Huntley captures FVC championship

With a nod to Meghan Trainor's hit song, Huntley can alter the chorus to "It's all about the points."

The Red Raiders may have been second after day one and slipped to third prior to Saturday's finals round at Hampshire High School, but it was coach BJ Bertelsman's crew which became the fourth school within the last four years to claim the Fox Valley Conference wrestling crown by meet's end.

Boasting the most individual champions (three), the most top three finishers (seven) the most success in finals bouts, and a lineup that earned major decisions, tech falls or pinfalls at all but two weight classes, it was Huntley's 194-point total that was 4 better than Crystal Lake Central and 15 ahead of defending champ Jacobs.

"Everyone knew the standings were tight and would stay that way, going 9-4 in the day's last round (determining first, third and fifth places) was huge," Bertelsman noted. "We may have caught a few breaks in the final round, but that happens to someone every year. Eleven of our 14 guys earned all-conference status and I know we've been disappointed at events if kids go 0-for, well I have to be really pleased. All 14 of our guys won at least two matches over the two days."

Central's Tigers led Huntley by 1.5 (77.5-76) after Friday and were up 6 on the Red Raiders after the semifinals during which Jacobs pulled to within 1 (167-166) of the leaders. Mathematically, it was still anyone's title and Central's seniors were thinking encore to their 2013 championship. McHenry's title in 2012 ended a string of five straight CLC banners.

As expected, two of Huntley's most heralded entrants led the way. Heavyweight Dominic Swanson - No. 4 in the latest Class 3A individual rankings - and Josh Stenger - No. 7 at 120 - lived up to their No. 1 seed status capturing championship bouts.

Literally the last match, Prairie Ridge's Dereck Pearson had the audience collectively gasping when he toppled Swanson only to have the two hit the mat with the Red Raider rolling atop his foe for a 1:26 pinfall. It was the third pin for Swanson (25-5).

"I felt him coming hard which meant he wouldn't be on balance when we landed so I was ready to roll him over. It felt great to have it go as planned," Swanson said. "I never sell anyone short and just go into every match ready to work and that's the same plan going forward."

Stenger (37-4), who had the meet's fastest pinfall (12 seconds) in his first round, followed with a pair of technical fall triumphs including a 2:55 win over Central's Connor Burns for the 120 title.

"Having been fourth as a freshman, second last year, winning is what I wanted to accomplish at this year's meet," Stenger said. "It's a confidence booster going forward, but the key to me is wrestling all six minutes, not just two minutes a period. Staying focused like that helps me keep scoring and that was important knowing that as a team we were bunched up with Central and Jacobs."

The Red Raiders' third title came from what was surely the least known bunch at 106. No. 3 seed Gannon Kosowski (27-14) held off Prairie Ridge top seed Jace Sparks for a 12-11 decision. They were two of five freshmen to place at that weight.

"I was confident my training would help me hold on along with the extra work the coaches had me do on making shots count," Kosowski said.

Huntley had a runner-up finish from Petros Mihalopouls (195), third-place showings by Zach Spencer (113), Joey Armijo (126), and Brad Zbilski (152), fourth-place by Jalen Blanchard (220), plus fifth-place triumphs from Jason Pawlak (138), Juan Quiroz (145), and Justin Allen (170).

"Obviously Gannon's success surprised some, but I think the schedule we wrestled - the Dvorak, Granite City and Sycamore tournaments plus 26 duals - paid dividends," Bertelsman added. "As I warned the other coaches, Petros being unseeded would come back to haunt them."

With a 4-point deficit at the end, what didn't help CL Central - which actually boasted the most all-conference (13) honorees - was losing five of seven third-place bouts. The Tigers gained FVC titles at 138 from Lenny Petersen (32-4) and at 220 from Austin Parks (31-3). The duo were among the 11 top seeds to win their weight class.

Petersen, ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, posted a 10-2 decision over Jacobs' Chris Dranka.

"My focus was always on positioning on the mat because if you lose track of that, you give your opponent a chance to score," Petersen said. "So the match score and time are always in the back of my head, but my main focus is staying in position to get more points."

Parks, rated No. 3 in 2A for 195, earned a 7-2 win over Jacobs' Jack Golnick and was up a weight to fill the void left when defending FVC champ Romeo McKnight got sidelined by a torn ACL from football.

"Being my first tourney win has me looking forward with more confidence," Parks said. "Giving up some weight today, the key was knowing I had to make my shots count and they did."

As expected, the event's two unbeaten entrants continued their perfect records. Prairie Ridge's Travis Piotrowski (31-0) and Dundee-Crown's Christian Brunner (38-0) ruled at 126 and 195, respectively. Piotrowski tied former Cary-Grove and 2015 state champ Michael Cullen in earning a fourth FVC championship with a dominating 20-7 decision.

"My goal is state so while this is another accomplishment, no matter who I wrestle the aim is to always work hard and be the best I can be," Piotrowski said.

His effort helped Prairie Ridge take fourth (120.5) ahead of McHenry (93) and a sixth-place tie between Cary-Grove and Grayslake North (79).

Purdue-bound Brunner flattened Mihalopoulos in 3:17 in the title contest after sticking his previous foes in 1:05 and 1:41.

"I like to wrestle on top and figure why wrestle the whole match if you can win it sooner," Brunner noted. "To me every match is a learning experience and I'm hoping the lessons all pay off in the state finals."

That's the same destination targeted by Jacobs FVC champs in Beau Harrier (24-4) and Dean Lane (27-1), who took first at 113 and 160, respectively.

"Obviously every point counts and we had some costly losses but missing our regulars at 106 and 126, we had to throw in some freshmen or wrestle up," Jacobs coach Gary Conrad said. "Ironically our two conference champions are two more than we had last year when we won the team title. I guess individually we've gotten stronger. It was great to see Beau break through because he's been second in every tourney until this win. Dean on the other hand has three tourney wins a row going for him."

Host Hampshire may have been 11th out of 13 with 62 points (4 behind Dundee-Crown and 15 ahead of Woodstock North), the Whip-Purs boasted two champions in brothers Casey (25-8 at 132) and Wylie (31-2 at 152) Allen. Wylie was a 6-2 victor while Casey, a No. 4 seeded sophomore, gutted out a 7-3 triumph after ending the second period in agony as both legs cramped up.

"It was very difficult because it felt like both legs were being squeezed to the point I could hardly walk," Casey said. "Seeing the lead on the scoreboard helped me to get on my feet and keep going, but it was such a big relief when the horn finally sounded."

"Being my last match here it feels really good to go out with a win," added Wylie, a senior. "As close as the score was, I had a lot of confidence and knew what I needed to do in terms of execution. And seeing Casey win, it's a very, very good day."

The other champions included McHenry's Jake Leske (26-8) at 170, Woodstock's Nick Sundberg (29-4) at 182, and Jake Wright (32-6) at 145, a No. 4 seed from Grayslake North who upset Crystal Lake Central top seed Michael Petersen in a semifinal and scored a 4-0 shutout of No. 3 seed Larry Augustin of rival Grayslake Central.

"The rivalry aspect made it a little more special and since we didn't meet during the season, I really wanted the chance," Wright explained. "He stays down really low which makes it hard to attack, so you have to be a little more patient and really calculate your shots."

"We didn't do well last year," North coach Collin McKillip said. "so tying for sixth is a step forward and being in the top half of the league was a goal for us. Having four get all-conference is good, but I still believe we could have had five or six."