CHAMPAIGN — Ben Harvey kicked off his sophomore wrestling campaign nearly three months ago with the ultimate goal of placing at the IHSA Individual State Championships.

After winning the IHSA Rochelle Regional and placing second in the IHSA Geneseo Sectional this season, Harvey took the floor at the state championships this past weekend needing two victories in the championship bracket to make his dream a reality. The 182-pound sophomore passed his first test with minimal difficulty, defeating Carbondale’s Colin Bybee by 8-3 decision to reach the state quarterfinals.

Only Oak Forest’s Tony Kluk remained in the way of Harvey accomplishing his largest goal of the season. Both wrestlers faced off at the IHSA Dual State Championships last season, with Kluk edging Harvey at 170 pounds by 1-0 decision. Unsurprisingly, this year’s bout came down to the final seconds.

However, unlike last season, it was Harvey who would declare victory in what became the most emotional moment of his sophomore season.

“Before my quarterfinal match, I went over the film from when I wrestled him the prior year,” Harvey said. “I was full of confidence and I knew that the match would complete my journey of placing at state. I stayed focused the entire time and I did what I do best. Everything felt great and I ended up winning a close match.”

Harvey (44-5) took advantage early in the bout, earning two takedowns to lead 4-1 after the first period. Kluk reversed Harvey in the second period to score two points, and despite Kluk maintaining top control for nearly the whole third period, Harvey was too strong on the bottom to be turned over. Harvey won by 4-3 decision, exchanging an emotional embrace with his father, athletic director and former Rochelle wrestling coach Richard Harvey, afterward.

“The feeling of achieving a goal is truly great,” Harvey said. “It also opens up so many doors for me. Once I realized that I belonged at that level, I raised my standards, and suddenly placing wasn’t as satisfying as I thought it would be.”

Harvey faced a tough challenge in the semifinals, losing by fall against eventual state runner-up Brock Montford from Crystal Lake Central to move into the consolation bracket. After a close loss by 3-2 decision against Grayslake Central’s Adrien Cramer in the consolation semifinals, Harvey entered the fifth-place match against De La Salle’s Dominee Daniels on Saturday, winning by 5-2 decision to medal in fifth place at 182 pounds.

“Facing those two higher-level opponents really showed me that I’m right there with the best wrestlers in the state,” Harvey said. “I need to work on my confidence, and I think that if I wrestle like I did in the quarterfinals, I believe I could be a state champion.”

Harvey was one of two Rochelle wrestlers competing at the state championships. Senior Eddie Villalobos (16-8) returned for a third consecutive season having taken first in the Rochelle Regional and third at the Geneseo Sectional. The 138-pounder became the first Hub in school history to qualify for state three times in a career.

“I gave it all I had and I left everything on the mat,” Villalobos said. “I think I performed well having been out for six weeks with an injury.”

The opening round was no cake walk for Villalobos, who matched up against Marian Central’s Bryce Shelton (No. 3 in Class 2A) for the rights to reach the quarterfinals. With the match tied 1-1 after the first 30-second tiebreaker period, Villalobos reversed Shelton and held him off to win by 3-2 tiebreaker in the second double-overtime period.

“I knew I needed that match and I needed to dig deep and mentally tell myself to find a way to get it done,” Villalobos said. “It helped raise my confidence because it showed how my conditioning had improved after being out for so long.”

A tough loss by 3-0 decision against Springfield’s Jacquez Stewart bounced Villalobos into the consolation bracket, where he took down Nazareth Academy’s Anthony Greco by 8-4 decision in his first wrestleback. Villalobos faced Prairie Ridge’s Trey Piotrowski for the rights to place as a top-6 medalist, and for the second time, Villalobos needed to enter tiebreakers.

Unfortunately, Piotrowski earned the win by 2-1 tiebreaker in the first 30-second period, avenging a 4-2 loss by sudden victory against Villalobos in last year’s state championships. While Villalobos was disappointed with the outcome, he was happy to make history as his school’s first-ever three-time state qualifier.

“I think it was pretty cool being the first-ever three-time qualifier from Rochelle,” he said. “Not winning a state title will stick with me, but I’m glad I was able to win a medal last year. I’m not happy with where I ended but I know that God has a plan for me, and sometimes we don’t understand it, but I’ll never question His plans for me.”