Huntley rolls past Prairie Ridge
The night could not have been better for Gannon Kosowski and his Huntley teammates.
The Red Raiders' star would celebrate Senior Night in grand fashion by having a hand in a 53-15 victory over Prairie Ridge, while at the same time defeating Drake Regenhardt in thrilling fashion in the final contest of the evening.
Kosowski's 6-2 hard fought decision over Regenhardt (26-4), the No. 2 rated 152-pounder in Class 2A, was the marquee match in this Fox Valley Conference match that saw the Red Raiders push their overall record to 17-7-0 and 6-0-0 in league play.
"I have to admit I was a little nervous tonight, but once I settled down, and got to the second period where I was able to ride him out, it was then I knew I was in good shape," said Kosowski, one of just four seniors in Huntley's young starting lineup.
"We've been through a real grind of late, but everyone has stepped up to wrestle really well against some tough opponents, including the young guys on the team, which should make all of us better for the final month of the season," added Kosowski, who won 35 a year ago on his way to his first state appearance of his career.
Huntley has shown it can go with the big boys during that stretch Kosowski and junior Sammy Spencer (126, 29-3) would refer to.
From the end of December, and right on through the early part of January, the Red Raiders have gone up against several high-profile opponents at the Dvorak, Granite City and recently the Clash in Rochester, MN.
"We've seen a lot of the best from Illinois and surrounding states, and have done a good job of competing hard and with a lot of effort, so I know all of us will benefit from that experience when the postseason begins in a few weeks," said the two-time state qualifier and 2018 fifth-place medal winner Spencer, who also happens to be No. 4 in the most recent state polls.
By the time Spencer was called to the center circle to meet Jace Sparks, the Red Raiders had just doubled their advantage over the Wolves (10-6-0, 3-5-0) thanks in part to pins from David Ferrante (170, 31-2), Nik Wise (220, 16-14), Matthew Burba (285, 26-9) and Jake Jensen (21-12) at 106.
The visiting Wolves, a quality 2A club with five of its wrestlers ranked in the top 10, and recent team champion at the Glenbard West Invite, was able to have just two of the five come away victorious against the high powered Red Raiders attack.
The first victory would come from No. 9 Kyle Koelblinger (27-4) at 182, the second, in sudden death by No. 3 Trey Piotrowski (24-4) who would edge sophomore Jeremy Jakowitsch, who gave the 2018 state medal winner all he could handle in what would be a controversial 2-1 match.
When six minutes of regulation was unable to decide a winner, the two took turns riding the other out in the second and third 30-second extra sessions, until the referee hit Jakowitsch (22-11) with a one-point penalty for stalling with just 0.7 seconds remaining.
"That was a real tough call to make that late in the match. It was one that we didn't agree with but on the flip side, Jeremy did real well against Trey, but it also shows he needs to open up his offensive game more," said Huntley coach BJ Bertelsman.
"It was a pretty good night of wrestling for us. We looked a little ragged and rusty at times but again, we've been up against it during the last couple of weeks.
"We'll have to be better real quick because we travel to DeKalb on Friday, then Stevenson on Saturday where we'll see more state-ranked teams in Deerfield, Yorkville and Stevenson."
Sophomores Andrew Lira (132, 22-10) and Joaquin Miranda (145, 20-10) gave the Red Raiders' faithful a preview of the future when these two of the five underclassmen in the lineup each recorded a fall in their individual matches.