Israel Adams and Montini had few occasions this season when their backs were against the wall.

When that situation arises in the season’s biggest game, at its biggest moment, it is easy for a teenaged kid to panic under pressure.

Abrams, Montini’s junior quarterback, faced such a moment Friday night.

His team had seen a three-touchdown lead closed to one score. Abrams had just thrown a pick-six.

He faced a third-and-19, from the shadow of his goal line. Abrams was under pressure, close to being brought down in the end zone.

But Abrams is a rare talent, one of the top junior quarterbacks in the country who showed why in the heat of the moment.

He kept his cool.

Abrams fired a dart to Damacio Ortegon for a 32-yard gain. Ortegon three plays later made an adjustment in mid-air for a spectacular 36-yard catch.

It set up a Charles Flowers’ 24-yard touchdown run to get the margin back to two scores.

Montini, after a dominant run for four games through the playoffs in its new classification, held off a late Rochester rally for a 47-33 win in Friday’s Class 4A state final at Illinois State’s Hancock Stadium.

The Broncos (14-0), with their eighth state title, also completed the second undefeated season in school history with their 24th consecutive win dating back to the 2024 season when Montini won the Class 3A title.

They could thank their junior quarterback, who was 20-for-30 passing for 418 yards and four touchdowns, matching a Class 4A championship game record.

No bigger throw than that throw to Ortegon on third down.

“We prepare for that,” Abrams said. “We’ve had third and longs during practice during the summer. You know when [stuff] hits the fan like that and you know, things get crazy, we fall back on our training.”

Montini coach Mike Bukovsky could go back to arguably his team’s most difficult test of the season, and last tough game.

In that Week 6 game at Carmel, a 55-54 win in which Abrams and Trae Taylor combined for over 1,000 passing yards, Abrams threw two 90-yard touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

“Our track meet game, I call that Carmel game,” Bukovsky said. “We had a lot of things go on and I met Izzy’s eyes as we were walking after the third quarter and I said ‘This is where champions are made, right here.’

“After he threw that pick and you know he hadn’t thrown one in a long long time but this is football and that’s what makes him great. You get in situations like that, you got to be great.”

Abrams showcased his composure, escapability and arm strength on the third-down throw to Ortegon from the end zone. Ortegon, for his part, displayed dazzling body control in coming down with the 36-yarder on another third and long.

“We have great defensive backs I go against all year in practice,” Ortegon said. “I just had to go up and get it and make a play.”

Abrams, who led Montini to the Class 3A title as a sophomore and since emerged as one of the country’s top junior quarterbacks, had come into Friday’s game having thrown for over 3,600 yards and 36 touchdowns.

He threw touchdown passes of 33 yards to Luca Florio in the first quarter and 79 yards to Florio in the third quarter, and a four-yarder to Nico Castaldo for a 21-12 halftime lead.

Abrams’ 52-yard TD pass to Ortegon made it 34-12 midway through the third quarter as Montini looked on the verge of blowing things open.

But Rochester (12-2), which had won back-to-back playoff games in overtime, came back with Evrim Tabag’s third TD run and Nate Swaney’s 35-yard interception return in the final minute of the third quarter.

Rochester had been 9-for-9 in state finals under head coach Derek Leonard, all since 2010, going into Friday.

“It’s the kind of team you really don’t want to play because they just do so many things well,” Bukovsky said. “And you saw that tonight. They have a tremendous amount of heart. They’re like our kids. They’re never going to go away.”

But Rochester never quite recovered after Abrams’ clutch throws.

Abrams later added a 2-yard TD run to complete Montini’s scoring.

“Great players make great plays in the biggest situation,” Leonard said. “They don’t have him, who knows. That kid is special, their receivers, they have a huge offensive line, they just don’t have any weaknesses. That kid kept just making plays and making plays. Give him a lot of credit.”

Ortegon had seven catches for 167 yards and a TD, Florio four catches for 130 yards. Flowers rushed for 103 yards and two TDs for Montini.

“It’s been a special year,” Bukovsky said. “We set out with lofty goals. We said we were going to be undefeated and now we sit here with a 24-game winning streak.”