Coal City beats Vandalia to repeat as IHSA Class 1A champions
By Curt Herron – for the IWCOA
With 15 returners back from a 33-7 team that won last year’s IHSA Class 1A Dual Team Championship, Coal City was definitely the big favorites to become just the sixth program to repeat as champions in the state’s smallest class and the second to do that exclusively in 1A and the Coalers certainly proved to be up to the challenge.
All coach Mark Masters’ Coalers did was win all 42 of their dual meets to become the first unbeaten 1A champions and they also were the first to have a perfect record in the state’s smallest class since Dakota went 24-0 to win the Class A title in 2006.
They completed their perfect season with a 43-23 victory over Vandalia in the title dual meet. It was the second year in a row that the two teams squared off for the championship, with Coal City winning 32-25 in the 2025 Finals.
This was just the second time in the smallest division of the IHSA Finals that two schools met up for titles in back-to-back seasons. The first time that it happened was in 2002 and 2003 when Montini Catholic won consecutive championships over Oregon.
The Coalers also edged defending champion Yorkville Christian 32-31 for their first title in 2023 and then fell 34-27 to Marian Central Catholic to finish in second place in 2024.
This was the Coalers’ third championship in the past four years and they also appeared in the title match of the IHSA Dual Team Finals for the fourth year in a row.
It also marks the ninth time in the last 11 seasons that Coal City has won a trophy, which featured three firsts, four seconds and two thirds. Only three programs in IHSA history have won that many trophies over the same number of seasons, Montini Catholic, Providence Catholic and Washington Community. The Coalers now have won 13 trophies in 15 state appearances.
“You couldn’t have scripted it any better than what we had this year,” said Mark Masters, who now ranks 13th all-time in the IHSA with a 546-161 record. “We got guys at the right weights and our underclassmen, they fit in just perfectly. It was a total effort by everybody and the guys made some sacrifices to get to certain weights and it just worked out for us. There were only three times that we lost five matches in a dual, and that was against Lincoln-Way East, Olympia and Vandalia. And our average scores this season was 67-7. Previously in our other chances, our title hunts, we were part of two different four-time runs. Dakota and that great program they had, we lost to those guys two years in a row. And Washington when we got bumped into 2A and we got to run into them when they were champs. So we’ve been a part of a lot of history. Obviously, on the losing end of those, and didn’t want to be a part of that. (Joining Providence Catholic, Montini Catholic and Washington with nine trophies in 11 seasons) You know, it’s just so close to being 11 for 11. But that’s part of athletics and sometimes things don’t go your way.
“Having consistency through your coaching program is when you have the right coaches. And having those guys consistently be there, that is the key part to almost anything. We had the Coal City Wrestling Club when those guys and those dads were in the program and that was during the big run that we had from 2015 to 2020. Then Joe (Widlowski) took over, and it was Lil’ Coalers. And now you’ve got the right set of dads involved in that. It’s the consistent coaches throughout all the years, with the right parents, right kids, right coaches. And to be able to stay involved at the high school level and our kids didn’t wander off. And we didn’t have kids get into any trouble, they decided to stay on the right path. Our kids have done a great job of being on the right path and following the right course. (Repeating and winning three titles in four years) It’s tough. I mean, it just goes to show you, as good as we were all those years, how hard it is to actually win. And then to win back-to-back is even tougher.”
Coal City’s 42 victories is the second-highest wins total for an IHSA champion with the program also having the record in that category with 43 victories from its first championship team in 2023 when it finished with a 43-2 record.
The Coalers qualified for the IHSA Finals for the 15th time when they beat Yorkville Christian 56-14 in their own dual team sectional. They defeated Olympia 46-27 in the quarterfinals to secure their 13th trophy and Dixon 75-5 in the semifinals to reach their 10th title dual meet.
Coal City’s 70-point victory in the semifinals easily broke IHSA records for all classes, Class 1A or Class A. The previous largest semifinal win was by 66 points, when Montini Catholic beat Barrington 70-4 in Class 3A in 2020. And the 75 points scored by the Coalers was a new record.
The old record for biggest semifinals victory in Class A was 53 points when Dakota defeated St. Joseph-Ogden 64-11 in 2006. And the previous record for biggest semifinal win in Class 1A was 45 points when Dakota won 60-15 over Plano in 2014.
Beside their 29 victories against Class 1A teams, they had 13 wins against Class 3A and 2A teams, which included beating three Class 2A qualifiers, including two trophy winners, third-place Mahomet-Seymour and fourth-place Glenwood with Oak Forest the other qualifier.
Coal City outscored its opponents by a 2,840-307 margin, averaging 67.6 points per dual meet while allowing 7.3 points. That’s a new IHSA record, topping their 2,647 total from their 2023 title team. The Coalers are listed with each of the top-six points totals, all since 2018-2019.
The Coalers shut out 13 opponents and allowed less than 10 points on 27 occasions. They also won by 40 or more points in 36 of 42 dual meets. Coal City finished with 391 falls, which ranks second behind Vandalia’s total of 395 from last season and just ahead of their own 388 pins in 2023-2024. The 1A champions also finished with 81 wins by technical fall, which ranks fifth-best all-time.
