Monday, January 1, 2018

Naperville Central finishes in 7th place at 32 Team Don Flavin DeKalb Dual Invitational

NCHS finished 3-3 in Duals

Opening Day Bracket Friday, December 29, 2017
NCHS 58 – Harlem 9
NCHS 31 – Moline 30
NCHS 8 – DeKalb 43

Gold Pool, Friday, December 30, 2017
NCHS 33 – St. Charles East 34
NCHS 28 – Prospect 43
NCHS 37 –  Glenbard East 24


Naperville Central (12-6, 2-2 DVC) finished in 7th place at the 32 team Don Flavin Invitational.  On day 1, Friday, December 29 Central competed in bracket three, an 8-team bracket, to determine the pool for day two.  Central opened with a 58-9 win against Harlem.  Central won 8 of 11 contested matches and picked up an additional three wins by forfeit.

In the semifinals, NCHS battled Moline to the last match.  The dual saw three lead changes and three ties.  Tariq Sikander lost a decision but then Central won three of the next four matches (wins by Palmer, Punzel and Cianchetti) to take the lead 18-6.  Moline won the next three matches to take a 18-21 lead.  Colin Baumgartner squeezed out a 9-8 decision to tie the team score at 21.  Moline won by fall at 126 but the Hawks won the next three matches with Silva winning 3-0, Navarro winning on sudden victory overtime win 8-6 and Nick Keating pulling out a 9-7 decision.  Those wins put Central up 30-27.  Derek McDaniel dropped a heartbreaker at 152 ending the dual at 30-30.  Central won by tie breaker criteria H, most first match points scored (14-11).

The win put the Redhawks in the finals of Bracket B where they faced the host team DeKalb.  The Barbs, eventual team champions defeated the Hawks 8-43.  Central did have some individual winners in the contest: Jackson Punzel, Colin Baumgartner, and Nick Keating.

Second place in the bracket put Naperville Central in the Gold pool on the second day of competition on December 30.  In the first contest, NCHS got a rematch with St. Charles East.  St. Charles defeated Central 28-39 on December 2 at the Megaduals.  This time the dual was much closer.  The Redhawks won the first three matches with Jackson Punzel winning by fall, Carson Einfield winning by decision 5-4 and Ben Cianchetti winning 11-4.  But St. Charles East won the next four matches and Central had to play catch-up the rest of the way.  With the team score 12-19, Elrin Esporlas won by fall to pull within 1.  The Saints answered with a technical fall.  Fabricio Navarro won by decision, but the Saints scored a major decision to go up by 7 team points.  St. Charles forfeited to Derek McDaniel and after the two teams traded pins, Central lost by one, 33-34.

Dual two wasn’t as close as Prospect handed Central a 28-43 defeat.  Central winners were Ben Cianchetti, Tyler Driessens, Colin Baumgartner, Nick Keating, Derek McDaniel, and Jackson Punzel.

The final contest of the tournament pitted two old foes, Central vs. Glenbard East.  The Redhawks won 9 of the 14 matches.  Ben Cianchetti stared the dual with an 8-2 win.  Tyler Driessens and Ryan Chitwood won by fall and major decision respectively.  Ryan Silva scored a 4-1 win, Fabricio Navarro won 12-8, Nick Keating won 3-1, Derek McDaniel and Cameron Palmer earned two falls and Jackson Punzel finished with a 3-0 win.

Jackson Punzel completed the tournament undefeated 6-0 with 4 pins.  Ben Cianchetti won five matches, 2 pins, 2 decisions, and a forfeit.  Cameron Palmer finished 4-2 and all four wins were by pin.  Nick Keating, Fabricio Navarro, Derek McDaniel and Colin Baumgartner all picked up four wins.  All three wins by Tyler Driessens were by fall.  Ryan Silva finished with a winning record 3-2.

On Friday the Naperville Central JV team took 2nd place at the 12 team Libertyville Tournament.  Out of the 15 participants, 10 finished in the top 3 of their weight class.  On Saturday the Naperville Central freshman team competed at the Hinsdale South tournament.  Alex SanFilippo took 2nd place, Alex Knusel and Ethan Jones both took 3rd.  Jonah Boykin and Mason Cooperkawa took 4th.

Next up the Redhawks will face sister school Naperville North at home on Thursday, January 5.  Then NCHS will travel to Wheaton Warrenville South for another DVC contest on Friday.  Saturday the varsity will travel to Downers Grove North for a quad while the JV team will compete at the Bolingbrook tournament and the JV2 (including many freshman) will wrestle at home at our annual JV2 tournament.


Go Redhawks!