And here are the rest of the finals: Wilmington wins 36-23 in the Class A title match; Lincoln-Way Central beats Libertyville 31-25 for third place in Class AA; and Oregon wins on criteria over Lisle after the two teams tied 27-27. That's it for another wrestling season. See you next year!

7:41 p.m.

Providence's Dan Steed (35-11) gets a 13-5 major decision over Mike Rakosnik at 152, making it a 37-25 final in favor of Montini. That wraps up a 34-1 season in which the Broncos' only loss was to Waverly-Shell Rock, Iowa. They were a wire-to-wire No, 1 in The Illinois Best Weekly's Class AA rankings and were seriously tested only once all season by an in-state opponent: Glenbard North in this morning's quarterfinals. Meanwhile, in Class A, Wilmington just clinched its second consecutive title on Jake Murphy's pin at 145. That put the Wildcats up 33-23 against Stillman Valley with one match remaining.

7:34 p.m.

Put this one in the books. Montini's Alex Saunders (28-17) pins Jeremy Crnich (13-11) at 1:21, giving the Broncos an insurmountable 37-21 lead.

7:30 p.m.

And Providence makes it three wins in a row, as Brian Walsh (33-16) takes a 10-6 decision over Frank Baer, making it 31-21.

7:21 p.m.

It's not over yet. Jacob Wojcik (49-3) pins Donnie Quattrocchi in 2:29 to pull Providence within 31-18. But Montini just needs one more win to wrap up the title.

7:18 p.m.

Mark Augle (44-8) picks up a 16-6 major decision for Providence over Mark Marten (13-13) at 130, giving Montini a 31-12 lead. Over in Class A, Wilmington is up 21-16 through 125.

7:08 p.m.

And now the Broncos are pulling away. Jake Gregerson (37-5) gets a tech fall at 3:05 over Jeremy Sterr (8-4) at 125, making it 31-8 with just five bouts left.

7:04 p.m.

Another close win for Montini, as Benny Marti (44-12) gets past Mike Togher (14-10) 4-2 to give the Broncos a 26-8 lead. Anyone sensing a pattern here? Time is short for Providence to mount a comeback.

6:55 p.m.

Rasche (47-8) holds on to edge Ambrose (38-12) by a 3-2 count, making it 23-8 Montini. Funny how much difference less than a handful of points can make. Had Providence turned around the one-point losses here and at 215, it'd be down only 17-14.

6:46 p.m.

Cooper (47-1) takes care of business as expected, scoring a tech fall at 4:58 to cut Providence's deficit to 20-8. Wrestling now are Montini's Colton Rasche and Providence's Tom Ambrose.

6:36 P.M.

Grant Goebel (35-9) gets a takedown with five seconds left to edge Dave Togher (31-7) at 215, giving Montini a 14-3 lead. And his big brother Garrett (57-1, 46 pins) wraps up a brilliant prep career by pinning Steve Laski (18-11) in 37 seconds. It's 20-3 Montini and Providence desperately needs a win. Fortunately for the Celts, Edwin Cooper is on the mat now vs. Montini's Sam Brody.

6:25 p.m.

Foreside wins a tech fall and Dan Grimes pins Joey Michals in 3:02, so just like that, Montini is up 11-3. With the Goebel brothers up next -- triggering "GOEBEL! GOEBEL!" chants from the Montini cheering section, the Broncos clearly have the momentum.

6:18 p.m.

The maroon warmups aren't the only way to identify Montini's wrestlers. You can also tell who the Broncos are by their hair -- all of them seem to have blond dye jobs.

6:08 p.m.

Providence jumps on top, as Reynolds edges Stelter 2-0 with an escape and a penalty point in the final period. Up next at 171: Sean Downes (15-5) of Providence, wrestling for the first time today, vs. Carl Foreside (54-4) of Montini.

6:02 p.m.

We're starting at 160 pounds. In the Class AA final, it's Providence's Brian Reynolds (43-5) vs. Montini's Dam Stelter (41-8).

5:55 p.m.

Hi, we're back at Wharton Field House, just in time for the team introductions. For those who haven't been here, the best way to describe Wharton is that it looks like a smaller version of Joliet Central's massive gym. It's the right size for this event, big enough to accommodate four mats comfortably and small enough to guarantee every fan a good seat.

And though the building itself is 81 years old, the sound system clearly isn't. It's excellent and very LOUD, which is getting an already enthusiastic crowd even more pumped up.