Only four teams scored more than 20 points against them, Class 3A Lincoln-Way East (24) as well as three teams who also competed in the Dual Team Finals, Lena-Winslow/ Stockton co-op (21), Olympia (27) and Vandalia (23), with the last two of those duals at the Dual Team Finals.
The Coalers won Downers Grove South’s Larry Gassen Duals, where they beat Lincoln-Way East for the title, and ABE’s Rumble, going 9-0 and only losing 10 contested matches, where it beat Lena-Winlow/ Stockton co-op for first. And they won the title at Princeton’s Lyle King PIT.
Coal City led everyone in the state with 14 qualifiers for the IHSA Individual State Finals and also had the most medalists in Class 1A with seven. It had eight individuals who collected 40 or more wins, four with 30 or more victories and five others who won 20 or more matches.
Vandalia competed in a championship dual meet for the fifth time and finished in second place for the fourth time to cap a successful 29-3 debut season for coach Patrick Myers.
He was an assistant coach on the Vandals’ last three state teams and took over the program when 2025 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee and current athletic director Jason Clay stepped down following last season after leading the program since 2006-2007 and claiming 504 wins to rank in the top 20 of the IHSA rankings for dual meet victories. This was Vandalia’s 25th Finals appearance and it claimed its 12th trophy.
The Vandals only lost twice to Class 1A teams, by a 37-30 score to Lena-Winslow/ Stockton co-op on December 30 at ABE’s Rumble and to the Coalers in the championship dual meet.
“We were second in the state to a team like Coal City,” Patrick Myers said. “They’re a tough group with obviously a lot of seniors and they came out and wrestled their butts off, so it was tough to win those matches. They got the job done, so hats off to Coal City, because that’s a very well-coached team, as well. (His Vandals) This is a good group right here. They battled their butts in the room and even though it didn’t show you at the state championship, they’re going to continue to push each other. I said it once, I said it before, we’re a family. And we hold each other accountable to do the right things and hopefully we’re back here next year. (His Class 1A-high three state champions: Preston Waughtel, Max Philpot and Dillon Hinton) That’s the most that we’ve had and the state champs show for themselves since they’re hard workers in the room. There’s guys chomping at the bit to get to that area in competition to be the state champs and we had a couple of state placewinners this year and hopefully they take this experience and it motivates them for next year.
“(Best quality of his team) Just the heart. After this match, you know, I see some crying and everything, and that just shows heart. Hopefully, they let this drive them and become a better and a closer team next year. In each match, it didn’t matter if it was the quarters or the finals, I was nervous for the team and nervous for the preparation. I’m asking myself, did I do the right things as a coach getting these guys prepared? Overall, I think I did. So, I just hope that we’ll just continue to get better. We definitely don’t want to be a runner-up three times.”
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op claimed its second-best finish in four appearances in the IHSA Dual Team Finals when it captured a 63-16 victory over Dixon for third place. The only time that the program finished better was in 2010 when a team coached by Ryan Birt claimed second place after falling 33-27 to PORTA in the title dual meet.
Coach Josh Carter’s Falcons finished with a 28-3 record and only had two losses to Class 1A teams, 56-17 to Coal City at Mahomet-Seymour on December 23 and 54-21 to Vandalia in the semifinals. Their 47-point win in the third-place match was the fourth-biggest in IHSA history and was the second-largest in Class 1A, with Olympia’s 64-15 triumph over Beardstown in 2017 the only time that a team in their class won by a larger margin for third place.
The Falcons recorded two falls and got a victory by technical fall in the last three matches, highlighted by a pin in the finale, to rally for a 39-35 win over Lena-Winslow/ Stockton co-op in the quarterfinals to assure themselves of a fourth trophy in their fourth state appearance.
“We kind of set our goal in the middle of the season that we wanted to be wrestling on the last day of the season,” said Josh Carter, who has a 214-96 record in 13 seasons leading the Falcons program. “We knew that everything leading up to regionals was just practice, so we kind of set a three-phase plan of winning regionals, winning that team sectional and winning in the quarterfinals. Back in 2015, it was a very similar situation. We were wrestling a very strong Shelbyville team and it came down to the last match and we had a kid who got a takedown with 30 seconds left to win the match. I have a lot of respect for their program (Lena-Winslow/ Stockton) and what they’ve accomplished over the years. And I was talking to him (coach Kevin Milder), and I told him that I don’t know how you’ve done it for 32 years, it’s impressive. (Co-op with Fisher) It makes it challenging, but the kids wrestle in our program together starting in middle school. It would be nice to not wait another 11 years to do this. And I think we’ve got the ability talent-wise to do it again. (His three medalists) Landen (Lage) was right where we expected him to be and was very close to winning that state title but just came up short, but he’s a tough kid and wrestled really hard. Bentley (Fields) performed kind of beyond what a lot of people expected him to. And I know that Hudson (Babb) will be back and itching to finish better.”
Dixon completed a 21-6 season for coach Micah Hey as it advanced to the Dual Team Finals for the second time, with its other trip in 2017, when it took third in Class 2A for coach Chris Bishop.
