Marmion meets its match against No. 1 Oak Park
BLOOMINGTON - The luck of the draw, proved no luck at all for Marmion Academy.
The Cadets saw its sensational season come to an abrupt end when a rampant Oak Park-River Forest club rose up and flexed its muscle to record a 46-18 victory Saturday morning in a dual-team state tournament quarterfinal at U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington.
The No. 1 rated Huskies (26-0) took advantage of having its two state champions, Walter White (152) and Matt Rundell (160) open this dual - and before the Cadets' own state champ, Riley DeMoss (182) checked in - the Huskies had already built a 14-0 lead, which quickly became 38-9 after OPRF registered four straight pins beginning at 220.
"It wasn't the best of state draws we could have asked for - but there's plenty for this team to be proud of, including a big win last Tuesday over Lyons Township (38-36) to get downstate, plus a great regular season, despite having so many injuries in our lineup all throughout," said the junior DeMoss, who beat Jack Jensen of Willowbrook one week ago in the finals at Champaign, and finished his superb year with a dazzling 46-5 overall record.
The aforementioned White (42-0) and Rundell (40-3) forced the Cadets (18-8-0) here for the consecutive season - to chase 14 points right off the opening whistle, something the No. 1 team in the nation has done to plenty of opponents this season, including 2A state power, Montini.
"It doesn't matter that they're the No. 1 team - (a) 28-point loss to them will not sit well with any of us during the off-season, but it will certainly help inspire and motivate us for the next year," said AJ Jaffe, who ends his terrific junior campaign with a third-place state medal at 132 pounds, to go along with a 43-9 record.
Jaffe helped the Cadets finish with a flurry, with his 5-4 victory over Jaime Hernandez, followed by Anthony Cheloni's 1-0 shutout of Savonne Bennette. Another junior, Eli Baltezor (145), finished things up with a 7-6 win against Bryce Scott.
"Cheloni and I have something to work on and prove after falling short at the state tournament," Jaffke said. Cheloni (38-12) was runner-up to Shayne Oster (Lockport) in Champaign.
"And we have a strong group of new guys coming in, to go along with a great core coming back, so we expect to be right there one year from now."
Both Jaffe and Cheloni are two-time regional champs, while Michael Callahan (145), who went from 11 wins in 2014 to 36 this season, also returns to give the heart of the Cadets' lineup plenty of power for next season.
Coach Ryan Cumbee will welcome back 13 of the 14 in Saturday's starting lineup, including state champion Nathan Traxler (182, 46-2), in addition to Trace Carello (160, 27-6) who gave Rundell everything he could during a 5-0 defeat.
Carello came back from a heartbreaking 3-2 ultimate tiebreaker loss in his state semifinal to Joey Gunther (Libertyville) to capture a third-place trophy, after winning his last three matches on wrestle-back Saturday.
"We've been dinged up all year, and when the state draw came out, we knew right away it was Oak Park-River Forest in the quarters, so right away the hope of getting into the finals took a big hit (but) we stayed confident right up until today," began Jaffe.
"But when you come here, it's about finishing first, and nothing else," DeMoss added. "We'll be back and better than ever next season. And with good health, and some good fortune, we'll be in that final, going for that state title."