Wrestling: Jake Jensen earns 100th career win to help Huntley defeat Dundee-Crown

Red Raiders stay undefeated in conference

Huntley's Jake Jensen earned his 100th career win and helped the Red Raiders take down Dundee-Crown 51-18 on Thursday in Huntley.

HUNTLEY – Jake Jensen forgot he could potentially hit a career mark Thursday night.

The Huntley senior was too focused on his match against Dundee-Crown and didn’t remember that his next win would be the 100th in his high school career.

Once Jensen earned a pin win at 126 pounds, it was hard to not remember, as the Huntley crowd erupted and a sign marking Jensen’s 100th win popped into the air from a fan in the bleachers.

Jensen’s win was the highlight of the night as Huntley remained undefeated in Fox Valley Conference duals with a 51-18 win over Dundee-Crown.

“It feels good, it’s been fun,” Jensen said. “It’s been a good ride and I’m just happy.”

Huntley built a quick lead early in the dual as Aiden Lira (113), Adam Pena (120), Jensen, Angelo Cangelosi (132) and Zach Rogala (138) all won by pins to go up 30-3. Marko Mihalopoulos won quickly by pin at 285, Alex Limoncellio (160) and Ryder Hunkind (182) each won by forfeit.

Ari Fiebig battled in his matchup at 170 against Dundee-Crown’s Enrique Diaz. Fiebig took an early 2-0 lead until Diaz forced a tie at the end of the first period. Diaz used that momentum to take the lead at 5-4 at the first part of the third period before Fiebig flipped the match with a 5-4 lead and held on to win 7-6.

Huntley coach B.J. Bertelsman was proud of his team’s effort even though there were some 50-50 matches that he wished the Red Raiders could’ve pulled off.

“We took care of business,” Bertelsman said.

Dundee-Crown’s Melani Pulido started the night strong when he fought through a three-period match to win a 6-0 decision.

Dundee-Crown’s Matt Impastato carried most of his match against Alessio Pezzella, earning a 4-1 lead after one period and 8-3 after two periods. But Pezzella battled back toward the end to make it 8-5 but the final seconds ran out on the match with Impastato holding on to earn the win.

Dundee-Crown’s Jett Boerger earned a pin win at 152 as he returned to competition while Porter Leith (195) won by a 2-0 decision and Juan Jasso (220) held on to win by a 7-4 decision.

Dundee-Crown has battled injury and sickness for much of the season, which is why coach Tim Hayes was proud of how his team battled all season, including Thursday night.

“I’m very proud of our guys this year,” Hayes said. “We’re a really young team, we’re coming off of a lot of injuries and illnesses, so I’m really happy to see our guys stick it out and perform.”

The Chargers will take on Jacobs on Tuesday and McHenry on Jan. 27, to end the regular season. The Red Raiders will travel to the Oak Park-River Forest Tournament on Saturday before they host Crystal Lake South on Wednesday and Crystal Lake Central on Jan. 27.

Huntley will need to win at least one more dual against Crystal Lake South or Crystal Lake Central in order to win at least a share of the Fox Valley Conference title.

Despite the high stakes over the next week, the Red Raiders aren’t treating the upcoming week any differently from the rest of the season as they prepare for the most important stretch of the year.

“The team is looking better all over and I’m excited to see (how far we go),” Jensen said. “I think we’re going to do really well.”