Lockport senior Andrew Blackburn-Forst and his dad, Oak Forest coach Shawn Forst, will both attempt to lead their teams to the dual team state finals.
They’ll be doing it Tuesday in sectionals about five miles apart.
The Porters meet up with Yorkville in a Class 3A dual team sectional at St. Laurence, while the Bengals take on the host Crusaders in the Class 2A Brother Rice Dual Team Sectional.
On Saturday night, however, Forst was coaching his team in Champaign and had the chance to watch his son win his first Illinois High School Association state title.
Blackburn-Forst beat Marist’s Ghee Rachal 3-2 in the 3A 220-pound championship match.
“It’s really amazing,” Forst said. “It’s been a great ride. He had a great season. I couldn’t be prouder of him.”
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Blackburn-Forst won an Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association state title in June, was a key cog as a defensive end on Lockport’s state championship football team in November and capped a memorable eighth months with Saturday’s victory.
“One of my friends’ dads told me if I won this title, I might be one of the most successful athletes to ever come out of Lockport,” Blackburn-Forst said. “I don’t think anyone’s won as many state titles as I have, and it’s incredible to be able to do in that short of a time.”
Forst, meanwhile, has had to get used to being a spectator.
“We joke all the time about if it’s easier to be a coach or a wrestler,” Forst said. “We always say it’s easier to be a wrestler because your destiny is in your own hands. But going from a coach to a dad puts that on another level.
“You step away, you’re up in the stands and it’s a little more nerve-wracking.”
His dad’s coaching seems to have rubbed off on Blackburn-Forst, who can often be seen giving his teammates tips and is sometimes standing and yelling alongside the Porters’ coaches while his teammates wrestle.
“He’s been watching his dad since he was a little boy,” Lockport coach Josh Oster said of Blackburn-Forst. “He definitely has some of that coach’s mentality. Sometimes, I have to tell him to relax and let me do the yelling.”
After winning an individual state championship Saturday night with teammate Brayden Thompson, Blackburn-Forst turned his attention to chasing yet another one.
“‘L Town’ is coming for the team state title, baby,” he said. “We’re ready to go after it.”
Mind games: Mount Carmel sophomore Colin Kelly came up with an overtime takedown for a dramatic 3-1 win over previously unbeaten Chris Moore of McHenry in the 3A 160-pound state championship match.
Kelly then repeatedly pointed to his head during his celebration.
“It’s more of a mental thing than a physical thing,” Kelly said. “I pointed to my head because it’s more of a mental battle. It was going out there and just wrestling, not worrying about the crowd or even the score.”
Comeback consolation: Sandburg senior Kevin Zimmer finished as a state runner-up for the second time in three seasons with a 6-2 loss to Mount Carmel’s Ryan Boersma in the 3A heavyweight championship match.
While Zimmer was disappointed, he knew it was a big accomplishment even getting to the finals.
The Wyoming recruit missed all of last wrestling season and the start of this season after tearing the ACL in his right leg while playing quarterback in the spring for the Eagles.
He returned in January and went 17-2, with both losses to Boersma.
“If you told me five or six months ago I’d be in the state finals again, I wouldn’t believe it with how my knee was feeling,” Zimmer said. “I’m still not at 100%.
“I went out there and performed. (Boersma) got the best of me this time. Back to the drawing board.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.