Boys Wrestling: Yorkville Christian wins first state title in school history ‘It’s amazing’

BLOOMINGTON — Jeremy Loomis never thought Yorkville Christian could win a state wrestling championship when he watched the team as an eighth grader four years ago.

The Yorkville Christian junior remembered watching four wrestlers compete for the program when it started. The Mustangs didn’t have enough wrestlers to compete in duals against other teams that season, so they only wrestled in tournaments.

Four years later, Loomis stood on the floor of the Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington celebrating something he never thought could be done.

Yorkville Christian won the 2022 Class 1A Dual Team State Championship.

“To think now we have 20, over 30 kids and we’re now dual team state champs, it’s amazing,” Loomis said. “It’s crazy to think that we’d go from these four beginning wrestlers to state champs.”

The Mustangs not only won their first state title in program history when they defeated Tremont 48-24 on Saturday night, but the team won the first IHSA state title in school history since Yorkville Christian first opened its doors in 2014.

Loomis couldn’t have started the championship dual off better in his match at 145. The junior fell behind quickly 2-0 but battled back to take a 3-2 lead after the first period. Then he turned Tremont’s Logan Poisal and forced him down to win on a pin.

Drew Torza followed Loomis up with a quick pin in the first period to give Yorkville Christian an early 12-0 lead and the momentum the Mustangs wanted.

“It gets the team all riled up,” Torza said. “Especially getting the first two matches with straight pins, it gets everybody going, it gets us all moving and it just makes us want to pin the next kid.”

Tyler Martinez (160) gave his team a 15-0 lead after his 7-2 win over Logan Stedman, but Tremont rattled off four straight wins, including back-to-back pins at 195 and 220, to take a 18-15 lead.

Yorkville Christian earned forfeit wins at 285 and 106 before Tremont picked up a forfeit win at 113 to make it a 27-24 Mustang lead with four more matches to go. Isaac Bourge pinned Chase Stedman at 120 to make it 33-24 and Grason Johnson won 11-0 at 126 to secure the title with a 37-24 score.

Noah Dial (132) and Braulio Flores (138) each won to cap the night.

“For us to pull it off like that, we basically have enough guys to cover all the weight classes, it means the world,” Yorkville Christian coach Mike Vester said. “It means there’s good things to come too. I don’t like to look ahead, but I know this is a good building block for what’s up ahead.”

Vester and his wrestlers credited the team’s tough schedule to what helped them handle their first-ever trip to the state tournament. The Mustangs wrestled against 2A and 3A powerhouses Lockport, Joliet Catholic and Deerfield throughout the season and learned what it takes to compete with the best.

When it came time to be the best, they knew what to do.

”We tried to wrestle better competition to get us ready, and I’m not saying that 1A is easier, but we’re just trying to wrestle the better competition so we can come in here and we can kick some butt,” Loomis said. “It mentally and physically prepared us for what’s to come.”

Yorkville Christian isn’t planning on this being the lone title the school celebrates this season. The Mustangs boys basketball team has high hopes of winning a state title in a couple weeks and the wrestling program isn’t content with winning just one.

Yorkville Christian wrestlers are ready to show that the program that grew up from four wrestlers to a state title is here to stay.

”This already makes me hyped up for next year,” Torza said. “We’re already talking about next year. Most of our guys are going to be training in the offseason and we’re just so excited to win it next year. That’s our goal.”