The Dukes, who competed in Class 2A last season, suffered all of their regular season defeats to Class 2A schools. Their lone 1A losses were in the state semifinals and third-place matches.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys, they’ve really come together as a team,” said Micah Hey, who was a Class AA champion at 119 in 1993 for the Dukes and also an assistant coach on the 2017 third-place team and has a 68-9 record in his four seasons leading Dixon. “These guys really kind of bonded and that’s helped out because they’ve got each others’ back and they’ve really pushed each other. In the first one against Althoff, which had a great team, we had some big matches and they really came through. We got the coin flip and I think a couple of things went our way. So hopefully we’ll go back next year since we only lose three seniors.”
Lena-Winslow/ Stockton co-op came up just short of claiming its fifth trophy while making its fifth appearance in the IHSA Dual Team Finals when it fell 39-35 in the quarterfinals to Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op.
Coach Kevin Milder’s PantherHawks, who went 29-4 this season and were making their first trip to state since finishing third in 2023, built a 35-22 lead with three matches left but the Falcons used two pins and a win by technical fall, capped by a pin in the finale, to rally for the victory.
“I’m proud of these kids, they battled,” said Kevin Milder, who is 628-166 in 32 seasons with the program, which ranks him eighth in IHSA history. “They battled all year, and today was no exception. Hats off to Gibson City. They’re a good team. They were able to get that last win when they needed it. It was just kind of a 50-50 situation there, and the Gibson City kid ended up on top, so hats off to them, they wrestled well. We’re graduating 13 total seniors and six of those seniors were state qualifiers and a couple of others were major contributors to the team, so we’ll definitely miss those guys. But we’ve got some younger guys coming up and we’ll look to get back here next year. They competed all year and we put ourselves in a position to battle for a trophy, and that’s what we did. We just came up on the short end today. I’m proud of these kids. There were a lot of back-and-forth matches and it just came down to our couple of team points there and, you know, just went Gibson City’s way, but we’ll have our day another day.”
In a matchup of one team making its second state appearance and an unbeaten team that was at state for the third time, the former prevailed as Dixon won 44-27 over Althoff Catholic. Coach Emanuel Brooks’ Crusaders, who finished 18-1, were making their first state trip since 2018.
“The better team won today,” said Emanuel Brooks, who is 137-78 in nine seasons at Althoff Catholic. “We came in and a couple of key guys that we really needed were hurt. We don’t lose much, and we’ve got possibly some good kids coming in, so we should be formidable again next year, but we know that nothing’s guaranteed. We had a state champion, one third-place and two fourth-place and another qualifier and everybody but my state champ is coming back. We placed at every tournament this year, we were first, second, or third. We won the regional back-to-back and we made the Elite Eight this year. I think this year, the guys really pushed each other and I really didn’t have to do a lot of coaching. They kind of held each other accountable for most of the year, which made my job easier.”
Olympia got back to the Dual Team Finals for the second-straight year and 11th-time overall but just as was the case a year ago, it had the misfortune of meeting the eventual champions, Coal City in the quarterfinals, and fell 46-27 as coach Josh Collins’ team concluded a 22-6 season.
“The kids came here to win and they came here to wrestle tough, and we did, but it just didn’t go our way,” said Josh Collins, who is 123-62 in six seasons at Olympia, where he won Class A titles in 2000 and 2001, was a three-time finalist and coached his freshman son Connor to a title at 106 this season. “Coal City is a really good team with 15 seniors. We’re really young and the kids are hungry and we’ve got eighth graders who will be coming in. So a lot of positives.”
Following up on its most-successful IHSA Individual Finals with two champions, four finalists and five medalists, Chicago Hope Academy also made a second-straight state trip and fourth overall and again met the eventual runner-up, Vandalia, in the quarterfinals, where coach Dan Willis’ Eagles lost 44-26 to complete a season where they had an 18-13 record.
“We’ve been on the hunt for our first (champion) and God gave us two and we were close to four,” said Dan Willis, who is 232-166 in 15 seasons leading his program and has been a head coach for 23 seasons. “These guys have worked hard, and what you see here is only the tip of the iceberg of what these kids have overcome and the challenges. Both Chance and Jeremiah came without knowing if they’d have eligibility and they committed to Hope and worked hard and trained and we left it in God’s hands and God allowed them to get eligible and it was a battle but we were able to do it by God’s help and I’m proud of those guys for their hard work.”
Coal City’s Cade Poyner and Brody Widlowski, Vandalia’s Ross Miller and Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op’s Bentley Fields were the lone 1A competitors to collect 18 team points and they joined two individuals from 2A, Providence Catholic’s Justus Heeg and Mahomet-Serymour’s Marco Casillas, as the only ones in all classes to score that many points.
Coal City’s Cade Poyner was the lone individual in Class 1A and he joined one other individual, Marmion Academy’s Vincenzo Testa in 3A, as the only one in the competition to record three falls, and he did so in the least time, which was 4:28.
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op’s Hudson Babb tied three others for second for the most wins by technical fall with two, making him the lone competitor in 1A to pull off that feat. He also ranked second in total match points with 56, which ranked him first in 1A and second only to Marmion Academy’s Demetrios Carrera in 3A, who had 59 match points and also was the only individual in the tournament with three victories by technical fall.
