1st: NCHS 283.5, 2nd: Harlem 141, 3rd: Homewood Flossmoor 115, 4th: Niles Notre Dame 114, 5th: Willowbrook 87.5, 6th: Hoffman Estates 87, 7th: Lane Tech 81.5, 8th: South Elgin, 9th: Elgin, 10th: Cary Grove, 11th: Wheeling, 12th: Streamwood, 13th: Maine West
December 11, 2021
The Redhawks travelled to Hoffman Estates to compete in the 13 team Mickey Marchese Memorial Wrestling Tournament, their first tournament of the season, and came away with a resounding championship. The Hawks sent ten individuals to the finals with five coming away with gold medals. Central entered nineteen wrestlers, five of which were non-scorers. In all, 18 of the 19 wrestlers placed in the top six and made the podium. Over the course of the tournament, NCHS won 43 matches against just 18 losses. Scoring wrestlers won 33 and lost just 11. In terms of team score, the Redhawks more than doubled the team points of the second place team and outscored the 2nd and 3rd place teams combined.
The leading scorer for the Redhawks was senior David Pirozhnik (182). Pirozhnik pinned his way through the tournament including a fall in the second period of his gold medal match. Ayden Lutes (152) remains undefeated on the season after entering the finals with two pins and winning in the finals with an overtime victory 6-4. Tommy Porter (138) finished 3-0 with a pin and a win by technical fall. Ethan Olson (120) earned two decisions to advance to the finals and then upped his game with a fall in his gold medal match. Tyler Martin (113) continues to show improvement this season. The sophomore had several come-from-behind victories, winning the third period through the tournament. Martin won his blue-ribbon match by a score of 8-2.
Five additional Hawks won their semifinal matches, advanced to the finals, and took second place. Nick Antonietti (285) added two more pins to his season total. Niko Besteiro (220) got a bye into the semifinals and won by fall there. Charlie Morgan (160) came from the pigtails to make the finals. He scored two pins in his first two matches and won in overtime in the semifinals. Morgan just missed a gold medal by seconds in his championship match. Senior Chris Ramirez (145) looked impressive in his two wins, locking down a fall and a major decision. In perhaps the most impressive performance of the night, sophomore upstart Chris Bern (138) came in unseeded but still made the finals with three thrilling decisions. Bern finished the day 3-1 with his one loss coming against his teammate in the finals.
Three Central wrestlers finished the day with a win in their third place match. Mitchell Kaszuba (132) finish 2-1 with a win by technical fall. Senior Tristen Hall (170) won both of his matches by fall. Muhammad Totten (220) won some two varsity matches, both by fall to take a bronze.
Taking fourth was Gavin McDonald (106) and Luke Moen (120). Moen won a match by fall. Taking fifth was Neil Rao (145) and Haaris Khan (195). Both Rao and Khan had great days. Rao tied for the most Redhawk pins in the tournament with three. Khan had more wins than any other Central wrestlers. He ended the day 4-1 with 2 falls. August Kukis finished in sixth place. He had a come-from-behind win by pin. The only wrestler not to place was Joe Thomas (160), but Thomas ended the day 2-2 with both wins by fall.
Next up the Redhawks will travel to Naperville North for the
annual Crosstown Rivalry match against the Huskies on Friday. Saturday the varsity will compete at Oak
Forest for a Mega-Dual. The junior
varsity will be at home for a quad while the freshman-sophomore team will
travel to Maine South for a tournament.