Four Saint Patrick wrestlers placed in the top three finishers at the Illinois High School Association’s Oak Park (Fenwick) Sectional, earning berths in the IHSA’s Franklin Park-Northlake (Leyden) Sectional this weekend. Joe Fagiano led the way for the Shamrocks by winning the 215-pound weight class. Nick Luburich (160 lbs) and Brian Ridley (130 lbs) both placed second, and Brian Rategan took third place at 171 pounds.

Fagiano ran his record to 38-2, pinning both of his opponents on the way to his first Regional Championship. In the semi-final Fagiano pinned John Davis of Oak Park-River Forest at the 5:47 mark. In the final, Fagiano ran up a 14-4 lead before finally pinning Ridgewood’s Nick Kosanovic for the title. Fagiano is currently ranked second in the state at 215 pounds.

Brian Ridley earned a berth in the finals by pinning his first opponent, then defeating Romaine May of Austin on an 8-3 decision in the semi-final match. Ridley then lost his Regional Championship match in heartbreaking fashion. Ridley dropped a 1-0 decision in triple-overtime when Fenwick’s Pat Hanlon was able to score on an escape.

Nick Luburich pinned Peter Lovaas of Oak Park-River Forest at 1:28 in the semi-finals to advance to the championship match. Luburich had his work cut out for him in the finals, facing Josh Hilliard of Proviso East, who had a record of 31-2 coming into the match. Hilliard pinned Luburich at 3:33 to win the title.

Brian Rategan dropped a close semi-final match to John Hilliard of Proviso East 11-10, then came back to pin Nick Zager of Oak Park-River Forest and post an 11-0 victory over Ray Vizza of Ridgewood in the wrestle-backs to take third place and advance to the sectionals.

The first two rounds of the sectional will take place on Friday, February 10 at East Leyden Township High School. The rest of the Sectional will take place on Saturday with the Finals set to start at 1:00pm.

Ridley will face Adam Schammert (18-18) of Leyden in his first match. Luburich will take on Jessie Santiago (20-10) of Gordon Tech. in his opening match. Rategan drew Andy Dunn (27-11) of Fenton in his first match, and Fagiano earned a bye before getting either Chris Sysco (14-7) of Northside College Prep or David Turner (12-13) of Leyden in his first action.