Montini repeats as 5A champion
CHAMPAIGN -- Hard-hitting defense and high-flying offense again put the Montini Broncos at the top of their class.
In Saturday's Class 5A championship game at the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium, Montini successfully defended last year's championship, defeating Chatham Glenwood 34-21.
Montini (12-2) recovered 3 first-quarter fumbles, capitalizing on 2 of them for a 21-0 lead, and cruised from there. Broncos receiver Jordan Westerkamp capped his all-state season with 7 receptions for 146 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“The first quarter, the turnovers really got us going,” said Broncos coach Chris Andriano. “We were so fired up on the sideline. It seemed like every time we hit them hard, boom, it came out and we were right there to pounce on it. And we built the momentum off of that. That was really critical. That was pretty much the game.”
Montini plagued Glenwood sophomore quarterback Miles McAdams in particular. The Broncos set title-game records for sacks, individual sacks and most tackles for loss by an individual.
“The defense played great all day,” said Tredenick, the defensive end known as “Bubba,” who's played with a torn meniscus in his left knee since Week 6.
“We got a lot of pressure up front from Ross (Ferraro), Phil Giordano, Frank (Montalto) and me. We really work on it, on our stunts, our quickness, and it really paid off today.”
The Broncos struck first against Glenwood (10-4). Tredenick's first of his four sacks gave Montini good field position, and the Broncos sprinted 52 yards in five plays. Quarterback Matt Westerkamp rammed 3 yards over center Mac Robinson and Matt Kersten's kick had the Broncos up 7-0 at 3:58 of the first quarter.
The Titans gave Montini boatloads of help in short order. Tackle Ross Ferraro recovered one fumble at Glenwood's 13-yard line, and linebacker Franklin Bruscianelli recovered another at the Glenwood 32. The Titans also fumbled a kickoff that went unpunished.
The Cousins Westerkamp Matt to Jordan connected on touchdown passes of 13 and 23 yards for the 21-0 lead. On an extra-point fake on the Broncos' third touchdown after their second kick was blocked, Tom Lentine threw to Anthony Damato for a 2-point conversion.
“The sidelines were crazy,” said Matt Westerkamp, who was 14-of-25 passing for 199 yards. “We were all pumped up. All we wanted to do was get the ball in the end zone and get points on the board, and we did that.”
Glenwood finally saw positives in the second quarter. The Titans used a 34-yard draw play from Devin Von Nordheim-Moore to set up Tony Giovanelli's 8-yard touchdown run to cut Montini's lead to 21-7 at 6:34 of the second quarter.
Montini promptly responded. Getting its own draw play working on a 23-yard Matt Westerkamp run, the quarterback then found his cousin on a 51-yard post pattern behind double coverage. Montini led 28-7 at halftime.
“My dad (Bob Westerkamp) has been drilling me to have double moves as a receiver, that's something that you need to be good at,” Jordan Westerkamp said. “Matt just put it out there, and it's a state game, you've got to make plays, so I was fortunate enough to make that play.”
Fortunate has nothing to do with it. Westerkamp couldn't be stopped all season, the Big Ten recruit finishing his junior with 89 catches for 1,631 yards and 21 touchdowns.
“He is a special receiver,” Andriano said.
“We weren't real successful at covering that,” said Glenwood coach Dan Rourke.
“In the playoffs they're as good as we've seen. The last two weeks we controlled the ball on the ground, but not this week.”
Kersten's second-half field goals of 29 and 32 yards were sufficient to hold off the Titans. The Broncos won their second straight title, third overall.
“It's a significant win for our program,” Andriano said. “I think it puts us in a class of teams now in the state of Illinois that are very, very good at what they do. We've arrived at that point.
“Hopefully, we can keep it going. We've got a great group of young kids coming back, so I think we've got a great shot at maybe coming back next year.”