-5. John Carens won by decision 12-8.
Next up the Redhawks faced off with the Trojans of Downers Grove North. Ty Martin (120) started off with a solid 9-5 decision over Vela of DGN. Martin is now 18-8 on the season and leads the team in technical falls. Mitchell Kaszuba (126) followed with a 10-1 major decision over Mongello for his 20th varsity win of the season. Kaszuba now 20-5. Vince Bern (132) continues to show improvement, winning by decision 7-4. Bern, 16-12, cruises to the hand-raiser over Cummings after scoring two takedowns in the first period by a score of 7-4. Next up CJ Bierman (138) scored takedowns in each of all three periods to get a major decision 14-3 against Chiarelli.
Senior veteran Hagan Taylor (144) pinned Kelly in the second period over Kelly. That win improves Taylor to 21-6 and increases his team lead in pins to 17. Yusuf Sikander (150) earned his third varsity win with a hard-fought 15-10 decision against Manzo. Sikander scored four takedowns and a three-point nearfall in the opening frame and held on from there. Senior multi year starter Chris Bern (157) battled to a 6-3 decision to Schaefer to cap off a successful week. Bern’s scoresheet shows three takedowns for his total, one scored in each period. Bern holds a record of 19-7 and is second on the team with 53 total takedowns.
Upstart sophomore Paul Peradotti (165) earned his first ever varsity win of his career with a 10-3 decision over John LaSota. Peradotti impressed the fans scoring four takedowns in the match. Henry Rydwelski was the ninth Redhawk wrestler in a row to win in the dual. The 175 pounder won 5-1 verses Nicholson and improved to 20-9 for the 2023-24 season. Rydwelski leads the team in takedowns with 66 and major decisions (6). Luci Antonietti (190), who was credited with a win by forfeit in the previous dual, fell short of earning his first true varsity win, losing 0-5 to Lewis of DGN, but Antonietti went the distance for the Hawks.
Niko Besteiro (215) continued his hot streak with a second period fall over Davis. Red hot Besteiro is now 19-3 this season. Season win-leader William Erbeck (285) had to come from behind to win 6-3 over Rodriguez his his match. Erbeck scored a reversal in the second period and added nearfall points in the third. He owns a sparkling 27-2 record and is second on the team in the pin category with 15.
Young Dalton Meluch (106) earn his first ever varsity victory, but is wasn’t easy. Meluch defeated Logan Loftus by a score of 11-8. Meluch opened with a takedown, but Loftus escaped and got a takedown to move ahead 2-3 after one. Meluch picked bottom to start the second and took the lead after scoring a reversal. Loftus came back with a reversal of his own to retake the lead 4-5. An Meluch escape tied the score and a takedown put Meluch ahead 7-5 moving to the third period. Loftus picked down and closed within one after getting an escape. Meluch answered with another takedown to take control of the match 9-6. The Trojan escaped to make a match of it, but Meluch put the match away with yet another takedown, his fourth of the match. Loftus escaped, but it wasn’t enough. Jacob Cochran (113) took a 1-0 lead into the third period of his match against Tiangco and added a reversal and a penalty point to win 4-0 in the final match of the dual. Cochran is second on the team in wins with 22.
The Naperville Central JV1 team was off this weekend.
Naperville Central Wins JV2 Tournament
Naperville Central put together two JV2 teams, Team Red and Team White to compete at the annual NCHS JV2 Invitational at home. The Red team won the nine-team event with 209 points. Naperville North took second with 16.5 points and Oswego took 3rd with 122. The NCHS White team scored 81 points and took 7th. Caelon Young won the 157 pound weight class. A plethora of Redhawks made the finals and took second including Justin Rodriguez (106), Kai DiClemente (113), Landon Lucero (120), Tony Coclanes (126), Oscar Binkowski (138), Zaide Azar (150), Nick Zbylut (175), and Nate Sadowski (215). Taking third were Henry Erives (106), Jackson Bell (113), Jack Sjordal (120). Austin Schiltz (138) Mark Klavohn (144), Nithilan Gandhi (190), and Sean FitzGerald (285). Fourth place finishers were Gibson Berkowitz (106), Daniel Liaw (120), Connor DeBora (126), Qais Azar (144) and Eli Mallory (157). Finishing fifth include Evan Horn (106), George Sbarboro (126), and Jayden Davis (215).
Naperville Central Freshman Defeat Morton
Meanwhile the NCHS Freshman team traveled to Morton for a dual and the Redhawks won by a score of 66-6. Central won 18 matches against only three losses, all 18 matches won by the Redhawks were by fall.