Marmion wins third straight regional

Marmion had major injury concerns as the wrestling season unfolded this winter.

"We were pretty banged up at the end of January," Marmion co-coach Donnie Reynolds said.

But the Cadets were back to as full as strength as possible Saturday at the Class 3A Batavia regional.

A.J. Jaffe, Anthony Cheloni, Trace Carello and Nathan Traxler all defended championships from last year at Waubonsie Valley as the Cadets had half of the 14 titlists in Batavia.

Marmion totaled 236 points to capture its third consecutive regional.

The Cadets (17-6) advance to the Shephard team sectional and will face Morton champion, Lyons Twp., the Tuesday after the individual state finals.

The 42 qualifiers out of Batavia will compete at the Downers Grove North individual sectional on Saturday.

Naperville Central was a distant runner-up and had five sectional qualifiers.

Metea Valley was third but produced a school-record seven qualifiers.

Batavia had a lone champion to finish fourth, while West Aurora had three champions in placing fifth.

Naperville North, Wheaton Warrenville South, Waubonsie Valley and East Aurora rounded out the nine-team field.

"Now that we won the regional, we have to make sure we're ready for the dual-meet stuff," Reynolds said. "We need to continue to get healthier."

Jake Polka launched a run of four straight Marmion champions with his decision over Metea Valley junior Jake Toepfer at 126 pounds.

Jaffe followed with a first-period fall at 132 pounds; Cheloni added a 6-point win at 138, and Mikey Callahan ended his 145-pound match with a second-period pin.

"I just went out there and try to dominate as much as I could," Cheloni said. "I wasn't thinking what would happen if I took a bad shot or something."

"We just wanted to come and wrestle hard (as a team), try to get pins and score as many points as possible," Callahan said.

Carello, Riley DeMoss and Traxler then made it seven out of nine classes with championships in succession from 160 to 182 pounds.

"I didn't wrestle as well as I hoped," said Traxler, the top-rated 182-pounder in the state who earned a hard-fought 5-4 win over Metea Valley junior Dylan Ervin. "I didn't finish my takedowns and didn't use the right technique when (Ervin) got on my leg."

West Aurora sophomore Isaac Jacquez was awarded his second regional championship in as many years.

The 113-pounder improved to 41-2 on the season when Metea Valley senior Axl Ariza - whom Jacquez beat for Upstate Eight supremacy - could not compete due to illness.

Chachi Jacquez captured his first regional title in three years for the Blackhawks' second of three titles.

The senior is 44-2 after dominating his championship match at 120 pounds against Marmion senior Joe Antonelli.

"I started off slow, but once that I started to feel the pace I could feel (Antonelli) slowing down a bit," Chachi Jacquez said. "I had to take advantage."

The elder Jacquez missed the postseason last year with as injury; senior classmate Alex Gonzalez did as well.

But Gonzalez ended Andrew Ives' 24-match winning streak with an 8-3 decision at 152 pounds for the Blackhawks' third championship.

"I knew (Ives) was undefeated, so I just went out there and wrestled hard," Gonzalez said of the defending regional champion from WW South. "The training is key to winning tough matches like that."

"It's disappointing, but I'm not too focused about (the winning streak)," Ives said. "It's a monkey off my back. I would rather lose now than later in the year."

Batavia senior Dylan Uzumecki had a takedown in overtime to turn back DuPage Valley Conference champion Chris Zhang (Naperville North) at 220 pounds.

"(Zhang) got really tired in overtime, and I guess I wanted it more," the Upstate Eight tournament champion said. "I know he is a really good opponent. I had enough to beat him."

The heavyweight final ended in a most anticlimactic fashion as Waubonsie Valley junior Tyler Caldwell was the last of five athletes to defend regional championships.

Caldwall was ruled the victor with five seconds remaining in overtime when Batavia senior Mitch Krusz was cited for stalling.

It proved to be bookend championships for the DuPage contingent.

Naperville Central sophomore Jake Keating had a dominant second period to ease past Naperville North 106-pounder Lucas Van Poucke with a 10-5 win.

"I just wrestled the way I normally wrestle," Keating said. "I was able to take (Van Poucke) down and get some points. I wrestled a lot in the postseason."

Shuji Mizoguchi, DVC champion Ben Williamson, Cam Hayes and Riley Guttosch all won third-place matches for the Redhawks to advance to Downers North at 113, 138, 145 and 160 pounds.

"I'm really proud of our kids," Naperville Central coach Rob Porter said. "Our kids really battled all the way through the tournament."

Metea Valley had five finalists to secure guaranteed berths, but the Valley champion in the Upstate Eight failed to win any titles.

"No individual champions, but you have to look at the big picture," Metea Valley coach Claudio Torres said. "The program is going in the right direction. Each year we have scored the most points and placed the highest (at the regional) since the school opened."

Ariza, Toepfer, Kenan Carter, Sam Elston and Ervin all fell in their final match at 113, 126,145, 170 and 182 pounds for the Mustangs.

Naperville North and WW South also had three finalists apiece.

But the Huskies' Van Poucke, Stevie Schmult (160) and Zhang and the Tigers' Cory Drummond (132), Qarin Jonnic (138) and Ives all had to settle for second.

Waubonsie Valley junior Max Ihry handed Tim Young his first loss of the season two weeks ago in the finals of the Upstate Eight tournament.

But the East Aurora senior avenged his sole defeat with a dramatic takedown seconds before the final buzzer to win the 195-pound title, 3-1.

"I had a chance to score on him late in the third period," Ihry said. "I couldn't capitalize. It didn't turn out the way (I wanted), clearly."