December 27 and 28, 2019
Day 1
NCHS 70 – Chicago St. Rita 8
NCHS 63 – Wheaton North 6
NCHS 8 – Brownsburg (Indiana) 45
Day 2
NCHS 36 – Deerfield 21
NCHS 47 – Prospect 22
NCHS 27 – Lemont 33
Team: 6th place / 32 teams
On day one of the completion, Naperville Central competed in
an eight team bracketed Wayne Miller Pool.
In the preliminary round, Central faced Chicago St. Rita and won by a
team score of 70-8. Naperville Central
won 12 of 14 matches, four of which were forfeits. Of the eight contested wins, the Redhawks won
seven of them by fall. Central bettered
St. Rita 15-6 in takedowns. Big wins
were recorded by Tariq Sikander and Angelo Eklou.
In the semifinals of day 1 pool play, the Redhawks defeated
former DVC foe Wheaton North by a score of 63-6. Central again won 12-14 matches with five wins
by forfeit and four by fall and looked good on their feet, scoring 14 takedowns
with only 3 against.
Highlights include Sean King outlasting his opponent and taking
advantage of the top position. He scored
a second period fall at 160. Tariq
Sikander scored four takedowns and held on for a 9-7 decision. Angelo Eklou (220) won a second hard fought
battle at 220, pulling out a 4-0 decision.
Elrin Esporlas closed out the dual with a tough 12-8 decision at 138
pounds.
In the finals of day 1 pool play NCHS faced off with
Brownsburg Indiana. Brownsburg is a top
ranked team in the state and showed their muscle defeating the Redhawks
8-45. There were no forfeits in the dual
and Brownsburg was able to take 11 of the matches. Central did not go quietly though, giving up
only three falls and taking three wins.
The dual started with a big win at 152 pounds with Ryan Silva taking a
5-2 decision. Silva finished day 1
undefeated. Brownsburg rattled off seven
wins in row before 113 pounder Tommy Porter battled to a 3-0 decision. Bryce Cooperkawa finished with a strong day,
scoring a 11-7 decision.
Since Naperville Central finished in 2nd place in
the Wayne Miller Bracket, they qualify for the Gold pool on day two against the
other three teams that placed 2nd place in their respective
pools. That guaranties a placing between
5th and 8th place in the 32 team event.
So, day 2 started with a contest against Deerfield. Central won 36-12, taking 9 of the 14
matches. Deerfield won the takedown
contest 15-21. Scoring falls for the
Redhawks were Shane Roth and Elrin Esporlas.
Tariq Sikander added a technical fall and Tyler Driessens added a major
decision. King, Longmire, Enfield, Porter
and Silva all recorded decisions. Longmire
drew a stalling call to break a 1-1 tie to win 2-1. Porter scored a three-point nearfall tilt on
top and held on to win 8-6.
Next up Central faced Prospect, a team they were defeated by
last year. Central showed improvement,
winning by a team score of 47-22 and taking 10 of 14 matches. NCHS also lead in takedowns 18-8. Recording falls were Roth, Sikander, Eklou, and
Enfield. Tommy Porter and Ryan Silva
both won by technical falls. Driessens,
Jones, Lutes and King all scored wins by decisions with Sean King’s win being a
major decision. Ayden Lutes looked
particularly good, scoring three takedowns in a hard fought 7-3 decision.
With both Naperville Central and Lemont at 2-0 in the pool,
they faced each other for Gold Poll championship: 5th place. Lemont is a top ranked team in Class AA
Illinois and they came away victorious 27-33.
Lemont won 9 matches. But Central
did not give in easily, allowing only one fall and one technical fall. Tommy Porter, Tyler Driessens and Bryce
Cooperkawa all scored wins by fall.
Shane Roth battled to a 7-2 decision and Austin Longmire won by
forfeit. Naperville Central finished 6th
place in the 32 team event.
Finishing 6-0 in the two day tournament was Tommy Porter,
113 pounds. Porter had one fall, one
technical fall, two decisions, and two wins by forfeit. Finishing 5-1 were Ryan Silva, Sean Roth and Tyler
Driessens. Driessens and Roth lead the
team with three falls while Silva had two falls and a technical fall. Wrestlers with a 4-2 record were Bryce
Cooperkawa, Tariq Sikander, Austin Longmire and Carson Enfield.
Next up Naperville Central will wrestle at Grant on Friday,
January 3 against Grant, Prospect and Cary Grove. Then they will travel to Schaumburg for
another quad on Saturday, January 4 to square off against Schaumburg,
Libertyville, and Bolingbrook. The
junior varsity team will wrestle in the Libertyville Tournament on Friday the 3rd
and will travel to Schaumburg for a quad of their own aligned with the
varsity. The freshman will wrestle in
the Hinsdale South tournament on the 4th.
GO REDHAWKS!