Montini hands Marmion its 1st loss at SCC tournament
The blind-draw disappointed the fans, but the draw itself could not have suited Montini any better.
The consensus top-two Class 2A wrestling programs in the state, defending champion Montini and upstart Marmion, had their long-awaited showdown at the Suburban Christian Conference round-robin dual-meet tournament on Saturday morning in Lombard. With many hoping for the titanic clash to commence in the latter part of the five-round tournament, the teams instead faced off in the second round.
Colton Rasche is a native of Aurora, but the Montini senior, committed to the Naval Academy, showed little mercy for his hometown opponents.
"I know a lot of those kids (on Marmion)," said Rasche, who opened the Broncos' scoring with a 10-2 victory at 130 pounds over highly regarded Marmion sophomore Angelo Silvestro. "We knew what we had to do. We proved to them that they need to step it up for state."
The Broncos showcased their brilliance at the middle weights in convincing fashion, running of a 24-point unanswered run by capturing the first six classes en route to a 39-12 victory. Montini bulldozed its other four foes - Aurora Central Catholic, St. Edward, Marian Central Catholic and Guerin - by an aggregate score of 315-9.
In improving to 26-2 on the season, Montini won 64 of its 70 matches on the day. The Broncos have not dropped a dual meet to an Illinois school since Sandburg deposed them for the 2007 Class AA state championship.
Montini snapped the Cadets' 18-match season-long winning streak, and the teams could theoretically meet again in the quarterfinals of the team state tournament four weeks from now.
"We knew they were going to be tough," Montini defending state champion Steve Robertson said. "We were ready for them. We started the meet at a good weight for us. (Winning the first six matches) was definitely demoralizing for them."
Robertson had a first-period fall at 140 pounds to give Montini a 13-0 cushion, and the Broncos also received wins from Eric Powell (135 pounds), Frank Baer (145), Brandon McBride (152) and Dimitri Willis (160) as part of its flawless opening run. Baer had an overtime takedown to vanquish the Cadets' Northwestern-bound Pat Greco.
"We practice those situations all the time," Baer said. "You have to dig deep and win one for the team."
Marmion senior leader Nico Jimenez put the Cadets on the board with a 9-3 decision at 171 pounds; David Niels and Connor English proceeded to maintain the momentum with wins at 189 and 215 pounds.
But Ross Ferraro whitewashed Alex Fritz at heavyweight, and Kevon Powell had the Broncos' second fall at 103.
In a battle of two of the top underclassmen in the state, Montini freshman Michael Sepke turned back Marmion sophomore Eddie Greco 9-6 at 112.
"That was a huge win for us," Montini coach Mike Bukovsky said. "I knew (Marmion was) going to get better, because they're not afraid to wrestle anybody."
"They started the match off at 30, and we never responded," Marmion coach Dean Branstetter said. "They kicked our (butts). I though we would respond better."
"I just think that we couldn't match their intensity," said Eddie Greco. "They just wanted it more than we did."
The Cadets took out their frustrations on Guerin, Marian, St. Edward and city rival Aurora Central. Marmion (21-1) recorded nine pins against Marian for a 63-12 triumph, and Aurora Central was its next one-sided victim. The Cadets smashed Aurora Central, scoring the maximum 84 points with a dozen falls and two forfeits.
The carnage was so complete that Aurora Central failed to score an offensive point in any of the matches, and sophomore Frankie Marin was the lone Charger to last longer than two periods.
Freshman sensation Ben Whitford improved to 33-0 on the season with five more victories for Marmion.
The day was not a complete loss for Aurora Central, however. The Chargers turned aside St. Edward and Guerin in convincing fashion to record their fifth victory of the year. Senior Sean Callahan led the way with three falls at 215 pounds; German Arroyo also had multiple pins for the Chargers.
"I wish I could have done better, especially with the rivalry with Marmion," Callahan said.
"We're getting better," Aurora Central coach Eric Fulara said.
St. Edward picked up its second win of the winter by defeating Guerin (4-17) in the fourth round. Shane Finnane and his younger brother Evan alternated at heavyweight for St. Edward. Evan was the only champion for the Wave against Montini; Shane duplicated the achievement against Marmion. Shane Finnane had the only offensive points in his 5-2 victory over Marmion freshman Alex Fritz.
"He's pretty big for a freshman," said the elder Finnane. "Flexibility really helped me out there."
The younger Finnane also captured a tight match in his 285-pound match with Montini.
"(My opponent) was good enough that I just couldn't pin him," said Evan Finnane. "That was a tough one."