Coal City collected the most team points of the 24 teams with 164 while 2A champion IC Catholic Prep was second with 146, 3A title winner Marmion Academy was third with 127 points and Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op ranked fourth with 124 points. Montini Catholic and Providence Catholic both scored 123 points while Vandalia was next with 121 points.
Coal City also led all teams in the competition with 17 falls, which was six more than the three schools who had the second-highest total of pins, Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op, Vandalia and Montini Catholic.
Coal City 43, Vandalia 23 (IHSA 1A championship)
Coal City (42-0) won six of the first seven matches to jump out to a 31-6 advantage over Vandalia in the Class 1A championship dual meet and the Vandals (29-3) never got any closer than 14 points back after that as the Coalers captured a 43-23 victory to collect their second-straight IHSA 1A title, with both of the title victories over Vandalia, and they also clinched their third state title in the last four years.
The Coalers moved in front for good when Mason Garner won a 17-6 major decision over Cole Yarborough in the opener at 165 and 175 runner-up Brock Finch followed with a victory by technical fall in 3:12 over Noah Langston to make it 9-0 before the Vandals got their lone win in the first half of the dual when Ross Miller won by fall in 1:27 over Evan Greggain at 190 to pull the Vandals to within 9-6.
“It feels amazing,” Brock Finch said. “Not too many teams get to do what we did. And it really became a normal thing for us to just make the state finals and have a good chance to win it. Because it’s just happened every year that I’ve been in high school, so it felt normal. (Coal City winning nine trophies in 11 seasons) It feels amazing to be part of teams that are that great at wrestling and for us to be one of those teams. Our groups, we’ve been above average or we’ve been amazing for years. Even when we were Lil’ Coalers, we’ve won tournaments that it doesn’t seem normal to win. Through middle school, we won two state titles and we only had two years because of COVID. We won them both and dominated. (Finishing second individually at state) I was disappointed at first that I didn’t win, but then I came to realize how special it is to make the state finals. It was amazing and I loved every moment of it. (Their dual meet success) It’s amazing. We expect to win every dual we go into. Our closest dual this year was probably 15, 20 points. So we’ve never really even been scared in any duals, we just always went into it confident. (This team’s legacy) I think everyone will remember this group because we’ve won three titles in four years, which is amazing. And there’s only three titles in history for wrestling.”
Coal City then won the next four matches to build up a decisive 25-point cushion. Brody D’Orazio got a pin in 3:41 over Jeffery Smith and 215 runner-up Cade Poyner followed with a fall in 1:23 over Dominic Swyers at 285 to make it 21-6. Then Ryder Gill pinned Cooper Galoway in 1:00 and Jake Munsterman won a 10-0 major decision over Kaden Daughtery at 113 to make it 31-6 midway through the meet.
Vandalia responded with three-straight victories as Riley Hinton won a 7-3 decision over Tyson Price, 126 champion Preston Waughtel followed with a victory by technical fall in 3:08 over Owen Petersen at 126 and 132 champion Max Philpot claimed a 9-4 decision over Cooper Morris to make it 31-17 with four matches remaining.
Luke Munsterman edged Brody Matthews 4-1 by sudden victory at 138 and Max Christensen clinched the championship with a 13-9 decision over Elijah Mabry. Brody Widlowski won by fall in 1:50 over Dade Kleinik at 150 for the Coalers’ last victory and 157 champion Dillon Hinton received a forfeit win in the finale.
“I’m super grateful that I’ve been able to be on the state championship team as a freshman and in my junior year, and then now in my senior year,” Luke Munsterman said. “We had seven starting seniors. We’ve been wrestling since we were five years old together with the Lil’ Coalers program, so, yeah, it was pretty awesome. Going into the finals, we were all pretty confident because we’ve kind of dominated this year. (Will remember the most about these years) Just how close we all grew together the past 13 years of wrestling. Yeah, just the bond.”
“It was amazing, it was awesome,” Max Christensen said. “We just worked hard every single day together and we weren’t like individual wrestlers, we were a team. We got each other better and it was just a whole team effort. It’s definitely a lot different than other places because we all grew up together. (Being a key contributor as a freshman on a state championship team) It was the best experience of my life. It was just amazing. I don’t know how to describe how grateful I am for the team and just what an experience it was.”
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op 63, Dixon 16 (IHSA 1A third place)
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op (28-3) claimed its second-best finish in the Dual Team Finals and captured a win by the fourth-largest margin in a third-place meet and it was also the second-biggest in Class 1A for third place matches when it won the final nine matches in a 63-16 victory over Dixon (21-6).
The Falcons claimed the opener at 165 as Cooper Miller won a 15-5 major decision over Neyomiah Holloway, and then the Dukes moved ahead briefly at 6-4 when Blake Dingley won by fall in 3:15 over Steven Morris. Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op moved back in front by a 10-6 margin at 190 when Sam Manson got a pin in 5:00 over Seth Shaffer.
Dixon got an 18-4 major decision from Dawson Kemp over Jaxon Wright and Dylan Bopes won by fall in 1:00 over Dominic Mackins at 285 to put the Dukes up 16-10 through five matches.
