Boys wrestling: McHenry walks off Huntley in final match to win battle of FVC powers

HUNTLEY – Lucas Van Diepen wanted the opportunity to help McHenry redeem its lone blemish from last season.

Van Diepen made the cut to wrestle at 126 pounds against Huntley on Friday, but he wanted to wrestle at 132, having the sense that it could play a pivotal role in deciding the dual between two of the top contenders in the Fox Valley Conference this season.

Van Diepen got his chance and made the most of it, pinning Vlad Maluhin to give the Warriors the walk-off 37-33 win.

“I just knew I had to be aggressive on my feet to keep the pace up,” Van Diepen said. “Eventually he would make the mistake.”

McHenry (10-4, 5-0 FVC) circled its matchup against Huntley after the Red Raiders handed the Warriors their lone loss last year. Van Diepen said he was nervous heading into the final match with his team trailing 33-31, but he was mentally prepared for the matchup he wanted.

The senior ran out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before taking control in the second. He had a couple close chances to pin Maluhin and built a 5-1 lead before he finally nailed the Red Raider down with a pin.

“That’s guts,” McHenry coach Dan Rohman said. “(It) comes down to him and he performed.”

Friday’s matchup lived up to the hype as the two teams exchanged the lead five times. The Warriors built a strong lead after Huntley’s Rafael Sobrepena won the opening match at 138 with a pin. Pedro Jimenez held on to win at 145 with a 9-3 decision and Ruben Melgarejo made it 7-6 with a 11-1 win at 152.

McHenry ran out a 19-6 lead with wins from Armand Paglini (5-3), Chris Moore (fall) and Peyton Horowicz (10-8) at 160, 170 and 182, respectively, but Huntley rallied to a 21-19 lead after CJ Filipek (195 pounds) and Ben Wiley (220) each won by pin and Markos Mihalopoulos (285) won 1-0.

Cody Kamp (106) and Ryan Hanson (113) then each won by pin to give McHenry a 31-21 lead before Huntley’s Aiden Lira (120) Adam Pena (126) each won by pin to set the winner-take-all showdown with Van Diepen playing the hero.

Afterward, the Warriors admitted they had Friday’s dual circled on their calendar. Rohman challenged his team before the matchup.

“I told them we had a great opportunity when this match started and it’s time for us to take advantage of those opportunities,” Rohman said. “They put it together tonight really well.”

Huntley (7-5, 3-1 FVC) coach B.J. Bertelsman was proud of the way his team regrouped to take back the lead twice. The Red Raiders narrowly escaped Thursday’s dual against Hampshire by winning 33-29 and Bertelsman thought his group performed at a different level on Friday night despite the loss.

“I was happy with how we wrestled,” Bertelsman said. “We gave some points here and there, but there’s nothing I can be sad about.”

Both McHenry and Huntley will travel to Harlem to compete in the Dvorak Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, one of the best tournaments in the state.

While Friday felt like an important win, Rohman also wanted to keep it in perspective.

“It’s just a step in the direction we want to get to,” the first-year coach said. “We want to win the Fox Valley Conference, we know there’s some good teams ahead of us still, we can’t look past anybody.”