When healthy, Vinnie Testa is really special.

The Marmion senior, who hadn’t competed since the first week of the season, won all six of his matches during the Don Flavin Invitational on Dec. 29-30, helping the defending Class 3A state champions prevail with dual team victories over Lyons, Glenwood, St. Charles East, Kaukana, Wisc., Montini and IC Catholic Prep.

“We always say when it comes to Vinnie Testa, the more wrestling action that takes place, the more he’s going to show how special he is,” Cadets coach Anthony Cirrincione said. “He can compete with anybody. I think sometimes he doesn’t see what we see as coaches. We see him as someone who could beat anyone. Once we get him to believe, the sky is the limit.”

Testa wrestled on Nov. 25 when the Cadets opened the season by hosting Lockport in a dual. The following day he pinned Quincy’s Harlen Derhake in his first match in the Cadet Classic, but suffered an ankle injury which forced him to medically forfeit out of the tournament during the quarterfinals.

“We hadn’t had him since before Thanksgiving, which was the last time we saw him compete,” Cirrincione said. “We trusted him with his recovery, gave him that autonomy. But when we talked to all of them in August, we asked for their input. They’re been wrestling since they were 4 and 5 years old and it was a good opportunity for them to share. He didn’t feel ready until the Flavin, but he showed he was ready. The kid he beat from Kaukana (Brady Sprangers) was the top ranked kid in Wisconsin. That changed the whole emotion of the dual. He was ready to roll.”

Testa rolled back into wrestling after he enjoyed a fantastic season playing football in which he was named the Chicago Catholic League Red Division Defensive Player of the Year.

“I was a little beat up, but not too bad, no injuries during the football season.” Testa said. “I had a really good season, we just didn’t do as well as I expected as a team. I won defensive player of the year for conference which was a good honor.”

In addition to that accolade, Testa was named the team’s MVP while he served as a captain.

“I think one of the biggest areas of improvement that he made that applies to both football and wrestling is absolute consistency and high-level preparation which leads to high-level performance week in and week out,” Marmion football coach Adam Guerra said. “Both football and wrestling have high pressure situations that you need to be ready to go for and he can no doubt perform in those times. His leadership on the football team was also outstanding.”

After registering a pin of Lyons senior Luke Wilhelm in 2:32 to open action at the Flavin, Testa pinned Glenwood’s Oluwafemi Balogun (0:52), St. Charles East’s Hazen Murray (0:48) and IC Prep’s Aquilla Ekhomu (0:19) before going the distance against Sprangers, ultimately prevailing 8-6. Testa also won a match against Montini’s highly touted AJ Tack which was cut short at 3:33 when Tack couldn’t continue due to an injury.

“When I went to state last year I expected to be a state placer,” Testa said. “I was dealing with a shoulder injury. So I learned a lot and a grew a lot from that, too, from those losses.”

The linebacker becomes the attacker on the mat.

“When I’m on the football field I want to hit as hard as I can so I would say I like the physicality,” he said. “I can almost say I want to explode through this kid with my shot and stuff like that.”

Junior Luke Boersma can attest to Testa’s power. He’s batted with him as well as senior Joey Favia in the room for a while now.

“I’ve been very lucky to have Joey and Vinnie here the last few years to beat on me a bit to help me become a better wrestler,” Boersma said. “There is never an easy day with those two in the room. I appreciate all they have done for me, and we are going to miss them badly next year.”

Being a talented, multi-sport athlete at Marmion, Testa knows he blessed.

“It’s really fun and we’ve got the best coaching staff in the country,” he said. “I think it’s the people here at Marmion. It’s not just the students, it’s the teachers and staff. Everyone is there for you at school and willing to help you no matter what. And our team is a super close group. We work really well together and I relied on my teammates a lot this weekend.”