Montini congratulates 3-peat state football champs
Montini Catholic High School spent an hour Friday afternoon celebrating an accomplishment that’s become quite routine for the school’s upperclassmen — winning a state football championship.
A pep rally to celebrate Montini’s third consecutive win of the Class 5A state football championship ended the day at the Lombard school.
Students and football players’ parents watched a video highlight reel from the 70-45 title-winning victory over Joliet Catholic as well performances by the poms squad and cheerleaders. Lombard leaders such as Village President Bill Mueller were on hand to congratulate the team and its fans.
“Last year I said ‘Let’s do a three-peat’ and you did,” Mueller said. “Congratulations!”
Principal Maryann O’Neill said the road to the three-peat grew more challenging each year as pressure mounted to continue winning.
“It’s been a great experience, but every year it gets harder,” O’Neill said. “You won two years — can you do it three?”
Fans this year stood behind their team and helped carry the Broncos to another victory, she said.
The championship win helped set some records, especially for Broncos senior wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp, said coach Chris Andriano, who has been leading Montini’s football squads for 33 years.
Westerkamp, of Glen Ellyn, had 331 receiving yards in the title game, including 5 touchdown catches. And he’s caught 68 career touchdowns — by far the most of any receiver in Montini history.
“It was unbelievable, but it wasn’t about records,” Andriano said. “It was about these guys playing as a team and dreaming and believing.”
Westerkamp’s achievements stood out enough that Mueller presented him with a congratulatory note from Glen Ellyn Village President Mark Pfefferman.
But Andriano said the team’s accomplishment of state success — earned by combining talent and cooperation — is more significant than any one player’s actions.
“They will remember what they did as a team far longer than what they did individually,” Andriano said.