Montini dispatches Brother Rice
The double-digit deficit after the first three matches was immaterial to the Montini wrestling team.
Tuesday night at the Class 3A Argo team dual sectional final, Montini scored all of its points in unanswered fashion to thwart first-time participant Brother Rice 41-21 in Summit.
Montini (15-3) advanced to the largest-class Elite Eight since winning the first of its eight straight titles in the final year of the two-class system.
The Broncos will face off against another Catholic League rival Marmion (25-5) in the third quarterfinal Saturday morning in Bloomington.
Marmion, which turned back fellow nationally rated Sandburg in the other sectional final, defeated Montini easily in the schools' regular-season conference match.
"It's what we like to call our Fab Five," Montini senior Jimmy Pawelski said of the Broncos' brilliance displayed by teammates Joey Melendez, a state champion, Will Lewan and state runners-up Real Woods and Dylan Duncan.
After Brother Rice (14-6) won the first three matches between 195 pounds and heavyweight, there was a double forfeit at 106.
Normally, Melendez would occupy that spot for Montini, but he and fellow sophomore Woods moved up a class to 113 and 120 pounds.
The Broncos' underclassmen soon had Montini in double figures with back-to-back technical falls.
"It was tough, real tough," Woods said of having his perfect season ended by Louie Hayes of Sandburg in the state-championship match last Saturday in Champaign. "After a loss I am going to do so much better, work even harder. I want to get that push, that extra motivation. That is something you don't get with a win."
Pawelski, bound for the Ivy League at Brown next fall, provided some play-by-play action of Montini taking command after Woods narrowed the deficit to 12-10.
"We had three straight first-period falls," Pawelski said.
In a cumulative time of three minutes and 24 seconds, Pawelski, Duncan and Lewan recorded pins to extend the Broncos' unanswered run to 28 points.
"We have always known we have to help this team out," Pawelski said. "We have to get our bonus points. We have been doing that all year long."
State qualifiers Caleb Fortuna and Matt Ortiz swelled the Broncos' lead to 38-10 with a major decision and pin, respectively, at 145 and 152 pounds.
Anthony Geraci had the last of the eight straight Montini wins at 160 pounds.
"We have a core group of guys who are good friends and partners," said Duncan, headed to Illinois next fall. "We show it on the mat."
Brother Rice scored the last 9 points of the match to account for the final score.
"We didn't have any delusions of grandeur," Brother Rice coach Bill Weick said. "We knew we couldn't beat this (Montini) team. It was an appearance for us."