SYCAMORE – Matthew Hunter said he was not in a good place Friday night after losing his first match in the Class 2A Sycamore Sectional.
What a difference a day makes.
The senior 220-pounder battled back Saturday to take third and earn a spot at the state tournament, one of three Spartans to earn a trip to the season finale.
“State has meant everything to me since my freshman year,” Hunter said. “It hurt when I lost. I was broken a little bit. But coming all the way back, beating everyone else to get to state and to get third place, is an awesome feeling. I’m just ready to get down to Champaign.”
Joey Beaudoin at 285 and Justin Montani at 113 also took third and earned trips to state for the Spartans. Kaneland’s Nathan Orosco was second at 120.
Hunter came roaring back Saturday, winning four matches, three of them on pins and the fourth on a 23-11 decision.
Sycamore coach Alex Nelson said after the loss Friday that he stressed to Hunter how he still had a second chance to get back to state.
“In the end you have to believe in your head you can do it, and in your abilities,” Nelson said. “He came today ready to wrestle.”
Hunter said the day off put him in the right mindset.
“If I wrestled with that state of mind, I would not have done very well,” Hunter said. “A day to reset was definitely what I needed. It’s a new day, and I knew what I wanted to do. I knew what I came here to do.”
Orosco had been rolling, but he ran into a hiccup, losing, 3-1, to Washington’s Zeke Hulet in the title match.
“He wrestled tough,” Kaneland coach Joe Orosco said. “Him being the last one here, it’s kind of tough. ... He had a good tournament. We wish that last match had gone a certain way, but whatever.” Where Hunter rolled through the wrestlebacks Saturday, his teammates had tough battles in their path to third.
Montani won a 1-0 thriller in the consolation semifinals against Belvidere’s Presley Beasley, riding out Beasley in the third period to preserve the shutout. In the third-place match against Joliet Catholic Academy’s Jack Finnegan, Montani was eight seconds away from being ridden out for a 1-0 loss, and instead got a late reversal for the win.
“Usually you’re not looking for that right away. Usually, you’re looking to get to your feet and get one [point],” Montani said. “I knew with eight seconds left I probably wasn’t going to get to my feet cause he rode me out the whole period. I got that elbow hooked, felt it, went for it and ended up getting it.”
Beaudoin also had a couple of thrillers in his last two matches after losing his semifinal, 3-0, to Geneseo’s Billy Blaser.
“My semifinal match didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to,” Beaudoin said. “I just had to push the pace some more. I was a little nervous going into it, and that just made me more tired. But I say it went pretty good overall, aside from my semifinal match.”
In the consolation semifinal, he ended up with a pin with one second left in the second against Richwoods’ Jamel Jackson. He traded a pair of reversals in that one before securing the pin on a reversal.
In the third-place match, a late reversal gave him a 3-2 win against Peoria’s Marques Cox.
“We kind of rolled, and I happened to get the reversal out of it,” Beaudoin said. “Sometimes when you get the big kids rolling, it turns out in your favor. Sometimes not.”
Nelson said the thrillers were on brand for Beaudoin.
“Joey always has some wild ones,” Nelson said. “Sometimes he gets himself out of position here and there. But he’s definitely fun to watch. ... He keeps you eyes wide open when you’re watching.”