Before the final whistle blew, Mount Carmel’s Colin Kelly had already realized his fixable mistake. A tactical error upended his quest for a repeat state championship.

As a junior, Kelly dropped a 3-2 decision in the 170-pound title bout to McHenry’s undefeated Chris Moore at the University of Illinois’ State Farm Center in Champaign.

“I felt like I didn’t attack,” said Kelly, a Wisconsin recruit who looks to rectify that during his senior season. “If I wrestled my usual style, the outcome would have been different.

“The match definitely stings a little bit. It was a good learning experience.”

It also was a rematch as Kelly had defeated Moore, who was previously undefeated again before finishing 43-0 last season, in capturing the 160-pound state title as a sophomore.

By his own admission, Kelly halted his aggression, allowing Moore to dictate the tempo of the match. According to sophomore Liam Kelly, Colin’s brother, those days are over.

“That loss definitely made him grow a lot,” Liam said. “He learned from it, and now he has been training even harder during the offseason.”

As a senior, Colin Kelly plans to put that work to good use.

Following the recommendations of the National Federation of High Schools, the Illinois High School Association has adopted the first weight class changes since 2011.

The upper middle weights are most affected by the change. For Kelly, that means wrestling at 175 pounds. But Kelly said, after going 28-3 last season, the moment is now.

“You can tell he’s not the type of kid where it bothers him in a negative way,” Mount Carmel coach Alex Tsirtsis said. “It just fuels him in a positive way. He’s never satisfied.

“He’s always trying to evolve and be here with a purpose. He’s just trying to get better.”

Kelly said his mentality is about moving forward and being relentless.

“I like to create offense,” he said. “I feel like the best defense is offense. People want to see points to make the sport exciting. If you go out there and the score is 2-1 or 1-0, that doesn’t attract fans.

“People want to see action. I want to increase my offense.”

His sophomore season was a dream scenario, with Kelly pulling off a double. He captured the 160-pound individual title and helped the Caravan to a narrow victory over DeKalb for the Class 3A dual team state championship.

Family provides a boost. His brother Michael, who’s two years older and now a sophomore pitcher at Western Michigan, came out for the state dual series following a baseball-related shoulder injury and pulled out a huge victory in the finale.

As a freshman last year, Liam was a state qualifier at 138. He’s set to wrestle at 150.

“Michael and Colin are very similar in their traits and work habits,” Liam said. “Colin is a super hard worker and very gritty wrestler who can flip a switch very quickly.”

They all grew up quickly in Mokena, although Colin self-deprecatingly calls himself the “mama’s boy” who had to develop toughness as the middle son.

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“When I first started wrestling, I didn’t really enjoy the aggressive side,” Colin said. “As I got older, the coaches introduced me to other parts of the sport — that it’s not just about being aggressive.

“It’s about thinking and being technical.”

As Kelly came of age, he became virtually untouchable.

“I realized that it’s not just a brawl, it’s more of a chess match,” he said. “That’s why I fell in love with the sport.”

While baseball was Michael’s sport, Colin stuck with wrestling, creating his own brand. He also found similarities in the two sports.

“It’s just like a pitcher out there,” Colin said. “It’s just you and the other kid. You have nobody to blame for what happens. It’s like the best feeling ever.”

Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.