The individual regionals are complete, and, following the new IHSA format, two of the Rockford-area standout wrestling teams are looking to make quick turnarounds for dual-team sectionals on Thursday night.
The top three individuals at each weight class advanced out of all of Saturday’s regionals and into sectionals, where the top four will make it to the state championships. Only the top team in the regional battles advanced to team sectionals, however.
And starting this year, the individual sectionals are two weeks after regionals, on Feb. 13-14, followed by the IHSA state tourney in Champaign on Feb. 19-21. While the dual team sectionals were moved up to right after regionals.
Which means, after an exciting individual regional, it’s time to quickly turn the page to the dual-team battles.
Team races are on
That is, for Hononegah and Lena-Winslow/Stockton wrestling fans.
Hono took second at state in Class 3A last year, while Le-Win/Stockton took third in 2023. They are both back fighting for another trophy this year.
“We’ve just got a bunch of tough kids, so they’re ready to go anytime,” Le-Win/Stockton head coach Kevin Milder said. “They’re excited and ready to see how far they can get.”
Hono wants another shot.
“We’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” Hono’s Bruno Cassioppi recently said. “Our main goal is just to win it all.”
Here’s what’s coming
Le-Win/Stockton won the team title at the Class 1A Stillman Valley Regional on Jan. 31, 2026, with 236 1/2 points, easily outdistancing a tough Oregon team, which posted 159 points. And Hono claimed the 3A DeKalb Regional team title with 223 points, outdueling Huntley (184) and Hampshire (173).
Now they will both battle in sectional duals on Thursday night, with bids to the IHSA Dual Team State Tournament on the line.
“We just need to keep wrestling solid all the way through,” Hono head coach Tyler DeMoss said. “We’ve been rolling in the right direction for a while. We just have to clean a few things up.”
Hono takes on Fox Lake Grant in Fox Lake on Thursday night. Hono was ranked 20th in the latest IWCOA team rankings for 3A, while Grant was fifth. However, Hono placed second in the IHSA Dual Team State Tournament last year at 3A, while Grant hasn’t made the Final Four since 2006.
The winner on Thursday advances to the Dual Team State Final Tournament inside Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington on Feb. 27-28. The quarterfinals will be that Friday night, while the semis and finals will be held on Feb. 28.
Le-Win/Stockton will take on West Chicago Wheaton Academy in the 1A dual team sectional at 6 p.m. Thursday in Oregon. The PantherHawks were ranked No. 2 in the latest 1A team rankings, while Wheaton Academy was listed as an honorable mention team.
“They’ll be tough; we have to be ready for anything,” Milder said. “They wrestle a lot of 2A and 3A teams where they’re at, so they get toughened up… We’re tough, too, though.”
The winner of Thursday’s 1A matchup will be in Bloomington for the Friday night quarterfinals, hoping to stay alive for the Feb. 28 dual team state semis, finals, and third-place matches.
What happened at the 3A regional
As was the case at last week’s NIC-10 meet, Hono dominated Saturday’s 3A DeKalb Regional. Hono rolled out of there after qualifying 11 wrestlers out of the 14 weight classes, and it did not enter a 106-pounder, and had its 138-pounder and heavyweight place fourth, losing out in the blood round.
Rocco Cassioppi (39-2 at 150); Bruno Cassioppi (35-4 at 165); Brody Sendele (37-3 at 175); Jackson Olson (27-8 at 126); and Evan Musil (26-16 at 144) all placed first at regionals. Three others took second, and three others placed third for Hono.
Harlem got three through to sectionals who took second at regionals (Chandler Jack at 285; Charles Faulkner at 175; and Izayah Olejniczak at 138), but the Huskies also had three wrestlers fall in the blood round, taking fourth and missing out on sectionals by one win.
Guilford’s Dominic Angileri (25-4 at 120) and Jefferson’s Antonio Osario-Pasillas (20-3 at 285) advanced by taking third.
The Rockford area had 16 wrestlers make it out of the 3A regionals.
Class 1A Stillman Valley Regional
Le-Win/Stockton dominated in its own way and put 10 in the finals at the 1A Stillman Valley Regional, and had six first-place finishes and four seconds. There were 37 Rockford-area wretlers all togehter to advance to sectionals in 1A.
Le-Win/Stockton’s regional champs were: Jeremiah Luke (38-3 at 285); Eli Larson (42-1 at 190); Oliver McPeek (41-2 at 215); Arrison Bauer (42-3 at 144); Brandon White (28-9 at 126); and Carson Hill (28-17 at 113).
For Oregon, Josiah Perez (39-0) stayed perfect and took first at 120, and Jack (24-5 at 132) and Nelson Benesh (38-4 at 138) each placed first at their weight classes. Oregon also had three second-place finishers.
Byron’s Brody Stien (41-1 at 175) powered his way to a regional title, and three of his teammates finished in second and three in third as the Tigers came out of regionals strong. Will Julian’s (34-6 at 190) lone loss of the tourney came to Le-Win/Stockton’s Larson.
West Carroll had two champs ― Connor Knop (26-0 at 157) and Jonner Smith (33-1 at 165) ― and two other sectional qualifiers, while Polo’s Kaenyn McCarren (22-5 at 150) took home a regional title, and his teammate Micah Stringini (33-9 at 190) took third to advance. Winnebago’s Cam Whitehead (31-4) took first at 106, and he will have one teammate joining him at sectionals: Parker McGlinn (19-8), who got third at 120.
Stillman Valley had two second-place finishers and one who took third that will move on; Dakota had one second-place finisher and three thirds, and will hit sectionals with four guys still alive; and Durand had two third-place finishers move on in 1A.
2A Sterling, Harvard regionals
In 2A, Rockford-area wrestlers competed at Sterling and Harvard, looking to make it to the 2A Geneseo Sectional. There were 21 from the area that made it through in 2A.
Freeport’s No. 1-ranked Treyden Diduch (36-2) had no problem hauling in a regional title at 106 with a pair of quick pins, leading the charge for the locals. Freeport also had six other wrestlers advance to sectionals with a second- or third-place finish at regionals.
East’s Ty Smart (37-3 at 157) and Dana Wickson (34-5 at 150) were both regional champs, as were Victor Onofre (26-6 at 132) and Sebastian Abwe (24-12 at 113). East also had one other (Jace Scribner) advance with a 19-4 record at 106 after taking third at regionals.
Belvidere North’s Bryson Teunissen (26-9) led the way with a regional title at 132, and his teammates Andrew Bucci (24-13 at 165) and Sam Reed (12-13 at 215) took third to keep their seasons going. Belvidere’s Benjamin Prochnicki (13-10 at 285) took second, and his teammate Landon VanAcker (30-9 at 144) took third to stay alive.
Rochelle’s Aidan Lopez (40-3 at 126) won a regional title to keep cruising, and the Hubs had three other sectional qualifiers make it through as well.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: After powerful regionals, 2 Rockford-area wrestling teams push for state
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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