3:52 p.m.

And it's a wrap for the semis. Providence wins 33-26 over LW Central (which gets a last-bout fall from Jake Nelson at 145) to reach the Class AA final against Montini. The Celtics will be looking for their ninth dual-team state title and the first since their run of six straight from 1997-2002. Montini is aiming for its first Class AA dual-team championship after taking five in Class A from 2000 through '05. The action resumes at 6 p.m.

3:41 p.m.

Montini has won 39-15. The final victors: Libertyville's Everett Indart with a 7-2 decision at 135, teammate Trey Ayala by forfeit at 140 and Montini's Demitri Willis on a 9-8 decision over Eric Klein at 145. Over on Mat 4, Providence leads LW Central 33-20 with the last bout going on now. Winners since the last update:: Providence's Jacob Wojcik, 2-0 over Adam Heimer at 130; Lincoln-Way's Josh Kratovil with a 5:14 fall at 135; and the Knights' Steve McCollum, 3-1 over Brian Walash.

3:31 p.m.

And we're almost done. Montini leads 36-15 with one bout left, while Providence is up 33-17 with two remaining. Wilmington is back in the Class A finals after beating Lisle 38-29; the Wildcats will meet Stillman Valley, a 40-22 winner over Oregon.

3:17 p.m.

Jake Gregerson's 4:19 tech fall at 130 makes it 36-6 Montini. This is a lot different than the quarterfinals, when Montini fell behind 8-0, went on a 29-3 run and then had to hold off Glenbard North 29-27. In a match that started at 145 pounds, the Panthers won the last four bouts but couldn't quote catch the Broncos. Providence also trailed in its quarterfinal, falling behind St. Rita 13-10 through heavyweight. But Cooper's pin of Cody Zimmerman at 103 triggered a 22-0 flurry that put the Celtics in charge.

3:14 p.m.

Now Mark Augle's 3:43 pin at 125 gives Providence a commanding 30-11 lead with four matches remaining. Back in Class A, Wilmington leads 26-11 through 119.

3:11 p.m.

And Montini has essentially clinched it, with Benny Marti winning a 4-2 decision over Kyle Manolovic at 125 to push the lead to 31-6 with four bouts left.

3:10 p.m.

Justin Farmer edges Mike Togher 1-0 at 119 to pull LW Central within 24-11.

3:05 p.m.

Libertyville gets its second win of the semis, 5-3 by Shane Michelsen over Christ Divito at 119. It's 28-6 Montini with five bouts left.

3:01 p.m.

And Tom Ambrose's 4-0 decision over Andrew Ruettiger at 112 makes it 24-8 Providence. Over in Class A, Wilmington has opened a 23-7 lead through 103 pounds.

2:56 p.m .

Montini's lead is at 28-3 after Colton Rasche's 8-1 decision over Louis Mazzetta at 112.

2:49 p.m.

Matt Bystol scores Libertyville's first points, winning a 6-1 decision over Sam Brody to make it 25-3. Meanwhile, Providence has opened a 21-8 lead thanks to George Gniadecki's 3-1 decison of Mike Marquez at heavyweight and a 1:11 fall by freshman phenom Edwin Cooper at 103. It's looking like we'll get a rematch of the Dec. 28 dual between the Broncos and Celtics, won 38-22 by Montini. That was the only loss of the season for Providence.

2:43 p.m.

No Illinois school has come within 16 points of Montini this year, a trend that seems destined to continue at least through this round. There's a little more drama over on Mat 4, where LW Central has cut Providence's lead to 12-8 with Joe Mahy's major decision at 215. Though they're separated by just a few miles on Rt. 30 and share the same zip code, this is the first meeting of the season between the Celtics and the Knights.

2:37 p.m.

Grant Goebel's 5-0 decision over Jake Hogan at 215 makes it 19-0 Montini and Garrett Goebel wastes no time at heavyweight, pinning Tom Nield in 51 seconds to push the Broncos' lead to 25-0.

2:33 p.m.

Dave Togher's 14-3 major decision at 189 puts Providence up 12-4.

2:28 p.m.

Montini is showing why it's been the odds-on favorite to win state all year. Dam Grimes just picked up the first pin of the Class AA semis, Dan Grimes' 2:55 fall at 189. The Broncos now lead 16-0, and they've got the Goebels up next.

