Fenton earns state quarterfinal berth
In one of Fenton High School's trophy cases is a faded picture of a group of several smiling wrestlers. They were the 1973 state champions.
On Tuesday night in Bensenville, the 2010-11 Bison wrestling team joined the 1973 squad as the two best teams in school history.
Fenton crushed Chicago King 68-4 in the Bison's own Class 2A dual-team sectional to reach state for the first time in the dual-team format, which began in 1984. Before then, a state team champion was determined at one meet where individual state championships were also awarded.
The Bison's next stop is an 11 a.m. Saturday battle against Montini in state quarterfinal action at U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington. Montini is going for its fourth straight state title overall and third consecutive 2A title.
“I'm excited. I'm looking forward to the chance to leave a mark,” said Fenton 285-pound entry Mike DeLeon.
Fenton coach Brian Hastings said Montini had been at Fenton's regional for the last several seasons and no one in the Bison camp had a problem with the two teams not competing until the state quarterfinals.
“The guys deserved this. They've been working hard a bunch of years. It's easy (getting out of sectionals) when you are not facing one of the top two teams in the country,” Hastings said.
He stressed, however, that the Bison needed to compete well against King.
“King has some tough wrestlers, a lot of good guys. We had to and did match their intensity and toughness,” the Fenton coach said. “We wrestled well tonight. “
After the Jaguars' Jacoby McCormick won by major decision at 140 pounds to start the meet and give King a brief 4-0 lead, the Bison went to work and won the next 13 matches, seven by fall and two by major decision.
Those winning by fall were Brandon Exconde (103 pounds), Raul Garcia (125), Sean Havlovic (135), Alan Geneva (145), Chris Butz (152), Ryan Rogers (189) and DeLeon.
Ray Bunker (130) and Joe Butz (160) prevailed via major decisions.
“From the beginning of the season, we set team goals, including a regional championship (which the team did Feb. 5 on its own mats). We knew it was going to be tough. But we knew we could achieve,” Havlovic said.