Naperville Central beats Naperville North

Naperville Central junior Luke Roth talked extensively about how his team has bonded together over the last few weeks.

Roth and company look to be coming together at the right time as the Redhawks have rebounded from a 1-7 start in dual-meet competition and are 8-10 after a 34-21 win over cross-town rival Naperville North at home on Wednesday.

“It’s always great to beat North,” Roth said. “We’ve really bonded and come closer together as a team. It’s really starting to show on the mat.”

Roth’s 16-7 major decision over Naperville North’s Ben Brancaleon at 182 pounds was one of nine individual victories on the night for Naperville Central (8-10, 2-4).

“When it was each kid’s turn to wrestle, they hustled up to the table and ran out to the mat,” Naperville Central coach Rob Porter said. “Our guys came ready to wrestle tonight.

“We talked about Naperville North all week. It was a big win against a program we have a lot of respect for.”

Naperville North (9-9, 2-4) won the first two matches of the night as Nick McDonnell beat Hunter Stephens by a 15-2 major decision at 145 pounds, followed by Garrett Manno’s 6-2 decision over Trace Murray at 152 pounds.

The Redhawks won the next four matches beginning with Tom Mitrenga’s 6-1 decision over Brandon Gilligan at 160. Kyle Klass’ 15-6 major decision at 170, followed by Roth’s victory and Ryan Berg’s 7-4 decision at 195 pounds gave Naperville Central a 14-7 lead midway through the match.

The Huskies began to climb back, starting with their match at 220 pounds. Ben Obriecht, needed double overtime to earn a 2-1 decision over Vince Piazza, tallying a point on an escape to earn the win.

“Ben is one of the hardest working kids I’ve ever met,” Naperville North coach Tom Champion said. “At one point we tried to give him a break last year and he said that he was not coming out of the lineup.”

After picking up a forfeit at 285 pounds, 2011 state qualifier Wayne Yuan made quick work of Naperville Central’s Derek Wilke at 106 pounds, notching a fall at the 1:07 mark to put his team up 22-14.

The Redhawks closed out the match winning the last five weight classes, beginning with Mitch Lee’s technical fall over Kevin Abe at 113 pounds. Stephen Splan’s 5-2 decision at 120 tied the match at 22-22, while Ben Williamson’s 11-3 major decision at 126 put Naperville Central up for good at 26-22.

The Huskies were assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty, making the score 26-21, before Naperville Central’s Kirk Cherep clinched the team victory with a technical fall at 132 pounds.

Andrew Meder closed out the match at 138 pounds with a 9-7 decision over Naperville North’s Alec Engbloom.