‘All of us deserve this.’ With 2A/1A wrestling crown, Illinois Valley locks up first state title in any sport in school history
By René Ferrán
Everything that could go right for Illinois Valley on Friday night at the Class 2A/1A wrestling state tournament did.
And the breaks that always went the Culver Bulldogs’ way during their 14 previous championships broke against them.
The result was the Cougars grabbing the first state title in any sport in school history, edging one of the state’s premier programs by 4.5 points at Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The title came down to a rematch between Culver’s Kelin Abbas and Illinois Valley’s Ryan Griffin in the 152-pound final. A year ago, Abbas won a 4-2 decision over Griffin in the 145 final in Culver, helping the Bulldogs hold off the Cougars in the team title chase.
This time, Griffin knew the stakes as he stepped onto the mat.
“Yeah, the whole team title and my single title,” he said.
Griffin pulled out a 2-1 victory, and the Illinois Valley corner erupted in joy.
The Cougars had run the table, winning all four of their finals, including another victory over a Culver wrestler at 113 — Micah Martinho winning when Debren Sanabria had to default because of a head injury — and having six wrestlers make the podium.
“All of us deserve this,” Griffin said. “We all worked super hard this year. This feels good.”
Sanabria’s injury was just the first of several setbacks Culver experienced. The Bulldogs had a meet-high seven medalists and five finalists, but seniors Derek Torres (132) and Reeden Arsenault (145) saw opponents score late takedowns to pull out victories in their finals, hurting their chances at a 15th team title.
Toledo, which until last year had not won a team trophy in its 63-year history, finished a program-best third, with Logan Gerding (132) and Ash Blomstrom (195) winning titles to give the Boomers multiple champions for the first time.
Elgin, led by 182 champion Joseph Lathrop, placed fourth for its first trophy since 1993.
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