Huntley's Stenger, Dundee-Crown's Brunner are sectional champs

When asked about the performance of Josh Stenger during the two day wrestling sectional at Barrington, Huntley coach BJ Bertelsen quipped, "Josh was just Josh."

Saturday, the Red Raiders' star continued doing what his head coach had described - overwhelming his last opponent of the tournament with a fall at 3:11 to win the 120-pound title and a top four seed when the Class 3A state tournament opens up in Champaign next Thursday.

Stenger (42-4) completed his three-match sweep over Khalil Johnson (31-2) of Zion-Benton to send the No. 7 rated junior full speed ahead in advance of his second consecutive downstate trip.

"Last year I was happy to get down there (this) time around I am going in with the expectation of making a run for a state title - it's the only way to go this time," said Stenger, who will have three of his teammates along for the ride, on a day in which the Fox Valley Conference had a rather nice showing when the competition came to an end.

No. 1 Christian Brunner (44-0) continued his reign of pain on his postseason opponents as he dominated the 195-pound division. The Dundee-Crown senior captured his third straight postseason title to guarantee his third consecutive state appearance, as did Cary-Grove senior John Cullen (138), who came back from a long absence to an injury to navigate through his division.

The rest of the 2016 state visitors are all first-timers, including the Huntley duo of Petros Mihalopoulos, who was pinned by Brunner in the final, as well as heavyweight Dominic Swanson, and three players from Jacobs: Dean Lane (160), Michael Bujacz (195) and Jack Golnick (220) who put an end to a nightmarish day for the FVC division champions.

Jacobs head coach Gary Conrad would watch one after another from his club eliminated as the day progressed, including regional champion Beau Harrier (113, 27-6) and most of the middle of his vaunted lineup, who were unable to stay alive in wrestlebacks.

"It was getting very tough to see your teammates out of the tournament one-by-one, especially a guy like Chris (Dranka, 138, 30-7) who was so close to making downstate three years in a row, and was eliminated today in his state qualifying match," said Lane, who would bounce back from a tough 3-1 loss in the semifinals to eventual champ Max Guhde of Barrington to earn a third-place medal.

"I wasn't really myself early on in my qualifier, until I woke up and got back to what got me here," said Lane (32-2), who rolled to a 10-2 major before recording a 1-0 win in his third-place match.

Bujacz (33-5) would shock No. 4 Jenner Hecox (33-7) in his qualifying bout, pinning the Harlem senior at 1:31 then went on to do the same against Aaron Cortez (Fremd) for his 32nd pin of the year.

"To tell you the truth, I'm still stunned by what happened," admitted the senior, who, in a battle of two of the best pin artists in this half of the state, turned the tables on Hecox to book his place in the state field.

"I was looking to get in on his legs but after awhile, I just figured I had to get back to what got me this far, and it worked for me."

Golnick (35-5) moves on at 220, while the Red Raiders' big men, Mihalopoulos (32-14) and Swanson (42-7) join their FVC rivals.

"It was the hard way, coming through wrestlebacks and although it's not the way I would have like to, I made it to the state tournament and that's all that matters right now," said Swanson, who pinned his way to Champaign at 55 seconds then later went to OT to defeat Sergio Sosa of Warren for third-place.

The aforementioned Spencer is heading to Champaign one year after doing so in his rookie season, no small feat considering he made a slow return from offseason surgery, while also fighting an illness just before regionals.

For the third time in as many years, Cary-Grove's Cullen showed a flair for the dramatic in order to advance. This time around, it came on Friday when his ultimate tiebreaker 2-1 win over Jack DeBlasio (New Trier) kept him in the front draw, where he later sealed the deal with a 5-1 victory in wrestlebacks against Dylan Mannes of Grant. Cullen would later finish the tournament with a 5-2 decision to earn a third-place trophy.

"It was more classic Cullen this weekend," smiled Cary-Grove coach Mike Buhr.

Cullen, with his older brother Michael (2015 state champ, wrestling at Wisconsin) looking on from matside, opened up with an uncharacteristic burst of attacking energy to surprise Mannes and with his terrific defensive prowess, he closed out the Bulldogs' senior for good.

"John is such a tough kid, and when you consider he's had maybe one-third the matches most everyone else had here in his weight class, his ability to find a way to get out of this group is really impressive," said Buhr.