Between the first and second period of the 285-pound match Thursday night in the Class 3A Marmion Dual Team Sectional, Joliet Catholic‘s Daniel Delach witnessed something a little out of the ordinary.

His opponent, Yorkville‘s Xavier Ulloa, called the trainer over with a garbage can and emptied the contents of his stomach into it.

Ulloa led by 10 points after the first period, but Delach rallied in the second. First, he recorded a takedown, then got three near-fall points to make the score 13-9. Finally, he pinned Ulloa in 3:03, a win that helped the Hilltoppers secure a 63-5 win over the Foxes and advance to the state dual team tournament for the fifth straight season.

“I’ve been having a tough time at practice lately,” Delach said. “There are some family issues that my mind has been on. When their guy was throwing up, Coach [Ryan] Cumbee came over to me and asked who was better-coached, who wanted it more and who was tougher. I told him, ‘Me.’

“He gave me a lot of confidence, and I ran with that. Our coaching staff is amazing. They are nothing but supportive, whether it’s wrestling or something off the mat. This team really wants to win the state title.”

JCA, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A by Illinois Matmen entering the match, did nothing to jeopardize that ranking. The Hilltoppers won 13 of the 14 matches and will take on Marmion - the No. 1-ranked team, which defeated Mt. Carmel 46-23 - on Friday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.

The match began with the 144-pound bout and JCA’s Adante Washington, wrestling up a class, earned a 25-8 technical fall over Vincent Konecki. Yorkville’s Donovan Rosauer then picked up the lone win for the Foxes with a 17-2 technical fall over Aurelio Munoz.

Dawson Mack of JCA picked up a 13-4 major decision over Donncha Souza at 157. At 165, JCA’s Nolan Vogel earned a 19-3 technical fall over Max Delgado before Vince Skedel won by injury default over Caleb Viscogliosi at 175 for a 20-5 JCA lead.

In the 190-pound bout, JCA’s Aidan Bishop won a hard-fought 2-1 decision over Brock Janeczko. The Hilltoppers’ Ryker Czubak cruised to an 18-3 technical fall over Avery Lane at 215, and Delach’s pin over Ulloa at 285 put JCA ahead 34-5.

Kane Robles got a pin in 33 seconds over Leo Richmond at 106, Colton Schultz got a 17-2 technical fall over Logan Cassell at 113, Finn McDermott pinned Landon Jenkins in 1:27 at 120, Lukas Foster scored a 19-4 technical fall over Alexander Andel at 126, Adonis Washington pinned Rocky Delgado in 1:23 at 132, and Lincoln Mack got a 13-4 major decision over Jaxson Kocur.

“I wanted to keep our momentum going,” Bishop said about his win at 190. “Everyone else was winning, and I wanted to take care of business too. It feels great to get to state as a team. We have a real good team bond, and it’s more about the team for us.

“Now we have to keep preparing for Marmion.”

Despite the lopsided score, Cumbee saw room for improvement.

“It seems strange to say after we won 63-5, but I thought we wrestled a little flat tonight,” Cumbee said. “We weren’t as sharp or clean as we could have been. The good thing is that this isn’t the end of the season. We still have a long time to get ready for dual team state.

“I thought Daniel Delach did a great job, coming back from being down 13-3 and getting a pin. Between periods, I asked him who the tougher wrestler was and he said, ‘Me.’ Then he went out and showed it.”

Despite the loss, Yorkville coach Jake Oster was pleased with his team’s season.

“The bracket-makers weren’t too kind to us,” he said. “We’re ranked No. 7 in the state, but we got matched up with the No. 2 team. We needed a lot of things to go our way tonight, and not enough of them did. We are a little banged up, and a couple of guys were out sick, so we put a couple of JV guys in there, and they got some really good experience. It was a tough loss for Caleb, but he’ll be OK to wrestle at individual state.

“Overall, we had a good year. We were 17-5 in duals, and we showed we can compete with the top teams in the state. We have 12 guys that advanced to the individual sectional. We’re hoping to compete well there, and there’s a lot to build on heading into next year.”