After losing twice this season at 113 pounds to McHenry’s Britches Sikula, Huntley sophomore Josh Stenger decided to turn it loose when the two met on a Class 3A sectional title mat in Barrington.
“I had to stick to my offense because the first two times we wrestled I was too nervous about shooting,” Stenger said. “Coach told me to stay on my offense and that was the key. You can think too much about what could happen out there. Sometimes you have to just go out and do it, and have no fear.”
Stenger won a 5-2 decision over Sikula to win his first sectional title and advance to this year’s individual state finals in Champaign, a three-day tournament beginning Thursday.
“Now I’m anxious to go down there and see what happens,” Stenger said. “It’s like a dream come true to win a sectional title and it’s a great accomplishment having our team send down multiple guys.”
Huntley freshman Zach Spencer (106) placed second, senior Ricky Vigil (132) placed third to become a two-time state qualifier and Brandon Meyer (152) placed fourth to advance.
“Both Zach and Josh are Huntley’s first underclass state qualifiers,” Huntley coach BJ Bertelsman said. “Ricky has been fighting injury this year and he pulled one out of the hat to qualify for state this year.”
Vigil trailed 2-0 in his win-or-go-home consolation match and was flat on bottom with 45 seconds left when he hipped over and pinned Grant’s Noah Drabek to qualify.
Dundee-Crown’s Christian Brunner (195) won his first sectional title at Barrington, 3-1 in overtime against Zion-Benton’s Mark Miller.
Other Elgin-area wrestlers advancing from the Class 3A Glenbard North Sectional were St. Charles North’s Kolbe O’Brien (106) and St. Charles East’s Anthony Rubino (126), Keone Derain (152) and Ramon Lopez (170).
In Class 2A, Burlington Central freshman Austin Macias (106) improved to 37-1 and won a sectional title at Sterling via a 5-1 decision over Washington’s Trey Keeley on Saturday. Macias heads to Champaign ranked second at 106 by Illinois Matmen, while Keeley is ranked third.
Macias needs two wins downstate to set up a potential state semifinal match with top-ranked Real Woods of Montini, and Woods likely won’t rattle the Rockets’ precocious freshman.
“He has earned everything. He’s the hardest worker,” Central coach Vince Govea said. “He’s one of those kids that doesn’t just want to do it for himself. He wants to win for his family, his community, and everyone else. I haven’t seen that in a young kid in a long time. He’s special.”
Macias used two pins to set up the 5-1 title-mat decision over Keeley to win his sectional crown.
“He pinned his way through the regional and had two pins to start the sectional. And I thought we could have done even better against Keeley,” Govea said. “But he loves the competition and he doesn’t even look at rankings. He just loves the challenge and he thrives under pressure.”
Hamsphire advanced three wrestlers downstate from the Class 2A Antioch Sectional in Jake Szlenk (106), Kyle Szlenk (113), and Anton Krocko (170), who became a three-time state qualifier for the Whip-Purs.
Gary Larsen is freelance writer.