Montini falls 1 point short of advancing
BLOOMINGTON - After dominating Class 2A wrestling the past eight years, Montini's run finally came to an end in Class 3A Saturday morning.
But not without a fight.
The Broncos (15-4-0) poured everything they had into their state quarterfinal with Marmion at U.S. Cellular Coliseum, but it wasn't quite enough. The Cadets (26-5) edged Montini 30-29 to send the reigning Class 2A champion home early, and this time without a state trophy.
The IHSA moved the Broncos into the largest class this season because of the private school's success at the middle class.
"We knew when the state draw came out there was a good chance that we would go against Marmion, and that's a tough way to open the state tournament, when it's against a longtime rival, plus one of the top teams in the state, like us," said the Broncos' Jimmy Pawelski, who ends his senior season with four individual state medals, his last coming one week ago when he finished fourth overall at 126 pounds.
Pawelski and teammates Joey Melendez, Real Woods, Nicky Amato, Dylan Duncan and Will Lewan did their best to build a big lead with as many bonus points as they could to offset the Cadets' power from 145 pounds on.
The strategy appeared, at least on paper, to be working after Lewan's 11-4 decision gave Montini a 20-9 advantage, but it wasn't enough.
A.J. Jaffe's pin at 1:51 got the Cadets going. After freshman Matt Ortiz slowed things with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Brad Gross at 152, it was all Cadets.
Trace Carello, Nate Jimenez and Matt Ferraro put 15 unanswered points on the scoreboard to make it 30-23.
A forfeit at 195 ended the proceedings with a 1-point victory for the Cadets.
"When you look at this tournament on the surface, it's hard to figure how three of the top teams in the state, who are all nationally ranked (Montini, Marmion and Sandburg) only will see one going home with a state trophy," Pawelski said.
"The system needs to be overhauled in my opinion. We were beat by the better team today, and that happens. It's OK. But I feel bad for Sandburg as well. They lost to Marmion in their dual-team sectional the other day, and they belong here just as much as we do."
Pawelski, Dylan Duncan (43-3) and Caleb Fortuna (26 wins) are the only seniors in the Broncos lineup for coach Israel Martinez. He will have a wonderful core of returning players to lean on next season, including the dynamic duo of Woods and Lewan, who combined for 80 victories.
"Montini has easily been the best experience of my life - both with wrestling, and academics, so even though we leave here with a loss, there's so much more to take with my that I'll have forever," Pawelski said.