2:23 p.m.

Lincoln-Way Central is on the board with Pete Damiani's 16-4 major decision over Joey Michals, cutting Providence's lead to 8-4. Montini's Carl Foreside and Libertyville's Logan Miller went to overtime, with Foreside getting a quick takedown for a 6-4 win and a 10-0 lead for the Broncos.

2:13 p.m.

Action started at 152 pounds, with Providence and Montini off to fast starts. The Celtics are up 8-0 after two matches and the Broncos ahead 7-0. Providence got a 5-1 decision from Dan Steed over Matt Bochenek at 152 and Brian Reynolds' tech fall in 5:24 at 160, while Montini had Isaiah Gonzalez's 9-4 decision over Joey Callen at 152 and Dan Stelter's 10-1 major over Josh Ronne at 160.

2:05 p.m.

Hello from Wharton Field House in Moline, where the dual-team state wrestling semifinals are just under way.

The Class AA matchups: Providence vs. Lincoln-Way Central in a battle for New Lenox and Montini vs. Libertyville. In Class A, it's defending champ Wilmington vs. Lisle in an all-Interstate Eight semi and Oregon vs. Stillman Valley.

The move, announced on the IHSA Web site on Monday, allows the NIU community to continue the healing process in the wake of last week's tragedy ... the focus in DeKalb needs to be on that, and not on an athletic event ...

Moline has hosted team state before and should be able to organize a first-class event on Saturday... at the same time, it's a safe bet that the thoughts of everyone in attendance -- wrestlers, coaches, officials, fans, media and workers -- will be with our grieving fellow citizens miles to the east ...

The state's best teams are clustered in a few geographic areas, which resulted in some seriously unbalanced regional assignments ... three regionals featured two teams ranked in the top 10 in Class AA by the Illinois Best Weekly ... that trio included Lincoln-Way Central, where the host Knights outpointed three-time defending state champ Sandburg in an epic battle ...

At least there was enough separation between LW Central and Sandburg (10.5 points) that there wasn't any doubt over which team should advance ...

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case at Alton, where it was originally reported that Edwardsville had edged Granite City 218-217.5 for the regional title ... it was subsequently discovered that, in fact, Granite City had won 217.5-217 ...

But even though both schools accepted the corrected result, the IHSA initially did not ... citing a National Federation rule that scoring mistakes must be corrected within 30 minutes after the end of a tournament, the IHSA at first insisted that Edwardsville would advance to the team sectional ...

Adherence to the rules is fine -- except when it makes a mockery of the principle of fair play ... it's a pretty bitter pill for kids to swallow that they work for months to get a chance to compete in a sectional -- and then have that chance taken away because of a scoring error ...

As Illinois Best Weekly's Rob Sherrill pointed out, the advent of computerized scoring has created an impression that mistakes are no longer made ... which clearly isn't the case ...

This whole mess could have been avoided if the team tournament actually was a team tournament from start to finish ... scoring tournaments is much more complex than duals, as anyone who's done it knows ... keeping track of byes, forfeits, defaults, bonus points and the random deduction for unsportsmanlike conduct is a huge task and not for the inexperienced nor the non-detail-oriented ...

As it turns out, this story has a happy ending for Granite City and those who value the integrity of high school sports ... the IHSA reversed itself and allowed the correct score to stand, advancing the Warriors to their own team sectional ...

We can only hope this is the beginning of a new era of sanity, in which common sense and reality are taken into account in tweaking the state series to make it as fair as possible for as many athletes as possible ...

As always seems to be the case, unfortunately, some of the state's premier teams will be one and done in the state series, victims of geography or the IHSA's policy of using a tournament format to determine who qualifies for the dual-team sectionals ...

In a lot of regionals, it doesn't make a difference how the sectional team qualifier is determined because there's such a gap between the best and the rest ...

But that's not the case in several regionals that have two or even three strong teams ... the toughest cuts will come at Andrew, Lake Park and Minooka, all of whose fields include two teams ranked in the Illinois Best Weekly's top 10 ...

At Andrew, it's three-time defending state champ and No. 4 Sandburg squaring off with No. 6 Lincoln-Way Central; at Lake Park, it's No. 2 Glenbard North and No. 9 Wheaton North; and at Minooka, it's No. 3 Providence and the No, 10 hosts ...

