Huntley continues dominance in Fox Valley Conference
With 6 state qualifiers returning including defending Class 3A 170-pound state champion David Ferrante, expectations are extremely high for the Huntley Red Raiders in 2019-2020.
Resting Ferrante, who will wrestle in the Big Ten for Northwestern next season, the Raiders were able to dominate Cary-Grove 56-13 in Fox Valley Conference action in Cary Friday night.
Huntley moves to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the FVC.
"With so many state qualifiers back we certainly have very high expectations for this team," said Huntley coach BJ Bertelsman. "We are working out some kinks right now but we should be ready to roll in January and February."
The Red Raiders collected 6 pins in cruising to victory: Sam Henkle, (120), Andrew Lira (138), Rumyr Sobrepena (152), Jason Coleman (160), Dylan Garske (170) and Matt Burba (285).
The Raiders registered 4 pins in under 4 minutes,
Lira (18 seconds), Sobrepena (1:54), Garske (1:08) and Burba (1:21) had quick pins for the winners.
Burba, a starting tackle on the Huntley football team which advanced to the second round of the 8A playoffs, is just starting to round into wrestling shape.
"Football shape and wrestling shape are two totally different things," said Burba. "The way to get into wrestling shape is to wrestle and practice hard every day. My motto is always pin and win. I came out strong and aggressive and pushed hard. We have very high expectations with so many state qualifiers returning. We want to qualify for the team state meet and I want to be on the medal stand (top three) at the state finals."
With Huntley winning 11 of the 14 matches, Jeremy Jakowitsch (145) won by major decision and Sam Spencer (132) collected a victory by decision.
Jake Jensen (113), Ryder Hankins (182) and Tyler Cerny (195) picked up forfeit wins for the Raiders.
The Trojans (2-3, 1-1) picked up 3 wins on the evening.
Joe Swanson (220) won by pin, Colin Suyko (126) picked up a victory by major decision and Rannin Gruen (106) won by decision.
"I was very pleased with the way Joe, Colin and Rannin and got wins," said Cary-Grove coach William Petersen. "It was a great effort by those guys who really competed and wrestled hard against some great competition. I liked the way all our guys battled and fought all night. They showed some resilience. Huntley is an outstanding team that is loaded with talent. I am hoping our program got some respect tonight. We have some starters out and don't have a full lineup. We hope to get everybody back soon."