Montini qualifies for state in every class

There really was some suspense.

Sure Montini dominated Fenton's Class 2A wrestling sectional Saturday in Bensenville. And yes, there weren't too many surprises as the Broncos powered their way to 10 championships.

But having said that, a pair of third-place matches involving Montini wrestlers went down to the wire. Because of that the Broncos' bid to qualify for state in each and every weight class was not decided until after junior Zech Tredenick pulled off a 2-1 overtime defeat of St. Joseph's Malcolm Watson in the third-place bout at 215 pounds.

Tredenick's win followed a 6-2 decision by teammate Doug Diedrick, who avenged a loss to Riverside-Brookfield 189-pounder Juan Gomez Velez, who pinned the Broncos grappler at last week's regional.

"My teammates helped me a lot this week," said Diedrick, a first-year starter who will take a 14-7 mark downstate. "I worked on my hand slides and keeping my position, but it's really all about the quality of our (training) room."

Montini 140-pounder Steve Robertson - a state champion at 125 last year - improved to 45-5 on the year by recording three pins en route to winning his third straight sectional crown.

"We came here confident. We dominated at regionals and all the work we put in all year is starting to pay off," said Robertson, who won by fall over Antioch's George Gonzalez at the 2:33 mark of the final. "We're right on track for next week."

Montini sophomore Brandon McBride appears to be on track in his effort to add an IHSA title to the one he won in Idaho last season. McBride (39-9) advanced to the finals with a win by default and a technical fall before pinning Fenton's Chris Buts in the title bout.

Buts, who will be joined downstate by Bison teammates and fellow sectional runners-up Sean Havlovic (119 pounds), Esteban Vazquez (125) and Ryan Joy (130), is excited after his first state berth.

"My season goal was to get to state," the Fenton junior said. "Now I'm shooting for 30 wins and I'm at 28 right now."

Montini dominated from start to finish as KeVon Powell won three times by fall to improve to 41-6 on the year at 103. When heavyweight Ross Ferraro (33-10) edged Riverside-Brookfield's John Schraidt 6-4 a couple hours later, the Broncos were 10-1 in title bouts on the day and 3-0 in third-place matches.

"This is the first time we're sending every wrestler to state, so that's a nice school record," Montini coach Mike Bukovsky said. "It's got to be a state record, too, since you can't do better than sending all 14."

Next week the Broncos will hope to shine as individuals, and the following week the two-time defending team state champs will look to extend their team dominance.

"We have some guys with some very lofty goals next week, and then the week after that we have the same lofty goals for the team," Bukovsky said.