Montini rolls through the field at SCC meet
Forget stopping Montini.
The Broncos lost just 1 match as they cruised past the competition during Saturday's Suburban Catholic Conference Mega Duals wrestling meet at St. Edward. The meet, which acts as a conference meet but has each of the teams square off in dual format instead of using a tournament, was a Montini showcase.
The Broncos defeated host St. Edward 80-0, Marian Central 84-0, Aurora Central Catholic 78-0, Driscoll 77-0 and Marmion 64-3.
"We had a really good effort," Broncos' coach Mike Bukovsky said. "We wanted to make sure we came out focused. Garrett kept rolling."
Heavyweight Garrett Goebel certainly did.
The senior, who has inked to play football with Ohio State in the fall, went a perfect 5-0 on the day securing pins against St. Edward's Shane Finnane (0:36), Marmion's Connor English (0:38) and Marian Central's Cody O'Neill (0:43). Goebel, who is the No. 1 heavyweight according to illinoismatmen.com, also picked up a pair of forfeits against Driscoll and Aurora Central Catholic. The senior's efforts allowed him to secure the conference MVP, which was awarded after the meet.
"Coming in here our goal was to win the conference," Goebel said. "All of our guys stayed focused throughout the day. We had a lot of guys step up."
Montini finished with 23 pins on the day. The Broncos secured an all-conference member in each weight class.
The lone match the Broncos lost came when Marmion's Dane Deufel got a 5-3 decision over the Broncos' Mark Marten. Deufel (25-10), who was also selected to all-conference honors, locked up his second-straight conference championship going 5-0. This was the second year in a row Deufel went 5-0 in the conference.
"There were a few other close ones, but I did my own thing," Deufel said. "It's my senior year. That motivates you. It's kind of a reality check."
Marmion had defeated Driscoll (36-9), ACC (65-12), Marian Central (62-12) and St. Edward (54-12) going into the final match against Montini. The Cadets got some big wins from Andrew Konovodoff (145), who went 4-1.
Konovodoff got a 6-2 decision against St. Edward's Will Lytle, pinned Marian Central's Mike Pappas (4:37) and Driscoll's Brett Warren (3:50) and a forfeit against Driscoll before Montini's Alex Saunders pinned him in 1:02.
"We wrestled well all day," Cadets' coach Dean Branstetter said. "(Deufel) wrestled a good smart match. Andrew Konovodoff had a pretty good day. He wrestled a good smart match against St. Edward."
St. Edward's lone member of the all-conference squad was sophomore Dan Duffy (160). Duffy had a monster day going 4-1 with 2 pins. The highlight came when the sophomore was able to avenge a 1-point loss to Marmion's Nick Knuston at the Geneva tournament earlier in the season. This time, Duffy scored a 7-3 decision.
"It shows that I have improved over the season," Duffy said. "(The other matches) were good warm-ups and they got me ready for Marmion."
Duffy improved his record to 14-13 by pinning ACC's Kevin Isles (3:09) and Marian Central's Dan Piggot (1:12) before falling to Montini's Dan Stelter by technical fall. Duffy also picked up a forfeit against Driscoll.
"He had a great day," Shane Kottkampsaid. "He's been kind of hot and cold all year. Today he wrestled well all day."
Burlington Central sweeps quad: The Rockets (16-7) pulled off three victories in Saturday's regular-season finale at East Aurora.
The Rockets defeated Elgin 57-18, Geneva 57-18 and the host Tomcats 57-15.
Senior Curt Mastio ran his record to 33-0 at 145 pounds with two victories by forfeit and a 7-2 victory over Geneva's Jim Martens.