12/27/2021
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NCHS 56 – York 18
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NCHS 55 – Lincoln Way West 15
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NCHS 36 – Batavia 35
Seems like just a few months ago the Redhawks were competing at the IWCOA State tournament in the abbreviated 2021 wrestling season. The Hawks are back in action for a full 2021-2022 season. Naperville Central hosted York, Lincoln Way West and Batavia in a quad on a Saturday morning, and they did not disappoint, winning all three match-ups.
In the opening contest, Central defeated York by a score of 56-18. Thirteen matches were contested with Central winning nine of them and picking up another by forfeit. David Pirozhnik, Nicolas Besterio, Ethan Olson, Tommy Porter, Nick Antonietti, Gavin Bohan and Ayden Lutes all recorded falls for Central while Tristen Hall scored a 15-0 technical fall.
Round two saw the Hawks against Lincoln Way West where Central won 55-15. In that contest the Redhawks won ten of thirteen matches and another by forfeit. Antonietti, Ramirez, Bohan, Hall and Pirozhnik earned their respective second falls while Porter earned a 17-2 technical fall. Ty Martin brought the fans to their feet scoring a takedown in overtime to win at 113 pounds. Martin fought back with a couple of takedowns in regulation to send the match to overtime.
The match of the day was against rival Batavia. The dual started at 220 with Nick Antonietti moving down a weight class to earn his third pin of the day. After Niko Besteiro picked up a win by forfeit, the Redhawks held a 12-0 team score lead. But the Bulldogs of Batavia fought back with wins at 106, 113 and 120. Suddenly, the Redhawks found themselves trailing 12-15. August Kukis scored a key win by fall at 126 to give the Hawks a short-lived team score lead of 18-15. The Bulldogs hit their stride in the middle weights. Patrick Geiger was defeated by technical fall at 132, Porter give up a major decision at 138 and first time varsity wrestler Neil Rao was defeated 24-10 at 145, a major decision. Finally, Gavin Bohan battled but came up short at 152, losing 9-6. The four victories gave the Bulldogs a large 18-31 team score lead.
But back came the Redhawks led by Senior Captain Ayden Lutes. Lutes earned his second pin on the day at 160 to make the team score 24-31. Tristen Hall followed up with a fall of his own early in the third period of his match at 170 to make the score 30-31 Batavia. David Pirozhnik made it three-for-three with falls to put the Redhawks ahead 36-31 with one match remaining. Senior Haaris Khan fell short of winning his match at 182, but his 19-9 lost was by no more than a major decision, worth four team points. The Redhawks held on to win the dual by one point: 36-35.
Also wrestling at home was the NCHS JV team. They also won all three duals against the same three teams. Naperville Central fielded a freshman-sophomore team that competed at Plainfield South for a super quad. Central won all three duals in their pool to make the championship dual against Naperville North. Naperville North won that dual.
Next up Naperville Central will compete in a DVC contest at home against Waubonsie Valley on Friday, December 3. On Saturday, the Redhawks will compete in the Mega Duals at the Varsity, JV1 and JV2 levels while the freshman will wrestle at Lyons in a tournament.
GO REDHAWKS!