The 2024-25 Herald Cup: No. 2 Montini Catholic
Editor’s note: Now that the 2024-25 high school sports year is over, it’s time to announce the top schools in the Herald Cup standings. We devised a points system based on team state finishes to measure which of the 80-plus high schools from the Daily Herald circulation area had the best athletic year. We’ll announce the top five small schools this week, one per day, with No. 5 on Monday through No. 1 on Friday. The top five large schools will be revealed next week.
Highlighted by a pair of state titles, Montini Catholic collected plenty of hardware during the 2024-25 school year.
The Broncos tallied 111 points — calculated by weighing team finishes throughout the fall, winter and spring — and earned second place in the Herald Cup standings for small schools.
How they got there
Montini’s boys cross country runners got the postseason started by coming in seventh in Class 1A with a score of 225 and one top-10 finisher in sophomore Nino Pesola.
The Broncos’ football team claimed its seventh state title and first since 2015. As the No. 9 seed in the 3A bracket, Montini rattled off wins over North Lawndale Charter, top-seeded Byron, Princeton and Wilmington before beating Monticello in a 49-8 rout.
The Montini boys wrestling team qualified for the dual team state tournament for an IHSA-record 25th time. After falling to IC Catholic in the semifinals, Montini rebounded for a third-place finish with a 50-24 victory over Mahomet-Seymour.
The Broncos earned their second state title of the season with a 3A championship in girls basketball. Montini defeated Grayslake Central, Notre Dame and, finally, St. Ignatius in the title game.
Montini softball played an impressive sectional round, dethroning the top two seeds in St. Francis and Fenwick. In the supersectional, Montini fell 6-2 to St. Laurence.
Who made it happen
Pesola, who finished in 10th at state, and senior Nolan Ferris, who finished in 19th, each earned all-state honors. Pesola’s time of 15:06 on the 3-mile course at Detweiller Park ranked third fastest in program history while Ferris’ time of 15:12 slotted him in fifth.
Senior wide receiver Santino Florio and senior lineman Jonathan Hayes made the IHSFCA’s Class 3A all-state team while defensive lineman Nicky Castaldo received an honorable mention.
Wrestler Kam Luif, who previously earned an individual state title at 138 pounds, pinned his opponent during the first period of the third-place dual team match. He, Josh Vazquez, Santino Tenuta and Jaxon Lane reached the 100 varsity-win mark this season.
Senior Nikki Kerstein was named Class 3A girls basketball player of the year and will play at Wisconsin next season. She finished high school with more than 2,000 points and 500 steals. Teammates Peyton Farrell and Lily Spanos earned all-state honorable mentions by the Champaign News-Gazette.
Senior softball player Kat Filkowski and sophomore Aubry Raffen achieved second-team all-state status, while freshman Cam Fox earned a third-team nod.
Key stats
The football team amassed 545 yards of total offense in the title game, 10 yards shy of the Class 3A record. Montini ran for 190 yards after the catch during the contest. Quarterback Israel Abrams holds 15 scholarship offers heading into his junior season.
Kerstein and Farrell combined for 33 points and 9 rebounds in the girls basketball final.
Fox pitched a complete game in the softball regional final, striking out nine and yielding just two hits. Across two games in the sectional round, the Broncos tallied 31 hits and scored 25 runs.
Key facts
Ferris won the sectional by 0.3 seconds and became the first in program history to run in the state finals for four straight years.
After dropping two straight football games to fall to 2-2 on the season, Montini never lost again, averaging 35.4 points per contest over the 10-game span.
They said it
“We ended how we wanted to end. We came out on top.” — Luif after winning the third-place dual team match.
“They were a close-knit group when I got here. But I was able to fit right in. We really are all best friends.” — Kerstein, who transferred from Deerfield.