But it was all-Falcons after that as 106 runner-up Bentley Fields claimed a forfeit win to tie it at 16-16 and then Ian Rotramel followed with a fall in 2:35 over Ian Fane at 113 to put his team up for good and Kaden Huster also received a forfeit victory to make it 28-16 with six matches left.
“Every teammate in our program has each others’ back, no matter what happens,” Bentley Fields said. “And that just really brings up the vibe. When we’re wrestling in the practice room, we’ve always got good partners. The coaches will always make sure that we have our mindset right and our teammates, they always have our back, no matter what. And it’s just what GCMS likes to do, to win, and that’s what we go after. (Beating Lena-Winslow/ Stockton) They’re a really good team. (Taking second individually). “I knew going into it, I was like, ‘I’m going to get on that podium. My top goal, for sure, was getting into the top two and making it into the finals.”
Isaac Rotramel also got a forfeit victory and Camden Brucker followed with a fall in 3:37 over Kazmyn Barber at 132 before Blaine Lynch claimed another forfeit win to put his team up 46-16. Nolan Lowe won by forfeit at 144, Hunter Brandon got a pin in 0:25 over Lennan Reaver and Hudson Babb ended the meet at 157 with a win by technical fall 5:52 in over Adam Staples.
“It definitely was a great way to end the season,” Hudson Babb said. “We definitely had a pretty good postseason run with everyone qualifying for sectionals and nine state qualifiers. Everyone worked really hard for us and each and everyone of them deserved it. (Liked most about his team) I just liked everyone’s personalities and everyone got along with each other great. And we were more like brothers than teammates. (The quarterfinals win over Lena-Winslow/ Stockton) We weren’t really too worried, we knew that we’d pull it out.”
Coal City 75, Dixon 5 (semifinals)
Coal City won all but one match to record the largest semifinals victory of 70 points in the history of the IHSA Dual Team Finals with its 75-5 victory over Dixon. The previous record had been 66 points and was set in 2020 when Montini Catholic defeated Barrington 70-4 in Class 3A. The Coalers won the first five matches and then claimed victories in the final eight matches.
The old record for a semifinals win in the smallest class was 53 points by Dakota over St. Joseph-Ogden (64-11) in 2006 and the record for 1A had been 45 points by Dakota over Plano (60-15) in 2014. The Coalers also scored 75 points in a 75-4 quarterfinals victory over Walther Christian in 2016, the first of seven times that Masters has had a team reach the title dual meet.
Aidan Kenney, the 157 runner-up, won a 10-1 decision over Adam Staples in the opener at 157 and Mason Garner followed with a fall in 0:59 over Landon Masters. Brock Finch, the 175 runner-up, got a pin in 1:37 over Blake Dingley at 175, Brody D’Orazio followed with a pin in 3:05 over Levi Pretzsch and Cade Poyner, the 215 runner-up, won by fall in 2:34 over Dawson Kemp at 215 to give Coal City a 28-0 advantage through the first five matches.
Dylan Bopes won by technical fall in 5:48 over Payton Vigna for the Dukes’ lone triumph. Ryder Gill began the 8-0 closing run with a pin in 0:38 over Ryan Rill at 106 and Gavin Roudis won by fall in 0:52 over Ian Fane. Jason Piatak was a winner by fall in 1:22 over Owen Schmitt at 120 and Owen Petersen recorded a pin in 1:24 over Max Sullivan.
Cooper Morris won by technical fall in 5:26 over Kazmyn Barber at 132 and Luke Munsterman, Roberto Rodriguez and Brody Widlowski all received forfeit wins to close out the 75-5 triumph.
Vandalia 54, Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op 21 (semifinals)
Vandalia lost the opener but then five in a row to take a 30-3 lead just six matches into its semifinal dual meet with Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op and later added a run of four-straight falls to go up 54-12 and it went on to capture a 54-21 victory which advanced it to a matchup with Coal City for the IHSA 1A championship for the second year in a row.
Hudson Babb gave the Falcons an early 3-0 lead when he claimed a 13-6 decision over Zayne Zinkgraf in the opener at 157 before Dillon Hinton, the 157 champion, put the Vandals in front for good by recording a fall in 1:11 over Steven Morris. Cole Yarborough followed with a pin in 3:00 over Cooper Miller at 175 and Noah Langston got a pin in 3:06 over Sam Manson. Ross Miller was a winner by fall in 1:51 over Jaxon Wright at 215 and Dominic Swyers capped the early run of five-straight victories when he won by injury default over Carson Sexton in 0:45.
“It’s been a blessing to be with my brothers,” Noah Langston said. “We fought this weekend, and I think the semis match against Gibson City was just electric, and we had so much good energy coming into the finals match. This is just heartbreaking but obviously, Coal City is tough and they’ll always be tough. It’s just going to push us to next year and we have to stay in the room and keep grinding. I definitely think that next year we’ll be packed with seniors, so we’re going to have an amazing group. Last year was special and this year was special. So next year, we’ll be right there again.”
Bentley Fields, the runner-up at 106, recorded a fall in 3:34 over Cooper Galoway at 106 and Ian Rotramel captured the meet’s closest victory with an 8-6 decision over Kaden Daughtery.
