Wrestle Quotations | Page 2

It all boils down to mistakes, and he had some today. He's beaten half of the kids ahead of him, but he just didn't wrestle his best today.

I still think if they were to wrestle 10 times, they'd each win five times. Welch just happened to win this one. They're so even. I think you're going to see them battling each other in freestyle, and even in college, for a while.

I thought Holcomb had an easier draw, but it turned out that the freshman he faced in the first round ended up second at district. It turned out to be a really bad draw and he didn't wrestle well.

I think they need to wrestle their match and things will take care of themselves. Kyle had two ranked kids and has to beat one, Devon has the top rated kid, and Justin has a few tough kids at 119.

Josh had a phenomenal season. He never missed a practice. He came to get extra workouts in. He worked hard and he sought advice from the coaches to improve and he showed up to every meet ready to wrestle for the team.

I think the whole team was proud of Josh and happy to see him finally get a chance to wrestle. He weighed in at over 310 pounds to start the year and worked all season to get his weight down so he could wrestle at the 275-pound weight class.

I think at that level it would be too hard. Big-time football is too much of a commitment and he wouldn't wrestle as well.

Our plan is to wrestle once on Thursday, once on Friday and twice on Saturday. But once you get to the semis, all bets are off. I know I'm going down there with six quality kids who are probably among the top eight in the state. And if they all wrestle to their potential, all six can make it to the semis.

Our ultimate goal is to win the state championship. Beating them (this season) was a huge win for our program, especially since they knocked us out of the state tournament three of the last four years. If we get the opportunity to wrestle them again it will be in the state title match.

Our seniors, Andy Hill and Mike Waters, obviously have big goals of making it to the state tournament. I want to see all five kids keep their focus and conditioning up. I want them to wrestle well but relaxed and not let the pressure get to them.

I think our team came ready to wrestle today. I think we wrestled just about as good as we could. We did not lose a match we were supposed to win, and we won a few we weren't supposed to. I am proud of there effort, and they all did a good job.

It felt good. I knew I had to come out and wrestle Casey as hard as I could.

Just watching them wrestle . . . they have that aura about them. They've been there, they know what is going on and they know how to take charge. They will be tough for any of us to defeat.

I wrestled the exact way that I wanted to wrestle (in the semifinals). I was hoping to get an escape there in the second period but I just didn't get it done when I needed to.

I wrestle him and he's a lot stronger. Then the same moves I try to put on him I put on the other guys, and it's a lot easier.

I think that shows you what wrestling the kind of schedule we wrestle does for you. Sure, some of our kids might take their lumps and not have a lot of wins, but it pays off in a big way at the end of the season.

I think it was a great season for him. He will wrestle in college and this will be a building thing for him. I think he will be a better college wrestler than a high school wrestler.

I think we've got a good chance to get a lot more guys through to district this year and that will help our team score. It's just a matter of how we wrestle on that day. If we wrestle to our full potential, I think we can do very well as a team.

I think we were a little in awe of being in the quarterfinals and didn't wrestle our best match.

I thought our guys wrestled really well today. Alex and Nick wrestled very well. Alfred was a little disappointed he didn't win, but he wrestled well. He can wrestle better yet.

I think in some ways, we made the finals boring for some people. The kids just did a great job. ... Baker, he doesn't like to have to wrestle a girl. It just drives him nuts. He's just got to get beyond that and just finish that out, because he's been ahead of her every time.

I thought we did a pretty good job against Westland. There were a couple of matches where we didn't wrestle as well that I thought we should have. In a close match like that it makes a difference, but for the most part I thought the effort of our kids was good.

It betters us in the long run. If we wrestle those harder teams now and keep building up until the final then we are just getting better as a team. And that's what our goal is - to get better as a team.

I think it's going to be a tight match. If we wrestle to our potential, I think we can win eight or nine matches and obviously we'd win. Even if we split seven-seven, if we do our job, we can win.

I think it's going to continue to grow. I think there is a group of students who are really embracing the sport and a group of parents, who might not have made up their minds about letting their kids wrestle at first, who are embracing the sport now, too.

I wasn't sure what to make out of this season. I wasn't sure if I was just getting lucky with some 103-pounders. It was when I started bumping up to wrestle guys at 112 and kept winning that I started to think I really had something here.

You have to apply to wrestle there. If accepted into the tournament, you expect to see the toughest wrestlers in the country. With teams like Iowa, Iowa State, Illinois and Central Michigan, the competition is stiff.

We didn't really wrestle bad. We came down here last year and just looked horrendous. Tonight we got caught and got beat.

We didn't represent ourselves very well at all. We didn't wrestle badly, we just didn't do as well as we should have. We lost a lot of close matches, which is disappointing. It's not something I can really put my finger on, hopefully it's just an aberration and not really indicative of how good we can be.

We didn't show a lot of spark after winning the sectional. But we wrestle with a lot of emotion tonight. I was happy with the effort.

We just didn't wrestle quite as well in the championship match. But we're walking out state runner-up. I'm proud of this team. It's been a great year. At the beginning of the year I wasn't sure how we were going to be. These kids stepped up and we wrestled in the championship match.

We just didn't wrestle very well. We had a lot of guys who were winning but then got pinned.

