Boys wrestling: Naperville Central repeats regional title

Recent varsity callups made key contributions to Naperville Central repeating as a Class 3A regional champions Saturday at East Aurora.

The Redhawks captured six first place medals and finished no lower than third in the remaining weight classes for a total of 251.5 points. Naperville Central is sending 14 wrestlers to next Saturday’s Hinsdale Central sectional.

West Aurora (194) took top honors in five weight classes to finish second (194) and qualified nine.

Third-place Naperville North (173) brought home three first-place medals. Nine Huskie wrestlers moved on.

”We have three guys in the lineup that a month ago were wrestling JV and two of them made the finals and the other one took third, so they all qualified,” said Naperville Central coach Noah Fitzenreider. “Jake Moore won it 106, Starvos Gerousis at 138 took second and Javier Sevilla (150) finished third.”

William Erbeck’s pin at 285 was Naperville Central ’s most dramatic win. The junior was trailing 4-3 with three seconds left in the third period of the championship match, when he pinned Bolingbrook’s Issac Amoh.

“I knew that it's basically all or nothing and that I had to make a big move,” Erbeck said. “I did the hip toss. He almost turned me, but I fought through it and put him on his back.”

Jacob Cochran (113), Ty Martin (120), Hagan Taylor (144)and Nicolas Besteiro (215) also took top honors for Naperville Central in their weight classes.

“We wrestled really tough today,” said Fitzenreider. “We kept our heads in it, and we won when we needed to.”

West Aurora’s Evan Matkovich’s victory at 126 was another close contest. The sophomore edged Naperville Central ‘s Mitchell Kaszuba in a 7-6 decision.

“There were a lot of reversals and stuff throughout the match,” Matkovich said. ”I think what gave me the upper hand at the end was my riding on top.”

Teammates Adrian Ortiz (138), Dominic Serio (150), Noah Quintana (157) and Dayne Serio (165) also earned first-place medals.

“We had five champs, so that was awesome,” said West Aurora coach Andrew Plata. “We had a couple upsets and a couple of guys who were seeded lower and placed higher.”

Naperville North senior Kyle Gatlin notched his first regional championship with a 7-3 decision over Henry Rydwelski of Naperville Central in the 175 title bout.

Gatlin said his training helped him win the match.

"It’s been all of the hard work I've put in,” the senior said. “I was working my hardest because I wanted to be on the top of the podium.”

Led by Nicholas Pape’s second-place finish at 150, Neuqua Valley tied Bolingbrook for fourth place. Both schools tallied 87 points.