Boys wrestling: Yorkville Christian takes runner-up, Yorkville finishes fourth at IHSA dual team state

BLOOMINGTON – Yorkville Christian wasn’t going to go down without a fight Saturday, Feb. 25,in Bloomington, no matter how many obstacles it faced.

The Mustangs faced Coal City in a back-and-forth match for the Class 1A Dual Team State Tournament title that came down to the final few matches. Despite overcoming two deficits and several wrestlers battling injuries, Yorkville Chrisitan couldn’t defend its title, falling to the Coalers 32-31 to finish as runner-up.

“We wanted to win, but what matters is I’m here with all my brothers, all my friends, family,” Yorkville Christian senior Jackson Gillen said. “I wouldn’t trade it for any championship you could get me.”

The Mustangs (22-6) trailed 20-13 with five matches to go before they made their final attempt to defend their title. Jackson Mehochko picked a win by fall at 220 pounds to make it a 20-19 Coal City lead before the Coalers’ Michael Gonzalez won at 285 with a pin.

Aiden Larsen changed the momentum when he won by fall at 106 in the second period to make it 26-25 Coalers with two matches to go. Eli Foster moved up for the Mustangs to wrestle at 113, and Coal City’s Brody Widlowski pinned Foster to secure the win. Ty Edwards won at 120 by forfeit to end the match.

“There were some swing matches that we needed to win and didn’t win, so credit to Coal City,” Yorkville Christian coach Mike Vester said. “We put our best effort out there and we just came up short.”

Noah Dial (132), Drew Torza (152) and Gillen (170) won their matches by decision, while Tyler Martinez (160) won his match by major decision.

The Mustangs will graduate eight seniors who won a championship last season. The graduating seniors helped the school win its first state title in any sports last season since it opened in 2014, and they hope they left an impression on the program that will last a long time.

“It’s amazing,” Gillen said. “I hope that we rubbed off some of the experience and mentality to the younger guys to eventually carry on to the incoming freshmen.”

Yorkville (18-7) had a simple goal this season: bring home a state trophy. The Foxes wanted to show that they could compete in Class 3A after moving up to the highest class a couple of seasons ago and did so Saturday, finishing fourth after losing to Lockport 45-16 in the third-place match.

“That’s what we were building around,” Yorkville coach Jake Oster said. “Taking that next step, getting to the state tournament, winning a trophy. It feels good to get there, win a trophy.”

The Foxes advanced to the third-place match after they defeated York in the quarterfinals Feb. 24 and lost to the eventual champion St. Charles East in the semifinals Feb. 25. Yorkville won three of its first four matches against the Porters, but Lockport’s lineup proved to be too much for the Foxes to overcome.

“Sometimes you win a lot of close ones, sometimes you lose them,” Oster said. “It kind of makes the score look lopsided than the match was.”

Oster thought this season’s performance was the stepping stone the program needed as a small 3A school. The Foxes will graduate three seniors from this season’s team, and Oster is excited to see how far the program can go with the momentum from the tournament.

“It just shows them that they’re on the right path,” Oster said. “If they stick through it together, it works out.”