Saturday, December 14, 2024

Naperville Central Wins Crosstown Classic

Naperville Central 44 – Naperville North 25

12/12/2024

Naperville Central improved to 6-0 on the season, 2-0 in the DVC after they defeated Naperville North in their annual Crosstown Classic by a score of 44-25.  The dual was held at Naperville North High School under a spotlight.  The Huskies honored their seniors prior to the contest.  Central won eight matches to North’s six.  Five of the Redhawks’ wins were by fall and two more were by technical fall.

The matchup proved to be as exciting as advertised with the team score lead bouncing back and forth in the dual.  Host North won the first match at 215 pounds when Tavkif Ibragimov won by fall over Nithilan Gandi in the second period.  Central’s William Erbeck answered for the Redhawks with a first period fall over Jake Kedziora in the first period.  The Hawk’s earned their first lead of the night after 106 pounder Dalton Meluch upended Quinn Karstens by technical fall 18-2.  Meluch scored four takedowns in the match.  North retook the team score lead after two wins by the brother’s Beedon.  Adam Beedon defeated Jack Schwarz at 113 pounds by a score of 14-8 and Ryan Beedon scored a technical fall over Landon Lusero at 120.  That made the team score 14-11 in favor of the Huskies.  Naperville North extended their lead after Connor McDonald edged Jake Moore at 126 pounds by a score of 4-3.

With the team score now at 17-11, the Hawks Jacob Cochran, 132, earned late, third period fall over Kai Balice to knot the team score at 17 apiece.  Cochran improved his season record to 9-2.  A pair of Huskie standouts took control of their matches to regain the team score lead.  Cochran leads the team in falls with 6.  At 138, Ben Messier came from behind to defeat Vince Bern by a score of 14-11 and at 144, Tyler Sternstein scored a 17-2 technical fall over Stavros Gerousis.

The Huskie’s leading by eight team points with five matches to go.  The Hawks took over the contest, winning the last five matches.  At 150, CJ Bierman bought the visiting Redhawk fans to their feet after winning by fall in the first period over Zachary Mally.  Yusuf Sikander scored five takedowns over Evan Marschitz in route to a 19-3 technical fall at 157.  Sikander leads the team in takedowns with 21.  Sophomore newcomer Nicolas also earned five takedowns to win by major decision over JT Hill by major decision 15-4.  Senior Captain Henry Rydwelski remained undefeated after locking down a first period fall over David Hurrie at 175 pounds.  Rydwelski holds a record of 10-0.  Paul Peradotti, 190, added a fall to end the night against Brady Valle.

Central defeated North at the JV1, JV2 and Freshman duals. 

Naperville Central Girls team won four of six matches against North with three of those matches happening under the lights just prior to the varsity dual.  Annika Hull, Bella Lopez, Gracie Meluch, and Dezi Azar were winners.