That three top-10 teams will be out of the bracket right away while other, unranked squads will advance because they're not located in wrestling hotbeds just doesn't seem fair ... it's an inequity the IHSA should address ... if the state does, then perhaps the dual-team playoffs -- long overshadowed by the individual tournament -- will become more than the afterthought they've been for all but the handful of teams capable of winning state ...

A different -- and fairer -- way of putting it was that this tournament was a preview of coming attractions ... while upperclassmen have taken center stage more often in previous Catholic League tournaments, this was more a chance for the kids to show what they had ...

And when it was all over, there was no denying the conference's young talent has a tremendous up side ... you can start with St. Rita freshman Jawon Akui, who came in with a 10-1 record and went home with the 152 title and the meet's Outstanding Wrestler award ... moving up a spot to fill in for Class AA top-ranked Steve Zimmerman (out with an injury), Akui beat three seniors en route to the title and put himself in the conversation for the postseason ...

The other freshman champ was Providence 103-pounder Edwin Cooper, who says he feels no pressure whatsoever about being unbeaten (33-0) ... from the poise he shows on the mat, it certainly looks like he's telling the truth ...

In all, there were seven freshmen, 13 sophomores (including champs Nick and Chris Dardanes of Fenwick) and 11 juniors placing in the top four ... so there should be a lot of familiar faces on the awards stand at next year's Catholic League meet and the one after that ...

The other noteworthy development was the return of Mount Carmel, which won its first conference title in 10 years ... not to say the Caravan ever really went away, because it was always a state power, but Carmel had seen its star decline in recent years as Providence and St. Rita took center stage in the league and -- until Sandburg's current three-year title run -- in Class AA as well ...

But now under alum and second-year coach Jason Erwinski, the Caravan has demonstrated that you better talk about the big three and not just the big two when it comes to Catholic League wrestling ...

Erwinski is an easy-going guy off the mat, but don't let that calm exterior fool you ... he's definitely got the fire inside ...

There are a couple of vignettes that may shed some light on the Carmel renaissance he's engineered ...

Last season, the Caravan returned to state for the first time since 2002 and, as luck would have it, drew Sandburg in the quarterfinals ... the Eagles won easily over a young Caravan squad, to no one's surprise, 43-25 ... but even though his team was done and a storm was bearing down on DeKalb, Erwinski had no intention of heading home after the loss ... he wanted his wrestlers to soak up the atmosphere of the state tournament, to see the prize that was out there waiting for them and to make them hungry enough to work hard enough to make the leap from good to great ...

The second moment came after Saturday's meet, when I suggested to Erwinski that it was a good thing he was a wrestling coach and not a football coach, which would have won him a Gatorade shower after the win ... his response was to the effect that his wrestlers better not think of trying something like that ... it showed there should be no doubt who's in charge of this program ... while some young coaches struggle to get respect from athletes just a few years younger than them, Erwinski commands it now ... and that will only grow as his resume becomes more impressive ...

And finally, the awards: 112 champ B.J. Futrell is the unanimous Lawless winner as the Catholic League's top senior wrestler, Mount Carmel's Jason Erwinski is the coach of the year and St. Rita freshman 152-pounder Jawon Akui is the meet's outstanding wrestler ...

5:49 p.m.

It's over, and Mount Carmel has come away with its first Catholic League title in 10 years, beating Providence 207.5-197.5 ... the teams will meet again on Friday in a dual at Mount Carmel ...

Bishop Mac won the last two individual titles in dramatic fashion: Mario Zinnani beat St. Rita's Mike Nolan 5-4 in OT at 215 and Mike Letton defended his heavyweight title, winning by the same score over St. Rita's Kevin Galeher ...

Here are the final team scores ...

Mount Carmel 207.5

Providence 197.5

St. Rita 155

Brother Rice 137

Fenwick 95.5

Bishop McNamara 84

Loyola 77.5

St. Laurence 63

St. Ignatius 39.5

De La Salle 27

Gordon Tech 7

Guerin 3

St. Francis deSales 3

5:26 p.m.

It's over at LW Central, where Sandburg has won another SouthWest Suburban title, 221.5-168 over the hosts ... the final four individual champs: LW Central's Pete Damiani (171), Bolingbrook's Senuwell Smith (189), Bolingbrook's Kwame Harris (215) and LW East's Chris Narel (heavyweight) ... thanks to Curt Herron for providing updates ...

5:23 p.m.