The Vandals started a 4-0 run at 120 when Riley Hinton won by fall in 5:08 over Kaden Huster and Preston Waughtel, the champion at 126, added a pin in 0:37 over Isaac Rotramel. Max Philpot, the champion at 132, got a fall in 1:08 over Camden Brucker at 132 and Brody Matthews gave the Vandals their final win in the meet with a pin in 1:24 over Blaine Lynch.
“I think we’re a bunch of hard workers and we have a great program,” Brody Matthews said. “It’s all about just hard work and a bond. If you don’t have a strong bond, you’re not going to be a strong team. We’ve all been in it since we were probably five or six years old. So when you come up as a group like that, it’s hard not to be close and not be good as a team. Beside the Waughtels, we’re all from Vandalia. They’re great people (the Waughtels) and a great family, so it’s an honor to be on a team with them.”
The Falcons captured wins in the final two matches as Nolan Lowe claimed a 13-6 decision over Elijah Mabry at 144 and Hunter Brandon was a winner by fall in 0:31 over Dade Kleinik.
“We did a lot of good things this year,” Elijah Mabry said. “We worked real hard in the practice room and we were competitive with 2A teams. (His father coached them at Vandalia Middle School) My dad coached me from when I was starting out in first grade and he has followed me through my whole wrestling career. He’s built this group of wrestlers.”
Coal City 46, Olympia 27 (quarterfinals)
Coal City assured itself of a fourth-straight trophy, its ninth in the last 11 seasons under coach Mark Masters and its 13th trophy overall in its 15th state appearance by capturing a 46-27 quarterfinals victory over Olympia (22-6), who fell for the second year in a row in that round to the champion Coalers, was making its 11th state appearance.
The Coalers assured themselves of their 40th-straight victory after claiming wins in their initial six matches to build a 32-0 lead and Olympia could get no closer than 17 points back after that. Brody Widlowski started things with a fall in 0:44 over Dalton Gerberding at 150 and Noah Houston followed with a 10-6 decision over Austin Kisner.
Coal City’s run continued as 157 runner-up Aidan Kenney got a pin in 5:22 over Kaden Collins at 165 and 175 runner-up Brock Finch won by fall in 3:17 over Isaac Warnock. Evan Greggain followed with a win by technical fall late in the second period over Caleb Peters at 190 and 215 runner-up Cade Poyner capped the early run with a pin in 0:31 over Cohen Maness.
Olympia responded with three-straight wins as Darian Holloway got a pin in 3:30 at 285 over Payton Vigna, Connor Collins, the 106 champion, claimed a 10-0 major decision over Jake Munsterman and Brandon Gaither won by technical fall in 4:18 over Gavin Roudis at 113.
Coal City answered with three wins of its own as Tyson Price prevailed 7-6 over Ryan Ballinger, Owen Petersen won by technical fall in 3:30 over Tucker Garey at 126 and Cooper Morris got a pin in 3:08 over Carter Knobloch. The Spartans got the last two wins as Colby Maness won by fall in 1:02 over Jaxon Trofimchuck and Kenzer Burrell got a pin in 2:19 over Max Christensen.
Dixon 44, Althoff Catholic 27 (quarterfinals)
Dixon used a run of five-straight wins midway through its quarterfinals meet with Althoff Catholic to capture a 44-27 victory that guaranteed the Dukes of their second trophy in two state trips, with the other in 2017, when they took third while the Crusaders (18-1) suffered their first loss in 19 dual meets and fell short of adding to their fourth-place trophy in 2018 in their third visit to state.
The Dukes took an early 11-0 lead when Preston Richards pinned Alex Schallert in 3:01 at 150 and then Adam Staples was a winner by technical fall in 5:57 over Ryan Hogue.
“Wrestling here on the biggest stage was huge for us,” Adam Staples said. “We’ve only placed one other time at the dual finals back in 2017. For all my years, I’d look up in our home gym and see 2017 Dixon wrestling in the rafters, and was thinking by the time that we graduated, that banner won’t be so lonely. (Getting back to state) It’s incredibly hard, especially in the state of Illinois, one of the great wrestling states in America. It’s one thing to take a couple of guys to Individual State, but to take a team all the way, that just shows a lot of hard work and grit. It’s all of the 14 members and the people working in the room with them, the JV and the coaches. I devote everything of our success to our coaches. The brothers (Micah, Jacob, Jamie) Hey, (Matt) Linder, Evan Thorpe, everybody that comes into that room. This is huge. For all the incoming freshmen, it sets the tone for their freshman year and it shows them what Dixon Wrestling is meant to be. We have a very exciting future for Dixon Wrestling. I’m very excited to see where this team is going through sophomores, like Preston Richards and Charlie (Connors) and juniors like Jack Ragan and Riley Paredes. There’s so many notable names, it’s hard to say them all. I see great things for Dixon Wrestling.”
Althoff Catholic moved in front for the first time at 14-11 following three victories in which Landon Weidler won by technical fall in 2:18 at 165 over Neyomiah Holloway, two-time IHSA champion and 165-title winner Pierre Walton got a victory by technical fall in 5:48 over Blake Dingley and Austin Wilkinson claimed a 10-1 major decision at 190 over Seth Shaffer.
