Sunday, February 16, 2025

Naperville Central Qualifies Four Wrestlers to State

Boys at IHSA Individual Sectional at Hinsdale Central:

·       Henry Rydwelski 175 1st place

·       Jacob Cochran 126 4th place

·       Will Erbeck 285 4th place

Girls at IHSA Individual Sectional at Schaumburg:

·       Dezi Azar 125 3rd place

Naperville Central will be adding four more names to the hollowed State Qualifier Board after this week’s IHSA Sectional Tournaments.  Seven boys competed at Hinsdale Central High School with three wrestlers qualifying for the IHSA Individual State Tournament.  They were: Jacob Cochran 126 pounds, 4th place, Will Erbeck 285 pounds, 4th place, and Henry Rydwelski 175 pounds, 1st place.  All three qualifiers are captains for the Redhawks.  Cochran is a junior, Rydwelski and Erbeck are seniors.  No team scores were kept.  Central won 12 matches against 11 losses.  Two girls competed at Schaumburg with Dezi Azar, 125 pounds, 3rd place becoming a state qualifier.  Host Schaumburg won the tournament.  Naperville Central placed 31st out of 63 teams.  The boys will compete at state next week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, February 20-22 at the State Farm Center in Urbana-Champaign on the campus of the University of Illinois.  Dezi Azar will complete Friday and Saturday, February 28 – March 1 at the Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington Illinois.

Henry Rydwelski defeated Vincenzo Testa of Marmion with a last second takedown to win 4-1 and finished with a gold medal. Rydwelski received a first-round bye due to his regional championship and qualified for the semifinals with a 18-2 technical fall over Chavez of West Aurora in the quarterfinals.  Rydwelski, 43-3, qualified for state by way of winning his semifinal match over Noah Green of Downers Grove South 7-2.  Rydwelski’s sectional championship puts him in a seeded position at the state tournament next week.

Will Erbeck, now 38-3, earned a quarterfinal fall in 45 seconds over Jimmy Hillmann of Lyons, but was defeated by Nycz of Marmion in the semifinals.  The loss forced Erbeck to the consolation semifinals and a blood-round state qualifying match against Peter Rodriguez of Downers Grove North.  There, Erbeck scored an escape and a penalty point from his opponent due to stalling and Erbeck held on for the 2-0 victory.  Erbeck dropped his third place to Jacobi Spraggins of Downers Grove South.  Will Erbeck is now a two time state qualifier.

Jacob Cochran, 38-11 at 126, punched his ticket to state after defeating Kyle Pasco of Batavia in the consolation semifinals by a score of 14-2.  After an opening loss, Cochran made his way through the consolation backet with three consecutive wins including his victory over Pasco.  Cochran finished in fourth place after falling to Prunty 4-3 of Glenbard West.

CJ Bierman opened with a solid 10-1 major decision in the first round over Curtis Burke of Neuqua Valley.  After a quarterfinal loss, Bierman locked down the shoulders of TaVayris Howard of Shepard to advance in the consolation bracket.  Bierman missed the blood-round match after losing to Tortoriello of Glenbard West 4-1.  Bierman completes his season with an impressive 31-13 record.

Vince Bern and turned in 1-2 record at the highly contested 132 weight bracket.  Bern, 35-8 at 132, lost in the first round but came back to defeated Nathan Duffield of Waubonsie Valley in a 18-14 shootout.

Paul Peradotti, 35-6 at 190 pounds, finished 1-2 in his efforts at sectionals with a win by fall over Contreras of Morton in the first period of that match.  Peradotti was edged out by a point to Segerson of Mt. Carmel by a score of 5-4.

Dalton Meluch made his first appearance at a sectional tournament but lost in both of his challenges.  Meluch put up a fight in round one losing a 11-8 battle to Hayes of Sandburg.  Meluch finishes up with a 28-17 record.

Dezi Azar becomes Naperville Central’s second all-time girl state qualifier, taking third place at 125 pounds.  Azar won four matches to one loss.  Round one saw Azar battle into the third period, scoring a fall at 5:08 over Isabella Nelson of Richmond Burton.  In the quarterfinals, Azar used a knee-pick to throw Isabella Rivas of Schaumburg to her back for 48 second fall.  In the semifinals, Azar faced off with Elise Burkut of Wheeling.  Azar took a 3-3 tie into the third period, but couldn’t hold on, losing by fall late in the last period.  Needing a victory in the Blood Round, Azar took an early lead and built on that lead throughout the match for a 16-7 major decision against Valentina Fantoni of Glenbard West to become a state qualifier.  Azar took third place after O’Connor of Lemont medically forfeited.  Azar will carry her 36-6 record to Bloomington in two weeks.

Arianna Rico lost both of her matches at sectionals, the second to Isabella Miller of Oak Park River Forest.  Rico finished up with an impressive 29-17 record.