Marmion takes first regional title in school history
A regional championship plaque never felt so good.
In fact, Marmion never knew what one felt like until late Saturday afternoon.
The Cadets dominated the Class 2A Oswego wrestling regional, winning 9 matches to secure their first regional title in program history.
"It feels real good," said Cadets coach Dean Branstetter. "That's 8 years in the making and we finally got some guys in here that wanted this to happen. We just wrestled real well today. My goodness we wrestled well and hopefully there's more to come."
There was no denying the Cadets during a strong run to begin the championship bouts. Jake Field got things started at 103 pounds with a tough 7-3 decision over Oswego's Frank Yattoni.
"Jake kind of set the tone," Branstetter said. "He was a No. 3 seed going against a No. 1 and he wrestled a great match and then Eddie (Greco) got a pin and we had a nice run."
Undefeated Ben Whitford (119) followed Eddie Greco's win at 112 pounds win a pin of his own, George Fisher won at 125 pounds, Angelo Silvestro took a 5-1 decision at 130 pounds and Eddie Breen won by fall at 3:56 as the Cadets reeled off 6 straight championship victories.
Glenbard South's Andrew Hiller beat Rich East's Bryan Webster at 140 pounds for the Raiders first of 2 victories that ended Marmion's run. Austin Teitsma (285) needed less than two minutes collectively to win his semifinal and championships matches.
"I knew Mike York from Marmion was good and that the Rich East kid was tough," Hiller said. "Coach told me that I had been trying to hard and since then things have worked out well."
After starting the season 5-7, Hiller has gone 18-4. It's been quite a turnaround for the senior who was 30 pounds heavier as a freshman.
"Coach came over after I won and yelled 'He went from being a fat, little freshman with no wins at 171 (pounds) to a regional champion at 140,'" Hiller said. "I was never good with athletics so it shows that hard work pays off."
Hard work continues to pay dividends for the Cadets who also received victories from Pat Greco at 145 pounds and Dan Rowland at 152 pounds.
"We got 11 guys in the finals and our today was to get all 14 so that was pretty good," Rowland said.
David Niels was the final champion for the Cadets, beating Oswego's Cody Snodgrass, 8-5, at 189 pounds.
"We had expectations to win the regional and get as many guys into the finals as possible and we did a nice job of that," Niels said. "We did the showdown (before the final session) and with all the guys lined up it was cool to see most of my teammates going for first place. It shows all the hard work we've put in."
Marmion's season will continue on Friday and Saturday in the Class 2A Lemont sectional.