Back in 2023, freshman Brody Widlowski sealed Coal City’s first-ever dual team state title with a win in his match against Yorkville Christian.

After the Coalers’ 56-14 win over none other than Yorkville Christian at the Class 1A Coal City Dual Team Sectional on Thursday, he will now have a chance to wrap his senior season by trying to help lead the Coalers to their third dual team title in four years.

Coal City will be making its fourth straight appearance in the state finals when they get underway in Bloomington on Feb. 27.

“We’re all peaking at the right time and are looking forward to what’s to come,” Widlowski said. “We’ve all been at state before, so hopefully the nerves are down compared to other people and we can just do what we do: go out there and win.”

Both Coal City and Yorkville Christian came into Thursday’s dual off dominant regional performances. Each team had 11 wrestlers win regional titles and all 14 advance to individual sectionals, which will be back at Coal City starting Feb. 13.

After Coal City’s Jake Munsterman got the night started with a win by tech fall at 106 pounds, the Mustangs got a win by fall from Phoenix Senodenos at 113 and one by tech fall from Ryan Festerling Jr. at 120.

The Coalers then rattled off 10 wins in a row before Yorkville Christian’s Hayden Wheeler ended the night with a win by decision at 285.

For Coal City, Owen Peterson (126), Widlowski (150), Brock Finch (175), and Evan Greggain (190) all won by fall.

Cooper Morris (132) won by tech fall, while Luke Munsterman (138), Max Christensen (144), Aidan Kenney (157) and Mason Garner (165) all took decisions. Cade Poyner (215) won via forfeit.

Luke Munsterman, Finch, Greggain, Kenney, Garner, Poyner and Payton Vigna (285) all join Widlowski in a star-studded senior class, and Widlowski said they are all determined to finish as strong as they can.

“We’re seniors this year, so we’ve just got to go out there and enjoy our last moments out there,” he said. “We definitely cherish those moments and look forward to it.

“Just go out there and kick some butt.”

There are a few new faces among these experienced Coalers, with the freshman Christensen making a strong first impression in his debut high school postseason.

An IESA state champion last year, Christensen is no stranger to high-stakes matches. But he said making the jump to the high school level with so many veteran teammates has been a challenging and rewarding experience.

“It’s definitely a lot harder in the room, but I’m also getting twice as good, so I’m really appreciating how varsity is. ...” he said. “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. It’s amazing, and I’m grateful for everything. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Head coach Mark Masters has now led the Coalers to nine state appearances in the last 12 years, with two third-place finishes, four second-place finishes and a pair of state titles to show for it so far.

Masters said he was happy with Thursday’s showing and wants to see everyone keep pushing over these final few weeks to find more individual and team success.

“We’ve got a nice little rivalry with Yorkville Christian, so it’s always nice to win those rivalries,” he said. “We just went out and dominated. ...

“It’s always the goal to have 14 state qualifiers and 14 state place-winners. They’ve just got to keep working towards that, and always want more.”

Yorkville Christian ultimately fell short of dual team state for the third straight season after winning its fifth straight regional title last weekend.

Head coach Mike Vester said he feels he has a championship caliber team that just ran into another such team a couple rounds too early.

“Realistically, we felt like were probably the only team that was going to be able to give them a match,” he said. “We needed a couple of swing matches to go our way, and we had to move a couple of guys around with weights, and those matches didn’t go the way we wanted them to. ...

“We’ll see them in (individual) sectionals. It’s good to get some matches in, and we’ve got some work to do.”