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Wrestling photo in graphic provided by the fine folks at Visual Image Photograhy
Perhaps Tony Vercelli was bred to be a winner. The three-sport star at Wilmington, who has made recent history, has family members with previous success. His dad, Lodi, played football for Northwestern, and his older brother, Jake, was an All-American wrestler at Purdue. “There’s been some success there.” said Wilmington Head Football Coach Jeff Reents. “I think it’s made him work harder to be better.”
The aforementioned history
has evolved into the recent success of the sports he participates in at
Wilmington. Vercelli is the first Class A student-athlete in state history
to make all state in three sports before the end of his junior year. Vercelli
was an all state catcher as a sophomore, all state wrestler as a sophomore
and junior, and all-state running back earlier this season, his junior year.
“It’s just unbelievable.” said Reents. “Sometimes people around here don’t really appreciate it all, but it’s because he does his thing and moves on to the next.” This season, Vercelli led the Wildcats to a State Runner-up finish in the Class 3A football playoffs. He gained 1,397 yards on the ground, scoring 24 rushing touchdowns, with a long for the year at 62 yards. He also caught 16 passes out of the backfield for 293 yards with 5 touchdowns. Vercelli played both ways for the Wildcats, registering 77 tackles at a linebacker position in 2003. He gained 82 yards on 18 carries and notched 7 solo tackles in the 21-7 state championship game loss to Stillman Valley. “He’s such a great running back because he has tremendous balance and he runs so hard.” Reents said. “He also keeps his shoulders low, and that makes it hard for anybody to get underneath him. Then they have to try to tackle him high, and he has such tremendous strength that it’s hard for them to do that.” Reents also says one element of Vercelli is his ability to have fun. “It’s easy to get burnt out quickly.” he said. “But Tony wants to have fun, and he surrounds himself with a good group of guys.” Vercelli capped a perfect 35-0 wrestling season in February with a state championship in the 215 pound weight class, defeating Winnebago’s David Strathman in the final match of the season. “That’s really hard to do.” said Wilmington Head Wrestling Coach Rob Murphy. “When they don’t seed the state semifinals and do it on a blind draw, there’s a possibility of getting another undefeated guy. Tony got that in the semis.” Pressure was never a factor for Vercelli, especially with the zero staying on the right of his record all season. “He really was fine in the regular season.” Murphy said. “But he made it a priority to win. He wanted to be in the grand march in Champaign on the last day, and when he knew he would be matched up with another undefeated wrestler in the semi-finals, he made sure he got it done.” But wrestling isn’t your typical team sport. “Wrestling is very personal.” Murphy said. “You win or you lose yourself. You learn lessons from them. Sometimes, in other sports, like football, you can get lost with 10 other guys, but not in wrestling.” But maybe the one sport that Vercelli and his fellow Wildcats came out of nowhere was the 2003 baseball season. Vercelli was a catcher on the 2003 team that surprised many by steam-rolling their way to the Class A Baseball state championship. He hit .509 on the season, clubbing nine home runs, 12 doubles, 42 RBI, and registered 15 free passes last season. “He bats #3 in our lineup, mainly because he’s so disciplined.” said Wilmington Head Baseball Coach Kevin Feeney. “He really doesn’t swing at bad balls, hits the ball to all fields, goes with pitches, and has good speed.” But what may be the best part of his game on the baseball field is his defense. “Behind the plate, Tony is unbelievable.” said Feeney. “Balls don’t get by and he’s got a cannon for an arm. Teams don’t even try to run on us, and if they do, he takes care of them.” The Wildcats are the preseason #1 team in the Illinoishighschoolsports.com Class A Baseball poll. Vercelli has had a lot of experience outside of high school. He’s played in the Bronco league world series against players from Taiwan as well as other places around the country and world. He has been wrestling since the age of 10 and Tony also placed third in the largest amateur wrestling tournament in the country. What keeps this amazing athlete going? “You would expect a normal kid to just be run down at the end of all this.” said Reents. “But Tony’s not one of those kids. He’s the kind of kid with the mental toughness and the drive to do whatever he wants.” There’s more to being a great student-athlete than just the athlete part. Vercelli is outstanding in the classroom as well. Not only is he in the top 15 of his class at WHS, he is in Wilmington’s National Honor Society. “His work ethic is phenomenal.” Feeney said. “To be all state in three sports and get good grades, he’s just a tremendous kid.” But perhaps the best compliment came from his wrestling coach, Rob Murphy. “Sometimes the athletes that experience some of the success that Tony has aren’t the kind of people you want kids to emulate.” he continued, “It’s not that way with Tony, he’s a great kid and athlete for our school and community.” And surely he will keep Wilmington proud throughout the rest of his high school career.
The Vercelli File:
Birthday: March 5,
1987
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That
means Vercelli has been notched as an all-stater in three straight competitive
seasons, even before the 2004 baseball season begins.
