Seniors Josh Waters, Caleb Vergona, Jackson Swanson and Trenton Regaldo were thanked for their commitment before the match. HHS, 11-3 in duals, prevailed over the North Stars, 3,561 to 2,959 pins.

“It was weird, bowling here for the last time,” Waters said. “We hope to bowl well at regional, sectional and qualify for state.

Offensive linemen Luke Griskey opted for D-I San Jose State, after de-committing to Air Force Academy. Eric Bower selected Butler University in Indianapolis, a D-II school.

“Griskey and Bower had anything but an easy football career at Huntley,” HHS coach Mike Naymola said.

The Red Raiders finished with a score of 82.97 in the varsity competition, second to champ Jacobs' 84 points.

HHS head coach Alex Reyes-Smith said the season has been a success. "We finished second at two events and fifth at our own invite,” she said.

The Red Raiders' 2,153 pin total at Sycamore led by sophomore Erica DeBello at the Jan. 7 Sycamore Invitational as she finished in the top 11 with a 482 total. Close behind was sophomore Grace Lehmann's 480 and sophomore Prianca Waters also topped 400 with a 429 series. Freshman MacKenzie Miller contributed a 384 and senior Taylor Dulson a 368.

Tenglin, a bowler since his toddler years, answered survey questions for My Huntley News.

Describe your start in bowling, age and youth leagues.

Austin Tenglin: "I started bowling around age 5 and my dad was the one who got me into bowling. I started bowling at Glo-Bowl in Marengo as my first youth league.

For the girls team, Erica DeBello and Prianca Waters are 10th graders. Bowling against Burlington Central, DeBello has a 288 game to her credit and she won the individual title at Grayslake North Invite Dec. 28 as the team ended second.

"DeBello bowled great against BC and at Lockport; she is so consistent," HHS coach Asheleigh Bourdeau said.

The boys squad has Landon Conforti, Matthew Fishman, Austin Tenglin and Joey Humphrey contributing.

Prior to the four-game tourney, he discussed his love of basketball, his as well as his and other teammates' abilities to shoot three-pointers and why he admires Steph Curry, in a series of questions for My Huntley News.

HHS downed Rockford Guilford, 50-46, for third place and a final 3-1 tournament record. Senior Noah Only was selected as all-tournament. Only led the effort in the Dec. 30 third-place game with 19 points and also had six rebounds and three assists.

“We played pretty solid,” Red Raiders coach Will Benson said of the tournament.

The HHS season resumes with an FVC battle at Burlington Central on Jan. 10.

Victories at Dundee-Crown were over Buffalo Grove, 46-30 and Lake Forest, 52-48.

This may seem to be a given, but that was not the case for the Red Raiders squad, which has grown from a handful of girls wrestlers last season.

"The support we get from teammates is great because we've been through the same thing,” HHS grappler Taylor Casey said. “Just in the past year the sport has grown so much.

Markos Mihalopoulos, a 285-pounder, was 25-6 following the Red Schmitt Invite at Granite City, which concluded Dec. 29. Alex Napientak at 152 was 18-11 and Ben Wiley at 220 gained a 18-10 mark.

The Red Raiders finished in the top half of 27 teams as they were 11th of 27 squads at Granite City.

Senior Sam Deligio was one of nine weekly award winners for the Chicago Bears' All-Star Players and Coaches award, for his Week Nine play against Crystal Lake South. Fields became the Bears' all-time single season quarterback rushing leader (besting Bobby Douglass, whose mark stood for 50 years) and Fields was the third all-time 1,000-yard QB rusher for one season.

Free-throw shooting did the trick in a close battle at rival Hampshire, a 55-48 win Dec. 9. The Red Raiders improved to 7-2, 4-0 FVC.

The Red Raiders secured a 57-43 win over Cary-Grove. Ian Ravagnie led with 14 points and Ethan Blackmore also was in double digits with 13.

Huntley senior linebacker Dashaun Manning was honored as honorable mention by the IFCA and also was All-FVC.  He totaled more than 100 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and four sacks.

The All-FVC players selected by the league's head coaches were: seniors quarterback Sam Deligio; lineman Eric Bower; wide receiver Connor Ardell; defensive back CJ Filipek; lineman Ben Wiley; defensive back James Lang; defensive back Zack Garifo and linebacker Joey Arvidson.

"It's been 25 years," Bertelsman said when asked about his IHSA Class AA State Meet 275-pound title at the University of Illinois arena in 1998.

It has been a quarter-century since Bertelsman took the top podium spot in the last match of the state finals. The senior from Belleville West completed a 42-2 season with a close 3-2 triumph over Luke Kelly of Dixon for the title and Marco Hernandez of Oswego 6-4 in the semifinals.

"I started when I was four," she said. And that was using regulation lanes, no bumpers.

The DeBellos have three generations of bowlers so maybe that sophomore Erica DeBello is one of the talented class members is expected. Her older brother AJ was a member of Huntley's boys state qualifying team last season. Eric and Trish, Mom, dad, and DeBello's grandparents, John and Mary, also bowl.

The Red Raiders are off to a good start in girls bowling with a championship Dec.

The team ventured to Coralville, Iowa for the two-day Dan Gable on the Donnybrook Dec. 2-3. HHS totaled 255 points to nose out the eighth place team by a half-point. A look at the roster shows: Jessica Olson, at 140 pound weight class, was a veteran figure skater.

Two were returning state girls tournament qualifiers, Taylor Casey at 110 pounds and Alex Strezlecki at 155.

The Red Raiders fell 61-49 to Lake Zurich at the Chicagoland Shootout Dec. 3. HHS used stiff defense and strong perimeter shooting for a 59-46 Fox Valley Conference win over Cary-Grove Dec. 6. HHS stood at 7-1, 3-0 FVC.

Jessica Ozzauto led the effort against Lake Zurich with 23 points and Anna Campanelli added 13.

"We did a nice job coming back and we learned from the Lake Zurich game," Huntley coach Steve Raethz said.

HHS benefited from Ian Ravagnie's seven three-point baskets, while a total of six players contributed long range hoops for 15 total, in a 69-53 win over Prairie Ridge Nov. 30.

Then senior Noah Only saw his first varsity action after recovering from an injury and scored 16 points as Huntley downed Jacobs 49-35 Dec. 2.

All-FVC selections for HHS were also sophomore midfielder Hudson Nielsen; junior forward Isaac Jacobo; senior defender Micah Overly and junior midfielder-defender Gavin Eagen.

Heitkemper, the son of Nicholas and Katerina Tsoukalas Heitkemper,  plays off-season soccer at Chicago Soccer Academy.

A successful tenure of 24 years led to a post-game presentation as HHS coach Steve Raethz marked his 400th career win, all at Huntley. A 6-0 record to start the 2022-23 season reached the milestone, whose start at the school came in 1999-2000. Jessica Ozzauto paced the Red Raiders effort with 15 points against Jacobs.

"The accomplishment means a lot for all the players and coaches over the years here at Huntley," Raethz said after an 45-16 win over Jacobs.