Coal City seeks another title, Chicago Hope Academy back at State
By Curt Herron – for the IWCOA
Coal City has enjoyed a great deal of success during the past 10 seasons under coach Mark Masters and it hopes to add to that legacy this weekend when it competes in the IHSA Class 1A Dual Team Finals, which runs Friday and Saturday at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.
The Coalers earned their eighth trip to the Dual Team Finals since 2015 and look to clinch their eighth trophy during that span after they qualified for the 14th time in school history when they defeated King College Prep 80-0 on Tuesday at the Class 1A Coal City Dual Team Sectional.
Coal City hopes to capture its second state championship in three seasons after falling a bit short last year when it lost 34-27 to Marian Central Catholic in the 1A championship meet. In its last seven trips to dual team state, it has claimed the 2023 1A title as well four second-place finishes and two thirds under Masters, a 2022 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee who on January 31 joined an elite group of coaches who’ve won 500 dual meets during their careers.
The last few weeks have been memorable for the Coalers since they had a Class 1A-best 13 qualifiers for the IHSA Class 1A Individual State Tournament in Champaign and then they established a new school record by having seven of the 13 qualifiers earn all-state honors.
“I think like any other program, it’s always a battle against yourself,” Masters said. “Some of the goals that we have are unwritten. But that’s always on peoples’ minds, how are we going to be better than we were last year. It’s just a collective effort, from club coaches, our middle school coaches, the high school coaches and all of the stuff we do in the offseason together, there’s a lot of people.
“We set a school record with seven place winners and I’m extremely proud of our guys’ accomplishments. They have such high expectations of themselves and when they don’t reach their goals, they are disappointed. Life is a lot more like the backside of the bracket than the championship side. Hopefully we can recover and have a great dual team state series.”
Also excited about making a trip to the state finals is Chicago Hope Academy, who defeated Northridge Prep 62-10 in the other dual meet in the sectional. Coach Dan Willis’ Eagles will be making their third appearance at dual team state and this will be their first trip there since it qualified for the competition in both 2017 and 2018.
Chicago Hope Academy also has enjoyed a lot of success this season, as it established program-bests for nine individual qualifiers from the Coal City Sectional and it also had three state medalists, which was one more than it had in 2024, 2019 and 2017. In addition, the school had its first state finalist, senior Roy Phelps, who is also its second two-time medal winner.
“These guys have worked hard all season and they knew this was possible and these guys have walked through the open door,” Willis said. “It’s made an interesting dynamic to have crews around. But the guys have done really well of keeping their focus, and at times, I think it has actually helped them to dial in. These guys have overcome a lot. And Hope has become a very special thing to these guys, our team is like a family to them.
“It’s a school record for us (three state placewinners) and we view it as a door being opened up for the years to come. Over half of our lineup is underclassmen so we have a lot of guys that are chomping at the bit now. These guys have been committed and that says a lot for these City kids. They’ve been committed and they’ve been faithful and it’s been fun to see. I pray to the Lord to give them some reward for the faithfulness and hard work that they go through because they don’t have a lot of the community support that a lot of the 1A schools have.”
Coal City meets Olympia in Friday’s quarterfinals at 5 p.m. while Chicago Hope Academy faces Vandalia at 7 p.m. The Coalers could meet up with the defending state champion Hurricanes in Saturday’s 9 a.m. semifinals and the state championship dual meet is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Top performers for the Coalers in Champaign were second-place finishers Cooper Morris (41-6 at 126) and Brody Widlowski (28-1 at 138).
Morris lost by technical fall to Vandalia senior Tyson Waughtel (54-0) in the 126 title match. Waughtel won his third title after taking second last season and he’s the all-time leader in wins in the sport and owns a 206-2 career record. Widlowski finished second for the second year in a row after losing 8-4 to Unity sophomore Taylor Finley in the 138 title match.
Aidan Kenney (40-12 at 144) claimed fourth place while Owen Petersen (45-4 at 113), Landin Benson (43-4 at 175), Cade Poyner (38-9 at 190) and John Keigher (36-3 at 215) all took fifth. Benson won the Class 1A title at 165 in 2024 but lost in the quarterfinals to Richmond-Burton’s Blake Livdahl. He was one of four defending champions who suffered defeats in that round.
The Coalers’ other state qualifiers were Jason Piatak (34-19 at 106), Culan Lindemuth (34-13 at 120), Luke Munsterman (39-14 at 132), Noah Houston (31-15 at 150), Mason Garner (33-8 at 157) and Brock Finch (32-10 at 165).
All but Garner claimed victories against King College Prep with Morris, Luke Munsterman, Kenney, Houston, Keigher, Petersen and Jake Munsterman recording pins, Piatak was a winner by technical fall, Alec Waliczek won a 4-2 decision and Lindemuth, Widlowski, Finch, Benson and Poyner all received forfeit wins.
The Coalers competed against top-ranked Vandalia on two occasions, in a dual meet at ABE’s Rumble in Springfield and in a tournament, the Lyle King Princeton Invitational Tournament.
Coal City fell to the Vandals 30-28 in the semifinals at ABE’s Rumble after coach Jason Clay’s team jumped out to a 21-0 start and the Coalers rallied to go up 28-27 with one match left, which Vandalia won in a 4-1 and then it beat Marian Central Catholic 35-27 for top honors.
At the PIT, Vandalia edged the Coalers 279.5-272 for first place but not all of both teams’ state qualifiers were on hand for that competition.
Beside the success that it has enjoyed this season, Chicago Hope Academy has had a film crew documenting its story in recent weeks. The cameras and special equipment which surrounded it in Champaign rivaled the media coverage from central Illinois news stations.
