Sunday, January 12, 2020

Redhawks Close Out DVC Dual Competition On Top


January 10, 2020

NCHS 62 – NV 10

Naperville Central closed out its season DVC dual competition by defeating Neuqua Valley at home by a score of 62-10.  Central finishes the year 20-4 and 4-1 in the DVC.  Should NCHS win the IHSA Individual Regionals, they will qualify for post season dual competition with the Dual Sectionals.
The night included a recognition of senior wrestlers, managers and their parents.

There were only nine contested matches in the contest and the Redhawks came away with eight wins.  In all but one, NCHS came away with bonus points.  Central was forced to scratch Olson at 106 late due to injury.  Neuqua Valley chose to forfeit four weight classes.

The Redhawks won all four levels: Varsity, JV1, JV2 and Freshman, losing only 5 total matches.
Up first for the Hawks was Senior Sean King at 160.  King has been on a role lately and didn’t disappoint again.  He pinned his opponent early in the second period.  Shane Roth is wrestling the best he has all year.  He used four takedowns and added three sets of nearfall points to cruise to a 17-2 win by technical fall.  Neuqua Valley then bumped up their 182 pound to 195: forfeiting to Senior Tariq Sakander to face Austin Longmire instead.  Longmire scored an early takedown and added a nearfall for 2, then held on till the end.  Longmire defended a headlock for the final takedown in a 7-4 decision.

Senior Angelo Eklou scored six takedowns in a major decision 14-3.  The match was witnessed by former Redhawk 220 greats Luke Roth, Christian Nussbaum and Ben Cianchetti.  Senior Carson Enfield improved to 15-6 after forcing a pin of his opponent late in the first period of his match.  After Central gave up their forfeit at 106, Tommy Porter chalked up another five takedowns in his route of his opponent.  His improves to 23-2 on the season, second on the team.  The team leader in wins is Senior Tyler Driessens (120).  He was up next and use his cradle to get a pin in 45 of his match.  Neuqua Valley was able to pick up their only win at 126 pounds.  Then the stage was set for Senior 132 pounder Bryce Cooperkawa.  Cooperkawa scored an early takedown and added a couple of back points to take an early 7-0 lead, but his opponent was able to reverse and score nearfall points of his own to close to 7-5.  Cooperkawa added an escape and takedown in the second period to extend his lead to 10-5.  In the third period, the Central wrestler gave up another takedown, but then, leading only by 3, forced his opponent to lock his hands, then scored a reversal, and nearfall points.  Stalling calls added additional points and Cooperkawa walked away with a major decision 16-7.

Neuqua valley then scratched their 138 pounder and forfeited to Senior Elrin Esporlas.  Ayden Lutes and Senior Ryan Silva were also sacrificed to pushing the final team score to 62-10.

The Redhawks won the JV1 dual 68-6.  They won the JV2 dual 78-6 and came out on top in the freshman dual 66-12.  In all, Central scored 212 team points to 24 for Neuqua Valley.

Prior to the varsity dual, the following seniors and their families were recognized:

Bryce Cooperkawa
Tyler Driessens
Angelo Eklou
Carson Enfield
Elrin Esporlas
Adam Hayes
Sean King
Dixant Patel
Emanuelle Rivera
Tariq Sikander
Ryan Silva
Leo Keating
Matt Kaszuba
Sophia Gonzalez
Mimi Roberts
Spike Tomaszkiewicz