Third time the charm for Cabral

Lemont's Angel Cabral beat Montini's Ross Ferraro in double overtime in the Class 2A 185-pound match on Saturday.
(Larry Kane/For The Herald News)

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CHAMPAIGN -- Twice before, Angel Cabral came down to the University of Illinois in search of a state championship.

And twice before, he went home disappointed.

Cabral, Lemont High School's junior heavyweight, turned his luck around in dramatic fashion in the 2A state wrestling tournament on Saturday night at Assembly Hall. He battled Montini's Ross Ferraro in a classic matchup of big boys and finally came away with his prize.

Cabral (22-7) pinned Ferraro at the 8-minute mark of overtime to cap a stirring run through the 285-pound bracket. In an earlier, Cabral pinned Glenbard South's Austin Teitsma in 1:32. Teitsma entered with a record of 36-0.

Cabral, a defensive lineman who had a hand in Lemont's back-to-back runner-up finishes in the 6A football playoffs, entered with a chip on his shoulder.

"I told myself I'm not getting second place two times in one year," Cabral said. "So, I guess it's true. The third time is a charm. It seemed like he got a little excited and took a bad shot. He almost got behind me, but I grabbed his leg and took him down."

Cabral turned Ferraro to his back and then made like a shark in bloody waters. He went for the kill.

"I got real excited," Cabral said. "I felt like I had him."

"It's unbelievable from where he came from the beginning of the year," Lemont coach John St. Clair said. "He was real down about losing in football. He built himself back up with the help of his heavyweight coach Gary Young. He's really developed as a heavyweight and he showed it all tournament long.

"He got the job done. I don't care if it's 10 seconds or eight minutes as long as it's a win."

Three other area individuals won medals in the 2A tournament. The list included Lemont's Andrew Mason (103) and Matt Leibforth (135) and Morris' Seth Bonic (119).

Mason (33-10) split four matches over two days and placed fourth. He dropped a 15-5 decision to Kevon Powell of Montini.

"I feel pretty excited about it, pretty good about it," Mason said. "I expected to place. I wrestled pretty well all year. And this will help me in terms of experience for next year."

Bonic (30-6) became a two-time state medal winner and moved up to fourth place after finishing fifth at 103 as a sophomore in Class AA. He split four matches and pushed his two-year record to 67-9. He couldn't get any offense going in a 3-1 setback to Chris Williams of Bethalto Civic Memorial.

"Fourth place is fine," Bonic said. "I wanted to get third, though, going into that match. But we weren't really doing much. We were feeling each other out on our feet. Then, I just got sloppy and he took me down in that second period."

Leibforth (39-5) dropped a 5-4 heartbreaker to Kyle Logsdon of Rockford East in the semifinals, then bounced back to win his next two matches. He beat Bo Schlosser of Mt. Zion 8-3 to finish third.

"I really liked coming back to place third," Leibforth said. "It gave me a lot more confidence after I beat (Jared) Ernst (Mahomet-Seymour) in the semifinals of the consolation bracket. I came out against Logsdon and I tried to go as hard as I could.

"But I didn't pull through in third period. I was upset about that. But I got over it. I'm pretty good about that. And I ended up having a pretty good day.

"Last year, I was a state qualifier. This year, I won a medal. Next year, I want to win that big bracket board."