Top performers for the Eagles at the state finals were Roy Phelps (48-6 at 285), who lost a 7-1 decision to De La Salle Institute’s David McCarthy in the 285 finals. Other medalists were Josiah Willis (44-11 at 132), who placed fourth, and Arkail Griffin (49-6 at 165), who took fifth.
The team’s other state qualifiers were Indigo Berg (39-14 at 106), Nolan Callahan (39-11 at 113), Dylan Galvez (36-16 at 144), Santori Knight (36-19 at 150), Tony Jones-Blakely (28-17 at 157) and Ismael Martinez (19-9 at 175).
“I love all of my teammates,” said Josiah Willis, whose father is the head coach. “It’s been a lot of fun to see some success this year and I’m proud of each one of them, especially Roy and Arkail and Roy is the highest Chicago Hope Academy state placer.
“What I love about this team is that we all have each others’ back and that we love each other. And we’re from Chicago, and a lot of people are down on Chicago.”
Their opponent in the dual meet also recently made history. Northridge Prep, which has only been competing during the past few years, got its first state medalist, senior Adam Haddad, and it also won the first regional championship for coach Joseph Rhee’s Knights.
“I’m pretty happy with what I’m seeing from the program,” Haddad said. “It doesn’t look like much, but we’ve really come a long way in six years. I’m just trying to get all of these guys to work harder and hopefully they suck it up and work as hard as they can for as long as they’re in the program. I want these guys to work as hard as they can and achieve a lot of good things.
“I’m going to remember my coaches most and everything that they’ve done. Just being in the practice room with them every day and coming off of tough losses and coming off big wins.”
Beside Haddad (41-3 at 165), who won four in a row in the wrestlebacks to claim third place, the team’s other qualifiers were Joe Kopecky (28-8 at 126) and Javi Rodriguez (23-14 at 144).
In the sectional dual meet, the Eagles received falls from Willis, Galvez, Martinez, Ismael Montero, Phelps and Berg while Jones-Blakely got a victory by technical fall, Knight won a 6-4 decision and Mike Garcia, Mastewal Evely and ReSean Fenner received forfeit wins while the Knights received wins by technical fall from Haddad and Kopecky.
“We started this program up about six years ago and COVID really wiped us out,” Rhee said. “So we started rebuilding about four years ago with our senior captain Adam. Actually, coming into this season, we only had two seniors on the team and three more joined us as first-year wrestlers. We’re just trying to build a culture of wrestling in the school.
“I think we had a good run this season and the boys had a good attitude. Building the program is not just coaching and student effort. It’s a family effort, it’s a whole school effort. We’ve received a lot of support from our athletic department and we’re just trying to keep the boys motivated and wrestling in the offseason. We’re a sixth-through-12th-grade school, so we started a middle school program this year, and that’s a first step. We’re hoping to continue to develop over the years and keep the boys engaged and interested.”
IHSA Class 1A Coal City Dual Team Sectional Meet results
Coal City 80, King College Prep 0
126 Culan Lindemuth (Coal City) over Unknown (Unattached), Forf
132 Cooper Morris (Coal City) over Moses Pittman (King College Prep), Fall 1:46
138 Luke Munsterman (Coal City) over Derek Slater (King College Prep), Fall 1:11
144 Brody Widlowski (Coal City) over Unknown (Unattached), Forf
150 Aidan Kenney (Coal City) over Jacob Jackson (King College Prep), Fall 3:51
157 Noah Houston (Coal City) over Keon Anderson (King College Prep), Fall 1:06
165 Brock Finch (Coal City) over Unknown (Unattached), Forf
175 Landin Benson (Coal City) over Unknown (Unattached), Forf
190 Cade Poyner (Coal City) over Unknown (Unattached), Forf
215 John Keigher (Coal City) over Alexander Robinson (King College Prep), Fall 5:05
285 Alec Waliczek (Coal City) over Devin Fields (King College Prep), Dec 4-2
106 Jake Munsterman (Coal City) over Alpha Kamate (King College Prep), Fall 1:49
113 Jason Piatak (Coal City) over Damarcus Washington (King College Prep), TF 18-1
120 Owen Petersen (Coal City) over Mohammed Mohammed-Gazal (King College Prep), Fall 1:29
Chicago Hope Academy 62, Northridge Prep 10
126 Joe Kopecky (Northridge Prep) over Hudson Ringle (Chicago Hope Academy) TF 2-20
132 Mike Garcia (Chicago Hope Academy) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
138 Josiah Willis (Chicago Hope Academy) over Noah Echavez (Northridge Prep) Fall 1:31
144 Dylan Galvez (Chicago Hope Academy) over Javier Rodriguez (Northridge Prep) Fall 4:46
150 Santori Knight (Chicago Hope Academy) over George McShane (Northridge Prep) Dec 6-4
157 Tony Jones-Blakely (Chicago Hope Academy) over Noah Gomez (Northridge Prep) TF 21-2
165 Adam Haddad (Northridge Prep) over Andrew Payne (Chicago Hope Academy) TF 17-2
175 Ismael Martinez (Chicago Hope Academy) over Mason Wagner (Northridge Prep) Fall 1:49
190 Ismael Montero (Chicago Hope Academy) over Nick Belcore (Northridge Prep) Fall 2:00
215 Mastewal Evely (Chicago Hope Academy) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
285 Roy Phelps (Chicago Hope Academy) over Thomas Suter (Northridge Prep) Fall 1:22
106 Unknown (Unattached) vs Unknown (Unattached)
113 Indigo Berg (Chicago Hope Academy) over Patrick Manio (Northridge Prep) Fall 1:37
120 RaSean Fenner (Chicago Hope Academy) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf