Huntley snares first regional championship
A great season for the Huntley wrestling program got a little better Saturday at the Class 3A Jacobs regional in Algonquin.
Huntley, which won its first Fox Valley Conference title and garnered coach BJ Bertelsman's 100th win this season, notched another milestone with the school's first regional crown.
The Red Raiders placed first with 211 points, followed by Hononegah with 191 points. Jacobs placed third with a score of 142.
Huntley, which as a team advances to the Rockford East dual-team sectional on Feb. 21, qualified 10 wrestlers to next weekend's Barrington individual sectional.
The Red Raiders boasted 5 champions, with 3 runner-up finishes and 2 third-place efforts.
"It was pretty awesome to get our first regional title in program history," said Bertelsman. "To get eight guys in the finals and send 10 wrestlers to the sectionals is quite an accomplishment. Everybody in the lineup scored and wrestled their butts off."
Claiming first plaques for the Red Raiders were Sam Spencer (106), Zach Spencer (126), Luke Loprieno (138), Dave Ferrante (152) and Juan Quiroz (160).
Sam Spencer defeated Zach Fausel of Hononegah 6-2 and Zach Spencer blanked Dontrell Johnson of Rockford East 3-0.
Loprieno claimed top honors with a 12-4 win over Craig Stallings of Rockford East.
"I came out aggressive early and moved hard," said the Huntley junior. "I wanted to control him ."
Ferrante took top honors with a 3-1 win over Jacob Sabella of Jacobs.
"I was on the offensive early and feel I am really progressing," said Ferrante. "I feel awesome."
Quiroz outscored Jacobe Schmerbach of DeKalb 10-6 to place first.
Second-place efforts for the Raiders came from Josh Stenger (120), Joey Armijo (132) and Justin Allen (182).
Qualifying for the sectional as third place finishers were Jimmy Pellegrino (113) and Christian Benitez (285).
The host Golden Eagles received a first place finish from Jake Harrier, who won the 113 pound title, defeating Hononegah's Giovanno Cassioppi 4-3 in overtime.
"I knew I had to make a move or I would lose," said Harrier. "I knew I had a little time and guessed right."
David Dudych pinned Jack Evans of DeKalb in 2:35 to win the title at 145.
"I wrestled smart all day and wanted to get the quick pin," said Dudych. "I wrestled with confidence and had a lot of fun."
Trailing 6-0 early, Loren Strickland rallied to defeat DeKalb's Blah Danweigh 14-8 in the title match at 170.
"I knew there was a lot of match left," said Strickland. "I knew I had to start wrestling clean."
Finishing second for Jacobs were Sabella (152) and Justin Peters (106). Beau Harrier (120) qualified for the sectionals with third place accolades.