De La Salle's Clayton Kendall beats Mount Carmel's Robert Barbour 7-3 in the 171 title match, winning his second Catholic League championship and avenging a 5-1 loss to Barbour last week ... ir's still 202.5-193.5 Carmel over Providence in the team race ...

5:05 p.m.

Providence pulls within 202.5-193.5, thanks to Brian Reynolds' 3-2 decision over Mount Carmel's Charles Argue in the 160 final ...

4:56 p.m.

St. Rita's Jawon Akui is the second freshman champ of the day, beating Mount Carmel's John Ford 12-3 in the 152 final ... Providence gets a pin from Dam Steed in the third-place match, so Mount Carmel's lead is now 202.5-189.5 ...

4:48 p.m.

Over at LW Central, Sandburg is looking every bit like the three-time defending state champ it is ... the Eagles have now won five titles, with Tyler LaPretre (135), Jake Holler (145), Juan Soliz (152) and Conrad Polz (160) joining John Morrison (119) ... other champs: LW Central's Adam Heimer (130) and LW East's A.J. Knoll (140) ...

4:44 p.m.

A clarification: Mount Carmel already had been credited with Strenk's points because McNamara coaches told meet officials before the finals that Young would be defaulting ...

At 145, St. Laurence's Dave Aparicio wins on a tech fall at 4:18 over Mount Carmel's Nick Gelsosomo ... team scores: Mount Carmel 202.5, Providence 146, Rice 129 ...

4:32 p.m.

Bobby Barnhisel gives Fenwick its third title of the day, beating Rice's Luke Nelson 4-1 at 140 ... it's the second Catholic League championship for Barnhisel, who won in 2006 and lost to St. Rita's John Majka in OT in last year's

4:25 p.m.

Mount Carmel continues to maintain its lead ... it's 202.5-184.5 over Providence through 135, and the Caravan just picked up extra points at 140 when McNamara's Jon Young had to default to Brian Strenk for third because of an injury ... Mount Carmel hasn't won the Catholic League since 1997 ...

4:18 p.m.

We have the first four champs from the SouthWest Suburban: Bolingbrook's Frankie Campos at 103, Joliet's A.J. Juarez on criteria in overtime vs. Lockport's Jameson Oster at 112, Sandburg's John Morrison at 119 and H-F's John Dewey at 125 ...

4:09 p.m.

Providence's Jake Wojcik wins 3-2 over Rice's Tim Lullo in the 119 final ...

3:58 p.m.

Fenwick's Chris Dardanes joins his brother atop the awards stand with a 7-5 OT win over Providence's Mark Augle in a matchup that could be repeated down the road (Dardanes is No. 2 in AA, Augle is No. 4) ... Dardanes went up 5-3 with a takedown with 27.6 seconds left in regulation, but Augle tied it with an escape and a penalty point for fleeing the mat ... Dardanes then got the winning takedown at 40 seconds of the first OT period ... team scores: Mount Carmel 202.5, Providence 180.5 ...

3:47 p.m.

At 119, Fenwick's Nick Dardanes beats Brother Rice's Ryan March 20-9 for the title ... Rice loses a team point for unsportsmanlike conduct because March throws his headgear after the match ...

In another development, Futrell is continuing his policy of not doing interviews ... he smiled and ducked away from reporters after picking up his medal, which he then gave to his mom in the stands ... last year, Futrell pretty much maintained a media silence till he won state ...

3:38 p.m.

Mount Carmel's B.J. Futrell wins a 25-10 tech fall at 5:50 over Providence's Tom Ambrose, allowing the Caravan to pull ahead of the Celtics by 17 (197.5-180.5) ... Futrell, a defending state champ, looks primed to repeat in Champaign ... he's 31-0 this season ...

3:26 p.m.

Providence freshman Edwin Cooper is dominant in the 103 final, beating St. Rita's Cody Zimmerman 17-6 to improve to 33-0 ... Mount Carmel's Kevin Skryzpiec gets a 34-second pin in the third-place match, so the Caravan is up 192-180.5 over the Celtics ...

3:01 p.m.

Here are the updated team scores heading into the finals ...

Mount Carmel 187

Providence 175.5

St. Rita 139

Brother Rice 117

Fenwick 88.5

Bishop McNamara 76

Loyola 72.5

St. Laurence 50.5

St. Ignatius 36.5

De La Salle 23

Gordon Tech 7

Guerin 3

St. Francis de Sales 3

2:46 p.m.