Dixon then won five in a row as Dawson Kemp got a pin in 1:40 over Stephen Ache, Dylan Bopes won by fall in 1:02 over Braden Bush at 285 and Riley Paredes added a pin in 1:22 over Karson Fowler. After that, Ian Fane got a fall in 0:33 over Prudence Snider at 113 and Jack Ragan won 8-0 over Jacobi Cobbs to seal the deal at 39-14 with four matches left.
“This is a big one and I’m super proud of it,” Dawson Kemp said. “And it’s a big one, not just for our team, but for our city. We really put ourselves on the map here. Every meet we have, people are asking our coach, asking us, what’s next? Like, how are we doing? How are we looking? And we always just say, we’re ready to go. And this is what it came down to. We showed up, gave all that we have and we played with house money and we brought it home and it feels great. For our team, the energy is just up. Personally, I feel awesome knowing that I’m part of this team with my great coaches and I look up to them every day. They push me as hard as I can physically get pushed in practice. And this is what it comes down to, and it feels awesome.
The thing that I liked the most was that we were just family, on and off the mat. We work hard, we push each other and we keep each other happy.”
The Crusaders answered with a 16-4 major decision from Nathan Fisher over Doolan Long, a pin in 0:37 from Dawson Hawthorne over Kazmyn Barber at 132 and a 17-12 decision from Robbie Schallert over Channing Sarver before 144 runner-up Charlie Connors closed out the Dukes’ victory with a win by technical fall in 3:42 over Colton Stearns in the finale at 144.
“This is huge,” Dylan Bopes said. “This team, it’s a family. This has been so dominant, really, and wherever we went, I couldn’t see us not winning. We’re so close and we helped each other to get better. (Getting to state and placing). It meant everything. From the first practice that we had, we knew that this team was special.”
Vandalia 44, Chicago Hope Academy 26 (quarterfinals)
Vandalia only had an 8-6 edge in wins over Chicago Hope Academy but it used two pins, a win by technical fall, four forfeits and a decision to capture a 44-26 victory over the Eagles, who they also defeated in last year’s quarterfinals. That assured the Vandals, who made their 24th state appearance, of their 12th trophy and third in three years while denying Chicago Hope Academy (18-13) of its first trophy in its fourth state appearance.
The teams exchanged wins in the first four matches with the Vandals winning the opener on a fall by Dade Kleinik in 1:49 over Santori Knight at 150 while Dylan Galvez answered with a 13-9 win on a tiebreaker over Zayne Zinkgraf. After Vandalia’s Dillon Hinton, the champion at 157, won by technical fall in 5:25 over Ismael Martinez, Chicago Hope Academy’s Arkail Griffin, the champion at 175, got a win by technical fall in 4:45 over Cole Yarborough to get to within 11-8.
Vandalia expanded its lead to 23-8 with eight matches left following a pin in 1:55 by Noah Langston over Martin Rodriguez at 190 and a forfeit victory by Ross Miller.
After the Eagles’ Mastewal Evely answered with a fall in 2:41 over Dominic Swyers at 285, the Vandals received forfeit wins from Kaden Daughtery and from Cooper Galoway at 113 before the Eagles’ Nolan Callahan won an 11-3 major decision over Riley Hinton and then in a rematch of the 126 title match, Preston Waughtel captured a 4-0 decision over Obadiah Willis. One week earlier in Champaign, the pair met and Waughtel won his second title with a 7-4 decision.
The Vandals’ 132 champion, Max Philpot, like Waughtel, a two-time champion and three-time finalist, received a forfeit for his team’s final victory. Jeremiah Lawrence, the runner-up at 132, captured an 8-3 decision over Brody Matthews at 138 and the 138 title winner, Chance Woods, wrapped up his career with a victory by technical fall in 5:57 over Elijah Mabry.
“Earlier in the school year, I transferred from De La Salle to Hope and beforehand it wasn’t an issue with my eligibility but when the wrestling season started coming up, they said it was an issue and I wasn’t going to be able to wrestle,” Jeremiah Lawrence said. “So that was like a big hit to me because I love wrestling, and especially my senior year, when I knew I had the ability to go to state and win a state title. So, it was really a big thing for me. My coach told me that I couldn’t wrestle but to keep putting the work in, because you never know what can happen. And then we prayed to God countless times, and eventually my eligibility got flipped right before Christmas break. So it was a true blessing to God, first of all. And that’s why when I got that blessing, I took it. And it really showed me to hold the little things that I value. We had four guys in the Finals and it should have been four brackets. And that’s just like a culture that we’ve made this past year. We’ve all been trying to push each other. That’s like my partner, Chance Woods, and we were both in the finals, and that started in the practice room.”
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op 39, Lena-Winslow/ Stockton co-op 35 (quarterfinals)
The most dramatic of the four quarterfinals dual meets was the one featuring the two co-op teams, Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher and Lena-Winslow/ Stockton. The PantherHawks (29-4) looked like they might assure themselves of their fifth trophy in their fifth trip to the Dual Team Finals and their first visit since 2023, but instead, the Falcons won the final three matches to rally for a 39-35 triumph which guaranteed them of their first trophy since 2015 and this was their fourth trophy in four state appearances and their second-best showing overall.
