By Bobby Narang –
Aurora Christian High School junior Noah Villarreal was ready to turn the page on the wrestling season.
Minutes after Lena-Winslow ended the Eagles’ season with a resounding 44-20 defeat in the Class 1A dual-team State wrestling meet championship Saturday in Bloomington at the Grossinger Motors Arena, Villarreal pointed toward a fresh start next season.
“It was a fun year, but we weren’t as bonded as last year but still a family,” Villarreal said. “Every family has problems. We just have to work through them. We will be in (Class) 2A next year…I think we got a little too overconfident this season. We lost some guys, then to injuries and it didn’t work out in our favor. I tried to keep everything positive.”
The frustation was evident throughout the Eagles’ program. A year after winning the program’s first State championship in wrestling in its first season, Aurora Christian missed out on back-to-back championships, partly due to lower numbers.
The Eagles had to forfeit three matches against Lena-Winslow, and often competed with less than 12 members.
“We knew it was going to even be tougher to get to the finals,” Aurora Christian head coach Justin Pearch said. “You can’t take anything away from Lena-Winslow. They were the better team tonight. It was a tough season all together. We were down to five athletes at one time. I’m not a guy to make excuses. I’m just happy we were able to keep it together and bring 10 and 11 guys to this tournament.
“It’s too hard to do it with that short amount of guys. Our goal is to build our program, so if we can double our numbers we are shooting for the stars. We have to get as many guys in the room as we can. Winning a State title last year put us on the map. This (loss) doesn’t hurt us a bit, but we just need some help.”
Aurora Christian defeated Peotone, 47-30, in the quarterfinals, and defeated Vandalia, 38-30, in the semifinals, to advance to the State championship match against Lena-Winslow.
• In Class 3A, Montini’s well-oiled machine added its second straight team championship and 15th overall by beating Oak Park-River Forest 41-18 in Saturday’s championship match.
“We know Oak Park is the real deal and how talented they are,” Montini head coach Israel Martinez said. “We forfeited two matches against DeKalb to prepare and show these guys the respect they deserve…I knew we were capable of a lot of things.… We were lucky enough to put things together and our boys wrestled hard.”
For Montini, individual State champions, Dylan Ragusin, 126, Jake Stiles, 160, and Peter Christensen, 195, led the way, with all three winning each of their three matches Saturday.
“To finish off on top and my career on top is bittersweet,” Stiles said, a University of Oklahoma recruit. “It took a lot of heart. We had some young guys step up today and some older guys stepped up. I wanted not to think about my last match, just wrestled hard and built on that lead. I wanted to finish out on top.”
• Marmion Academy fell short in its bid to win its first State championship, but managed a solid comeback in the third-place match to defeat DeKalb, 32-27. The Cadets lost to Oak Park-River Forest in the semifinals, 32-27. Senior Trevor Chumbley, a two-time State champion, wrapped up his career with three victories in Bloomington Saturday.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t come out on top in the semifinals, but it (third-place) shows how much of a family we are and that we rallied together to finish this team out strong,” Chumbley said. “I knew it was my last match in a Marmion singlet. It’s been a crazy ride.”