We're down to the last wrestleback match, so the finals should start soon ...

Here's more from the SouthWest Suburban ... LW Central's Josh Kratovil, top-ranked in AA at 135 and a three-time conference champ, is sitting out today with an injury ...

Sandburg has eight in the finals: John Morrison (119), Dom Polito (125), Kevin White (130), Tyler LePretre (135), Jake Holler (145), Juan Soliz (152), Conrad Polz (160) and Frank Tereiro (215) ...

2:26 p.m.

For today at least, New Lenox is the prep wrestling capital of Illinois ... just down the road from here at Lincoln-Way Central, the Knights are hosting the SouthWest Suburban Conference meet ...

Curt Herron will be providing updates from LW Central ... through the semis, Class AA No. 4 Sandburg is comfortably ahead with 171.5 points ... Class AA No. 6 LW Central (123), Bolingbrook (91), Lincoln-Way East (89) and Joliet (86) round out the top five ...

1:56 p.m.

Steve Zimmerman isn't the only big name sitting out today ... Also out with injuries are returning state placer Mike Migawa (140) of St. Rita and Mount Carmel's Mike Maggi (130) ... St. Rita coach Dan Carroll says Migawa may return to action on Thursday, but Mount Carmel coach Jason Erwinski said Maggi may not be back till the regional in two weeks ...

1:30 p.m.

The wrestlebacks are scheduled to start at 1:40, with the finals tentatively set for 2:30 ...

Here are the team scores through the semis:

Class AA No. 13 Mount Carmel 155

Class AA No. 3 Providence 144.5

Class AA No. 14 St. Rita 132

Brother Rice 96

Fenwick 83.5

Bishop McNamara 66

Loyola 48.5

St. Laurence 38

St. Ignatius 29.5

De La Salle 23

Gordon Tech 7

Guerin 3

St. Francis de Sales 3

And here are the championship matchups:

103 -- Edwin Cooper (Providence, 32-0) vs. Cody Zimmerman (St. Rita, 23-9)

112 -- B.J. Futrell (Mount Carmel, 30-0) vs. Tom Ambrose (Providence, 25-7)

119 -- Nick Dardanes (Fenwick, 29-3) vs. Ryan March (Brother Rice, 28-3)

125 -- Chris Dardanes (Fenwick, 30-3) vs. Mark Augle (Providence, 30-5)

130 -- Jacob Wojcik (Providence, 31-2) vs. Tim Lullo (Brother Rice, 24-5)

135 -- John Majka (St. Rita, 26-2) vs. David Skryzpiec (Mount Carmel, 21-3)

140 -- Bobby Barnhisel (Fenwick, 34-1) vs. Luke Nelson (Brother Rice, 25-4)

145 -- Nick Gelsosomo (Mount Carmel, 21-10) vs. Dave Aparicio (St. Laurence, 17-5)

152 -- John Ford (Mount Carmel, 27-11) vs. Jawon Akui (St. Rita, 12-1)

160 -- Brian Reynolds (Providence, 28-3) vs. Charles Argue (Mount Carmel, 28-4)

171 -- Robert Barbour (Mount Carmel, 30-3) vs. Clayton Kendall (De La Salle, 27-6)

189 -- Tyler Osborn (St. Rita, 25-9) vs. Dave Togher (Providence, 18-2)

215 -- Mario Zinnani (Bishop McNamara, 27-1) vs. Mike Nolan (St. Rita, 21-4)

Hwt. -- Mike Letton (Bishop McNamara, 20-0) vs. Kevin Galeher (St. Rita, 17-5)

1 p.m.

The semis went pretty much as expected, but it wouldn't be the Catholic League without a few surprises ...

The biggest news is at 152 pounds, where St. Rita senior Steve Zimmerman -- ranked No. 1 in Class AA by Illinois Best Weekly -- is out with an injury ... Mustangs coach Dan Carroll says Zimmerman could also miss Thursday's triangular with Fenwick and Neuqua Valley, but should be back for the regional on Feb. 2 ...

Zimmerman would have been one of two wrestlers going for his third Catholic League title today ... now, just Mount Carmel's B.J. Futrell (112) will be able to achieve that feat ...

