High school wrestling: Huntley takes FVC Championships behind 3 individual titles

HAMPSHIRE – As the overall standings were updated throughout the second day of the Fox Valley Conference Wrestling Championships, the same three teams – Crystal Lake Central, Huntley and Jacobs – remained at the top, but the order was constantly shifting.

Central opened Saturday's competition with a narrow lead. One round later, Jacobs had taken over first place. Heading into the final round, the Tigers were back in first, but midway through the place matches, Huntley had moved into the top spot.

The Red Raiders ended up walking away with the title, finishing with 194 points to edge Central (190) and Jacobs (179), but it came down to the final individual match.

After Central's Austin Parks won at 220, Huntley needed any kind of win from heavyweight Dominic Swanson to take the team title.

"My coach told me that 'I don't need the pin, I just need the win,' to win it," Swanson said. "I mean, I was going for the pin."

Swanson put a scare into Huntley coach B.J. Bertelsman when Prairie Ridge's Dereck Pearson took him to the mat late in the first period. The Huntley heavyweight knew what he was doing, however – he was going for the pin. Swanson rolled quickly, turning Pearson's potential takedown into his own winning pin at 1:27.

"As soon as he turned it, though, I just stood up. I knew he had it," Bertelsman said. "You're not getting that kid off of you."

The Red Raiders also had individual champions in Gannon Kosowski (106 pounds) and Josh Stenger (120). They had one second-place finisher (Petros Mihalopoulos at 195), three wrestlers finish in third, one in fourth, three more in fifth and two in sixth.

"When you have your big stars and then everybody else fills in, it ends up with something good," Bertelsman said. "We finished a tournament, finally. We went 9-4 in the last round, so that's pretty awesome."

It was measure of revenge for Huntley, which lost duals to Central and Jacobs, the conference's two team dual champions.

"They were both close. They came down to the nitty gritty in both of those," Swanson said. "Winning it at conference and taking both of those back felt good."

Central was led by wins from Parks (220) and Lenny Petersen (138). Connor Burns (120) also reached a final for the Tigers, but finished second, losing to Huntley's Stenger.

After winning the team title last year without an individual champion, Jacobs finished third Saturday behind wins from Beau Harrier (113) and Dean Lane (160). The Golden Eagles were done in by a 3-8 record in place matches.

"It was pretty nice to win it, finally," said Harrier, who finished third and second the past two years.

The only team outside the top three to have two champions was the host Whip-Purs, who finished 11th but had brothers Casey Allen (132) and Wylie Allen (152) win individual titles by decision.

"It was a very good day today," Wylie Allen said. "It was very special."

Wylie celebrated his younger brother's win even more than his own, letting out a huge cheer as time expired.

"I coach him in the room all the time. I love him to death, and I'll I do anything to make sure he wins," Wylie Allen said. "He wasn't the favorite to win any of those matches today, and to see him go out there and win those was pretty special."

Also winning individual titles were Travis Piotrowski (126) from fourth-place Prairie Ridge, Jake Leske (170) from fifth-place McHenry, Woodstock's Nick Sundberg (182) and Dundee-Crown's Christian Brunner (195). With their wins, Piotrowski (31-0) and Brunner (38-0) remained perfect on the season.

UNSUNG HERO

Gannon Kosowski

Huntley, fr., 106 pounds

Kosowski led his championship match, 12-5, early in the third period and held on for a 12-11 win. "It felt pretty good to be a conference champ as a freshman. It's an accomplishment," Kosowski said.

THE NUMBER

3: Individual titles for Huntley, the only team to have three champions.

AND ANOTHER THING ...

Hampshire senior Wylie Allen on winning the 152-pound conference title in his home gym: "This was my last time ever wrestling in this building, so I knew I had to go win it. I put all my effort and energy into those matches, and I was glad that I was able to come out with victories."

AGATE

FVC Wrestling Championships

Team scores

1. Huntley 194

2. Crystal Lake Central 190

3. Jacobs 179

4. Prairie Ridge 120.5

5. McHenry 93

T6. Cary-Grove 79

T6. Grayslake North 79

8. Woodstock 75

9. Grayslake Central 72

10. Dundee-Crown 66

11. Hampshire 62

12. Woodstock North 47

13. Crystal Lake South 31

Championship matches

106: Kosowski (Hunt) dec. Sparks (PR), 12-11

113: Harrier (Jac) dec. Arroyo (GLN), 8-4

120: Stenger (Hunt) tech. fall Burns (CLC), 2:55

126: Piotrowski (PR) maj. dec. Conlon (McH), 20-7

132: C. Allen (Hamp) dec. Dudych (Jac), 7-3

138: L. Petersen (CLC) maj. dec. Dranka (Jac), 10-2

145: Wright (GLN) dec. Augustin (GLC), 4-0

152: W. Allen (Hamp) dec. Fiorito (WN), 6-2

160: Lane (Jac) dec. Zange (Wood), 5-0

170: Leske (McH) dec. Kline (WN), 5-3

182: Sundberg (Wood) dec. Raap (DC), 6-1

195: Brunner (DC) pin Mihalopoulos (Hunt), 3:17

220: Parks (CLC) dec. Golnick (Jac), 7-2

285: Swanson (Hunt) pin Pearson (PR), 1:27

Third-place matches

106: Gutierrez (McH) dec. Barth (CLC), 9-2

113: Spencer (Hunt) maj. dec. Pinter (CG), 12-0

120: Fowler (PR) maj. dec. Connelly (GLC), 17-9

126: Armijo (Hunt) dec. Mikes (GLC), 11-8

132: Neises (McH) dec. Silva (PR), 10-9

138: Cullen (CG) dec. Cramer (GLC), 3-0

145: M. Petersen (CLC) dec. Sabella (Jac), 3-1

152: Zbilski (Hunt) dec. Carone (CLC), 6-3

160: Gustafson (CG) dec. L. O'Donnell (CLC), 6-2

170: Fetzner (PR) maj. dec. S. O'Donnell (CLC), 11-1

182: Mora (CLC) dec. Fontanetta (CLS), 3-1

195: Bujacz (Jac) pin Koeppel (CG), 1:31

220: Rodriguez (DC) dec. Blanchard (Hunt), 6-1

285: Martyne (Wood) pin Schillmoeller (Jac), 5:50

Fifth-place matches

106: Rivero (Hamp) maj. dec. Tarnowski (GLN), 11-2

113: Montford (CLC) dec. Marsh (McH), 7-4

120: Gerstbrien (CG) dec. Ridel (Jac), 7-2

126: Windisch (CLC) dec. Wilshire (GLN), 12-10

132: Ernd (CLC) pin Loprieno (Hunt), 1:28

138: Pawlak (Hunt) maj. dec. Gardner (CLS), 14-0

145: Quiroz (Hunt) maj. dec. Regenhardt (PR), 13-2

152: Pogue (GLC) pin Hahnfeld (Jac), 3:23

160: McGowan (Hamp) dec. Ewing (PR), 6-3

170: Allen (Hunt) inj. fft. Strickland (Jac)

182: McCauley (GLN) pin Olivera (Hunt), 1:23

195: K. O'Donnell (CLC) pin Halilaj (Wood), 2:49

220: Bock (GLN) pin Stokes (CG), 1:15

285: Barnas (Hamp) dec. Gabric (CLS), 6-1