Riverside Brookfield High School senior Izaiah Gonzalez felt slight pain in his right knee during the final moments of winning the 132-pound championship at the Class 2A Hinsdale South Sectional. There was no way the injury was going to prevent him from stepping onto the top-six all-state awards stand at the state meet Saturday in Champaign.
“He didn’t really practice much leading up, so he hadn’t really tested it,” RBHS coach Nick Curby said. “He might have been a little bit protecting [at first]. As the tournament went on, I could definitely tell it was affecting him less and less. It was not as much of a problem although he did mention it was sore at times.”
He went out an all-stater by earning fifth place with a 10-4 victory over Morris sophomore Parker Barry (38-16) behind a 9-1 lead after two periods. Gonzalez (34-5) was 3-2 at his first state meet. For his senior year, he moved to LaGrange Park and transferred to RBHS from Bremen, where he had twice qualified for sectionals and came one sectional backdraw victory from reaching state in 2024.
“He really put that [knee] aside and wrestled really well,” Curby said. “He had some exciting moments but overall wrestled really well. Placing at state is always a great accomplishment.”
Gonzalez opened with a 19-5 major decision and had a huge 12-11 quarterfinal victory over Rockford East junior Victor Onfore (31-9). He fell behind 11-6 after a takedown with 56 seconds left but pulled off a reversal with 36 seconds left and four-point nearfall to prevail.
In the semifinals, he lost by technical fall 19-4 to the eventual state champion, IC Catholic Prep junior Max Cumbee (43-7). He then lost his first wrestleback match 11-8 to fourth-place Washington senior Logan Makiney (39-12) on a takedown and three-point nearfall in the final 21 seconds.
RBHS senior Nick O’Connor (31-1 at 175) and junior Tony Lombardo (27-8 at 138) both were 0-2 in their first state trips.
O’Connor lost his opener 3-0 and by technical fall 18-1. Lombardo first lost by technical fall 15-0 to sixth-place Morris junior Brock Claypool (46-8) and 10-0.
Fenwick boys wrestling
Fenwick junior Burke Burns of Riverside (27-10) was 0-2 at 2A state, losing his opener by technical fall 19-2 to the state champion, Providence sophomore Justus Heeg (50-1), and 17-1.