After the PantherHawks took the first lead when Arrison Bauer won a 4-0 decision over Hunter Brandon at 150, the Falcons took a brief 11-3 lead as Hudson Babb got a victory by technical fall in 5:17 over Mark Detwiler and Cooper Miller won by fall in 1:57 over Sam Sikora at 165.
Lena-Winslow/ Stockton responded with four-straight victories as John Mensendike won by fall in 1:23 over Steven Morris and 190 champion Eli Larson, a two-time title winner, followed with a win by technical fall in 4:10 over Sam Manson at 190. In the next match, Oliver McPeek got a pin in 3:00 over Jaxon Wright and then 285 runner-up Jeremiah Luke won a 10-2 major decision over Carson Sexton at 285 to give his team a 23-10 advantage midway through the meet.
“Nothing but luck for this program,” Jeremiah Luke said of competing for Lena-Winslow/ Stockton. “The work I put in with my teammates and the coaching, they’ve been nothing but helpful and always motivating me every day to be the person who I am today. Hunter Luke, Garrett Luke and Griffin Luke were all big inspirations for me as a little kid, going down to state and watching the state tournament. I didn’t get to where I wanted to be at the top of the podium, but it’s just been a cool experience to be a part of all this.”
The sides exchanged falls as the Falcons got a pin from Julian Rodriguez over Taylor Nevel in 1:57 and 106 runner-up Bentley Fields won by fall in 4:36 at 113 over Karah Arnold, who won an IWCOA Girls Open title on March 15. The PantherHawks responded with a pin from Keller Otto in 1:51 over Ian Rotramel and then Brandon White recorded a fall in 1:34 over Gage Martin at 126 as Lena-Winslow/ Stockton co-op built a 35-22 lead with three matches left.
Camden Brucker got things going for the Falcons with a pin in 3:13 over Huntlee Burris, 138 runner-up Landen Lage followed with a win by technical fall in 3:40 over Anthony Laino at 138 and Nolan Lowe completed the comeback with a fall in 1:32 over Mauricio Glass in the finale.
“We all wrestled really well,” Landen Lage said. “I’ll miss the seniors, that’s for sure. We have a very young program, so hopefully next year we can bring home first or second. The Lena-Winslow dual probably was the most fun. I’ve liked the pressure lately, so being in one of the last matches and being down was really fun. Just cheering on the team and the bonding, just little things like that. (Second at state) The Grand March was amazing and so was every part of the Finals. It was a really good season and we worked hard and we had a lot of fun.”
IHSA Class 1A championship match
Coal City 43, Vandalia 23
165 – Mason Garner (Coal City) over Cole Yarborough (Vandalia) MD 17-6
175 – Brock Finch (Coal City) over Noah Langston (Vandalia) TF 17-2
190 – Ross Miller (Vandalia) over Evan Greggain (Coal City) F 1:27
215 – Brody D`Orazio (Coal City) over Jeffrey Smith (Vandalia) F 3:41
285 – Cade Poyner (Coal City) over Dominic Swyers (Vandalia) F 1:23
106 – Ryder Gill (Coal City) over Cooper Galoway (Vandalia) F 1:00
113 – Jake Munsterman (Coal City) over Kaden Daughtery (Vandalia) MD 10-0
120 – riley Hinton (Vandalia) over Tyson Price (Coal City) D 7-3
126 – Preston Waughtel (Vandalia) over Owen Petersen (Coal City) TF 16-1
132 – Max Philpot (Vandalia) over Cooper Morris (Coal City) D 9-4
138 – Luke Munsterman (Coal City) over Brody Matthews (Vandalia) SV 4-1
144 – Max Christensen (Coal City) over Elijah Mabry (Vandalia) D 13-9
150 – Brody Widlowski (Coal City) over Dade Kleinik (Vandalia) F 1:50
157 – Dillon Hinton (Vandalia) FFT
IHSA Class 1A third-place match
Gibson City (G.C.-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op 63, Dixon 16
165 – Cooper Miller (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) over Neyomiah Holloway (Dixon) MD 15-5
175 – Blake Dingley (Dixon) over Steven Morris (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) F 3:15
190 – Sam Manson (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) over Seth Shaffer (Dixon) F 5:00
215 – Dawson Kemp (Dixon) over Jaxon Wright (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) MD 18-4
285 – Dylan Bopes (Dixon) over Dominic Mackins (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) F 1:00
106 – Bentley Fields (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) FFT
113 – Ian Rotramel (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) over Ian Fane (Dixon) F 2:35
120 – Kaden Huster (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) FFT
126 – Isaac Rotramel (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) FFT
132 – Camden Brucker (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) over Kazmyn Barber (Dixon) F 3:37
138 – Blaine Lynch (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) FFT
144 – Nolan Lowe (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) FFT
150 – Hunter Brandon (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) over Lennan Reaver (Dixon) F 0:25
157 – Hudson Babb (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/ Fisher co-op) over Adam Staples (Dixon) TF 23-3