Montini advances all 14 individuals to sectionals
It was as if the refs were swatting at flies, smacking their hands off the mat, over and over.
At the Class 2A IHSA regional held at Evergreen Park High School on Saturday, the defending state champion Montini wrestling team gave the hands of the referees a workout, repeatedly pinning opponents, a total of 20 times in the tournament.
The Broncos ran away with the regional championship with 305 points.
Lemont (231.50) and Fenton (184) tried to unseat Montini — which has won six state championships since 2000 — but finished second and third, respectively.
For Montini coach Israel Martinez, the mission this postseason is simple: “Win the state tournament; there is nothing else at Montini.”
The paths of Fenton and Montini converged and clashed in the final matches and it wasn’t pretty. All seven Bison finalists squared up against the Broncos and each wrestler was defeated lost to his Broncos counterpart.
Bison heavyweight Aaron Brock had revenge on his mind coming into his finals match against Montini’s David Sarkan, whom he had lost to via a second-round pin on Jan. 11 at the Montini triangular.
Brock came out fast and furious to start his day, squeezing a pin on Solorio’s Oscar Perez in under 30 seconds. Brock took an under hook position by Perez, hipped into him, pulled his arm out, kicked out his ankle and ended the match seconds later.
He got his desired match but fate repeated itself when Sarkan pinned Brock, this time in the first period.
Despite the tough final match results, Fenton coach Brian Hastings had high praise for his team.
“I thought our guys did a good job of winning some big matches early and then competed well against some national level competition,” Hastings said.
One of Montini’s bread and butter moves, “The Scarf,” worked like a charm all day. The wrestler scarfs his opponents arm around his neck, applies a half-nelson and walks their opponent over in pin position.
Montini advanced all of its 14 wrestlers into next week’s Lemont Individual Sectional and afterward will look to extend its team undefeated record, second in team history.
To say Montini’s takes its run in the postseason dead serious would be an understatement.
“I put the expectations high to the sky,” coach Martinez said. “I commit my life to them and they commit their lives to themselves.”