Harvey, Villalobos win opening matches at state wrestling meet

Posted 2/14/18

Two Hub wrestlers win Thursday in Champaign.

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Harvey, Villalobos win opening matches at state wrestling meet

Posted

CHAMPAIGN — Two Rochelle Township High School wrestlers were victorious in their opening bouts on Thursday at the IHSA Class 2A State Wrestling Tournament in Champaign, while two other Hubs were defeated in their first matches.

Senior Alex Harvey won his match in short order over Basilio Betancourt of Midlothian Bremen with a pin just 1:01 into the match. The victory propels Harvey to Friday's second round quarter-finals against Angel Flores of Grayslake North.

Villalobos battled Austin Ernd of Crystal Lake Central, and the Hub junior came away with an exciting 4-1 win to move into the quarter-finals on Friday against last year's defending state champion We Rachal of Chicago Washington.

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In other action, Rochelle's Ehren Metzger lost to Dylan Connel of Woodstock Marian by a pin at the 5:30 mark of the match, while Brandon Johnson was defeated by Crystal Lake Central's Seamus O'Donnell by a score of 12-7.

Both Metzger and Johnson are hoping to get an opportunity to compete in the wrestle back bracket on Friday, but they would each need their Thursday opponent to lose in his next match Friday in order work back into the mix.

Matches begin on Friday morning at 11 a.m.