Naperville Central Finishes Second at DuPage Valley Conference Tournament, Crowns Four Champs

•  1^st: DeKalb 339
• 2^nd: Naperville Central 280
• 3^rd: Naperville North 190
• 4^th: Waubonsie Valley 159
• 5^th: Neuqua Valley 111
• 6^th: Metea Valley 89

 

Naperville Central finished in second place behind DeKalb High School in the annual DuPage Valley Conference Tournament, held this year at Waubonsie Valley High School.  Central crowned four DVC champions including Ethan Olson (126), Tommy Porter (138), Chris Ramirez (145), and Nick Antonietti.  Tommy Porter won the Al Collins Most Valuable Wrestler Award (light weight class: 106 - 145).  He shares the OW with Danny Currin of DeKalb (132).

Both Olson and Porter became two-time DVC champions.  Olson Defeated Hinkle of Naperville North by fall in the finals.  Olson advanced to the finals after defeating Bharwadaj of Neuqua Valley by technical fall in the semifinals.  Olson racked up an amazing 15 takedowns combined in his two matches.  Porter becomes a three-time finalist in as many tries (note, the 2022 DVC tournament was not held).  He defeated Martin of DeKalb by a score of 17-6 in the finals.  Porter scored six takedowns in the bout.  Porter advanced to the finals by pinning Shaw of Metea Valley.  Chris Ramirez ripped his way through the bracket defeating Cave of DeKalb by fall in the semifinals and Oblazney of Naperville North in the finals.  In that match, Ramirez scored nine takedowns toward a 21-6 win by technical fall.

The most exciting match of the day turned out to be the very last match where Nick Antonietti faced off against Burtin of Waubonsie Valley in the finals at heavyweight.  The two warriors traded escapes in regulation to send it to overtime 1-1.  That’s how the score remained after the first overtime.  Burtin won the toss and elected to go in the down position for the first 30-second tie-breaker period.  He scored an escape and takedown to take a commanding 4-1 lead.  But, Burtin was called for stalling while trying to prevent Antonietti from escaping in bounds, costing Burtin a point.  That was followed by an escape by Antonietti to make the score 4-3.  The Redhawk choose bottom to start the second 30-second tie-breaker and earned an escape to tie the score 4-4.  The period ended forcing the ultimate tie breaker 30-second period.  Burtin, by virtue of scoring first in the match, got his choice and choose bottom.  Antonietti was able to hold him down for the entire 30 seconds to win the DVC championship 5-4.

Tyler Martin (113) made the finals by defeating Malley of Naperville North in a come-from-behind 6-5 decision to avenge an earlier loss to his foe. Martin was defeated in the finals by Burright of DeKalb to take the silver.  Senior Charlie Morgan (152) lost to Lopez of DeKalb in the finals.  Morgan came out on fire against Shewman of Neuqua Valley in the semifinals, winning by technical fall.  Both Tristen Hall (170) and David Pirozhnik (182) made the finals as well.  Hall won his semifinal match against verses Spatafora (NV) 11-3 while Pirozhnik won by fall over Murphy of Naperville North.

Junior Joe Thomas (160) won by decision in his third place match against Parker of NV by decision.  Thomas opened the day by defeating Budreikas of Naperville North 11-2 and defeated Norton of Metea Valley 7-1.  Senior Haaris Khan (195) also finished third after defeating Harvey of Naperville North by major decision.  Finally, Niko Besteiro (220) was able to win by fall for the Bronze medal over Arteaga of Metea Valley.  Besteiro previously won by fall to advance to the third place match over Nurundinov of NV and Kushenbach of Naperville North.  All three wins came by pins.  Thomas and Besteiro won three matches each in the event.

Finishing in fourth place was Mitchell Kaszuba (132) and Gavin McDonald (106).  Kaszuba finished the day 2-2, defeating Hogsted of MV by fall in the quarterfinals and Nelson of NV by technical fall in the wrestle-backs.  Lucas Moen (120) placed fifth.

Next up the Redhawks varsity team will wrestle Yorkville Christian at home on Thursday, January 27 to conclude the regular season.  That is followed by the IHSA Regionals February 5 held at Naperville Central High School.  The top three in each weight class will advance to the IHSA Sectionals held February 11-12 at Hinsdale Central High School and the top four individuals there will advance to IHSA State held on the campus of the University of Illinois.

The NCHS JV teams will compete in their DVC Championships next Saturday, January 29 at Neuqua Valley High School.