The DVC wrestling plaque is up for grabs as the DeKalb Barbs come in having won the last three titles. However, Naperville Central went 5-0 in the DVC regular season, so the Redhawks and the other area teams are eager to dethrone the Barbs before the postseason begins. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Let’s start off with the fifth-place match at 120 pounds as Neuqua Valley wrestler Eesh Bandla rolls Metea Valley’s Matt Shaw onto his back and pins him to take fifth place.
In the 138th pound third place match, Metea’s Juan Arroyo locks Waubonsie’s Christian Loaiza in the half-nelson and gets the fall to finish third in the weight class.
Ethan Wojtowich helps the Warriors in the third place bout at 144 pounds as he wins a close one over Zach Mally from Naperville North.
Ty Martin needs overtime to win the 120 championship
Championship time at 120 pounds with Naperville Central’s Ty Martin in an overtime clash against DeKalb’s Eduardo Castro. Martin is able to drive his way on top of his opponent and that’s all she wrote in the match. Martin is your 120-pound conference champion.
At 126, Redhawk Mitch Kaszuba takes control by taking the top position on Ben Messier from Naperville North. In the end, Kaszuba wins 6-1 and first place at 126 pounds.
To 132 pounds with Tyler Sternstein from Naperville North wrestling Vince Bern from Central. Sternstein begins the bull riding once he’s on top and from there he turns Bern onto his back and pins him to win the 132 championship.
The DeKalb Barbs play a game of catch up
Time for the Barbs to have some fun. It starts with Meki Cave getting all the points he can on Redhawk Hagan Taylor. The more take downs the better and he secures the top spot at 144 while Taylor finishes as the runner up
157 pounds is one of the matches of the night with Dez Nurudinov from Neuqua Valley getting some early points on Redhawk Chris Bern. In the second period Bern hits the aggressive button and now he’s the one getting the points on his opponent even if he has to go near WWE style. This was a high scoring match but Bern finds a way to rack up all the points he can win the championship at 157 pounds over the Wildcat.
Back to DeKalb and it’s Jacob Luce helping his team inch closer with a pin on John Carens from Naperville Central in the 165 championship bout.
The Huskies get three first-place finishes in the meet, and in the 190 final, Matthew Murphy makes a major decision on Jacob Smetters from Naperville Central to win it all with Smetters adding more points for the Redhawks by taking second.
Niko Besteiro secures the DVC title for Naperville Central wrestling
At the 215 pound bout the Redhawks lead by six team points and Niko Besteiro is in sprawl position and grabs the clutch two points over Lamar Bradley from DeKalb to seal the deal.
In the final championship match, Will Erbeck from Central goes to work on Waubonsie’s Leo Hobson, rolls him onto his back, and pins him to put the cherry on top of a dominating performance as the Naperville Central Redhawks take home the wrestling DVC crown for the first time since the 2018-2019 season.
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