Illinois Best Weekly's most recent Class AA rankings (new ones are due Tuesday) have three Catholic League teams in the top 15 (No. 4 Providence, No. 12 Mount Carmel and No. 13 St. Rita) ... the list of talented squads doesn't end there, with Fenwick having three ranked individuals and De La Salle also boasting some quality wrestlers ...

Depending on who goes up, stays put or moves down, there could be a couple of matchups of state-ranked individuals: Fenwick's Chris Chris Dardanes/Providence's Mark Augle at 125 and Providence's Brian Reynolds/St. Rita's Taylor Osborn at 160) ...

Check out Weighing In on Saturday for live coverage of the Catholic League meet, from the big individual matchups to the team chase and the inevitable controversies ...

Among the other big events on tap on Saturday is the SouthWest Suburban at Lincoln-Way Central, where No. 3 Sandburg and the No. 7 hosts should square off for the title ...

The epicenter of unhappiness will no doubt be in the southwest suburbs, where three-time defending Class AA champ Sandburg and Lincoln-Way Central will be battling for one team sectional berth at the Andrew Regional ... both teams are ranked near the top in Class AA by the Illinois Best Weekly (Sandburg's No. 4, LW Central No. 6) and have the horses to make a deep playoff run ...

And some hearts will also be broken at a couple of other nearby regionals: Minooka (No. 4 Providence and the No. 16 hosts battle) and Romeoville (No. 5 Neuqua Valley and No. 17 Lockport square off) ...

The problem, if you can call it that, is the concentration of talent in the southern and western suburbs ... that, combined with the IHSA's commitment to geographic balance at state tournaments, is a recipe for controversy ...

That's good for the traffic numbers on message boards ... whether it's good for the sport depends on your take on the state finals: Should they bring together the state's best teams, regardless of location, or should all corners of Illinois be represented?

It's a debate that plays out in almost every sport; the only difference is where the loudest squawks come from ... if we're talking golf or tennis, it's probably the North Shore ... for track and wrestling, the South Side and southern suburbs ... and that's the way it'll remain until the IHSA decides to change its criteria for picking state finalists (if that ever happens) ...

But times have changed ... Sandburg's current seniors apparently never got the memo about public schoolls not being able to compete at the same level as the private powers, because the Eagles haven't lost to an Illinois opponent since Providence knocked them off in the 2004 sectionals ...

So that's three seasons and counting that Sandburg has taken on and beaten all comers ... proof that public schools can win state if they have the right ingredients: solid coaching, a productive feeder program, committed athletes, adequate facilities and administrative support ...

Coaching a non-revenue sport in the Public League is not for the faint of heart ... it's not unusual to face obstacles like an indifferent administration, inadequate facilities and kids who have to be taught the very basics ... throw in the low pay, and it's enough to discourage even the most idealistic coaches ...

But some soldier on despite the drawbacks, breathing life into programs that otherwise might wither away and giving kids a reason to keep their grades up and stay engaged in school ...

Hall was one of those guys ... I didn't know him all that well, but you didn't need to be his best friend in order to see how much effort he poured into his program ... in a time when a lot of city teams rarely ventured to the suburbs and pretty much shut down over the holidays, Hall's Cavaliers were a fixture at Homewood-Flossmoor's Christmas tournament ...

He was a big, burly guy with a voice that commanded attention when he was barking out instructions during a match ... but he was also a tireless promoter of the sport who was generous with his own money and his time, not just with his own wrestlers, but with other city teams as well ...

Public League wrestling is a lot better today than it was for a long time ... it has to be, now that the city's guaranteed state tourney berths are a fading memory and the route to Assembly Hall passes through the suburbs... kids with age-group experience are becoming more commonplace and the best of them are competitive with anyone in the state ...

The Public League renaissance is something that had to make Hall smile ... his work to promote the sport and simply keep it alive helped bring us to this point ... it would be a classy move if the Public League could somehow acknowledge his contribution, perhaps with a tribute at the city finals in a few months ... it's a small enough gesture for all the blood, sweat and tears he expended over the years ...

I'm new to the Sun-Times News Group, but not new to the wrestling beat ... as a writer for the Times of Northwest Indians's Illinois edition, I covered most of the state tournaments over the past 20 years ... I learned pretty early on that the sport's fans are among the most passionate around ... which makes sense, because Illinois has some of the best high school wrestling in the country ...

Thanks for stopping by, and please check in often ... questions and comments are always welcome, so fire away ...