Lockport senior Matt Ramos has compiled quite the wrestling resume, highlighted by a Cadet world championship last summer, but there was one important thing missing.
Ramos had never won a state title in high school or grade school.
“This has been one of my biggest dreams,” Ramos said. “I could win a national tournament, a world championship, but I’ve never won state. I’ve been wanting this my whole life and I’m thankful that my senior year, I finally got this.”
Ramos, a Minnesota recruit ranked No. 2 in Class 3A at 120 pounds, beat returning state champion and top-ranked Noah Surtin of Edwardsville 8-4 Saturday night at State Farm Center to capture the long-awaited title.
Surtin beat Ramos (34-4) each of the last two seasons at sectionals, including 11-10 a week before the state title match.
“Last week, I felt pretty passive,” Ramos said. “I had to go out there this match being the dominant guy. I had to be the predator in the match. You can’t be the prey. You have to go out and attack and attack.”
Ramos’ teammate and fellow Minnesota recruit Baylor Fernandes (35-4) needed just 1 minute, 10 seconds to pin Quincy’s Hunter Yohn for the title at 160.
“We have a wall in our wrestling room and you either get a big picture for winning state or a small picture for placing,” Fernandes said. “I didn’t want another small picture.
“Matt and (my) next goal is to win NCAA championships. We’re ready for the next step.”
Mount Carmel’s Colton Drousias (35-4) beat Belleville West’s Josh Koderhandt 8-4 in the final at 113, ending the season on a 20-match win streak.
“Since my last loss at (the Dvorak Invitational), I’ve treated every match like it’s my last match and I’ve wrestled the exact same every match,” Drousias said. “As the days and months went on, I just kept getting better and the wins took care of themselves.”
T.F. North’s Bilal Bailey and Joliet Catholic’s D.J. Hamiti took home titles in Class 2A.
Bailey (30-1), coming off a runner-up finish last season, took a quick lead over previously unbeaten Leo Mushinsky of Peoria Notre Dame and rolled to a 9-4 win at 152.
“I’ve been thinking about that loss (in last season’s championship match) every day since,” Bailey said. “Any time I was a little tired in practice, I thought about it and it pushed me through.”
Bailey became T.F. North’s first state champion since 1968.
“This means a lot to me because a lot of people didn’t know something like this could happen for T.F. North,” Bailey said. “We don’t have a lot of success in a lot of sports, but now I can bring this home and show them that it’s possible.”
Marian Catholic’s Reece Heller (3A, 152), Oak Forest’s Miles Trahey (2A, 113) and Anthony Schickel (2A, 120), and Lemont’s Kyle Schickel (2A, 138) and Apollo Gothard (2A, 220) finished as runners-up.
Hamiti (42-4), meanwhile, became Joliet Catholic’s first two-time state champion, with two years left to add to his total.
Entering the final at 126, he had won all seven of his matches at state the last two seasons by fall or technical fall.
Hamiti had a tougher test in the championship match, beating Washington’s Brody Norman 3-0.
“I liked this one more because I had to earn it more,” Hamiti said. “I feel like this one was rewarding to me because I’m the first one to win two for JCA, and because I had to work for it.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