We just didn't wrestle well. We gave up points. We gave up pins. If you're going to lose, you have to manage your score so we can get points.

We have to wrestle better than we did (Saturday) if we want to do well in that tournament. But we're capable of that. We're just going to work on the mental aspect of the sport and keeping people healthy.

We have to wrestle the best we can possibly wrestle to get a trophy, but it's possible. We've got five guys who will represent us very well. We're in it to bring back some hardware.

That was a hard match, just a really good match. Being ranked No. 1 in the state is weighing heavy on Mike right now. His first couple of matches here he was wrestling not to lose. He didn't wrestle as good as he can. But he's got to get used to the pressure; it comes with the territory.

The 14 guys wrestle so well together. There's no superstars, and nobody's out there to be the hero. We have just a bunch of guys on the same page doing their jobs.

That was the big one right there. The one to become an all-American, that is the hardest. Now all the nervousness is gone. I just have to go out, wrestle loose and see what happens.

My brothers used to wrestle me all the time. They used to love to do moves on me, just to make me tougher. I loved it. I thought it was really fun.

We fought every match. I told the guys that we didn't wrestle our best match. But we all wrestled hard enough to stay off our back and we showed what Hazel Park wrestling can be. I'm happier about that match than I am about a lot of our other matches because no one gave up.

We gave up some points on the edge where they just kept wrestling. We just have to get it in our guy's heads that it's necessary to wrestle for seven minutes and to wrestle until the whistle.

We were looking for a senior night win. We've got to wrestle with a little more heart. Sure, we're going to make mistakes, but we've got to have more heart.

We don't talk about that streak in the room, but when you reflect on it, it's pretty amazing and almost unbelievable. We've had two good weeks of practice and we're wrestling complete matches. Tonight might have been the best we've gotten all 14 guys to wrestle this year and I think we're still improving.

Well, in the heat of the battle, I wanted to choke him. I wanted to get out and wrestle right there.

Who didn't wrestle well tonight? Just about everybody did. That's what we're all about, getting to this level and wrestling well.

We're definitely looking forward to wrestling at home again. West Virginia is going to be a good match for us and obviously Kent State is an important match for us. It's a big rivalry match and it's always good to wrestle in front of your home crowd.

We're definitely ready. We've been to the playoffs before, so we know what to expect. We wrestle in the first round Tuesday night, so we're anxious.

We're capable of winning it if we wrestle well.

We've got some tough matches, but we like to turn that around and say no one really wants to wrestle a Rapids kid in the first round of the tournament. To be champion you have to beat everyone. It's just too bad that some championship caliber matches will be held on Thursday night.

We had tough draws in the first round, and we knew it. We probably didn't wrestle quite as well as we could have. It's the state tournament, and there are a lot of tough wrestlers; everybody's good down here. You have to be ready to go.

We had five county champs. It's those wrestle backs that hurt us before. They helped us this time around, which shows you that it truly was a total team effort.

That was the third time he had to wrestle his kid in the last three weeks. It was a tighter match, but Kevin finished strong.

That was a total shocker. I think the kids were really hoping to wrestle Wells and turn some scores around.

We didn't take ourselves out of it. We've got to keep the individuals on top winning, and the guys on the bottom have got to come back and win and stay in the tournament. We've got to knock some guys off. If we wrestle to our seed, we're not going to do much.

We didn't wrestle as great as we should have. Overall, it was an all-right performance, but we definitely should have done better.

We didn't wrestle as well as we could have. But this is a good tournament, good competition.

We didn't wrestle the best we did all year. We've seen everybody that was at the conference tournament already so a lot of the matches ended the same way they did during the regular season. We could have won a couple more matches.

We didn't wrestle well all day yesterday and then today. We did not have a good tournament.

When I used to wrestle professionally, I preferred being the bad guy known as 'The Heel;' you would get to 'work the crowd,' getting them to hate you and want to see you lose, while the good guy 'Babyface' would walk in, smile and shake hands with a few kids, and his acting job was done.

When you wrestle a team so many times it gets closer and closer, but that didn't happen today. The kids wrestled great and we were able to rotate kids in. It feels great. It's a little different going in as a favorite. We have to take it one step at a time, two down five to go.

We're doing well. Depending on how we do in the morning, we'll wrestle to win or for third.

We still have a shot, if we wrestle our tails off. The kids are wrestling hard, and that's all you can ask for. We're right in matches with tough teams, but we're just not getting the job done in getting bonus points.

We beat them pretty good earlier this month, but you can see how much they've improved just in a couple of weeks. They had me scared there for a long while. We did what we needed to do to get the win, but there's not much doubt at all that we are going to have to wrestle much better against New Bedford.

We didn't have as good a day as we would've liked. We had to wrestle some kids that we didn't know about.

We've got nothing to lose. They've been (on top) for forever, so we'll just go wrestle them tough -- it would be nice to knock them off, too.

We were a little apprehensive. He's wanted to wrestle for weeks now. It's nice to see him walk off the mat healthy.

We were a little flat coming out of the county tournament. We didn't wrestle to our capability throughout the lineup.

We won't take them lightly. They're the best in that area. We'll come in and see what we can do and we want to wrestle well. We've been upset before (In this meet). 1997 comes to mind.

We're trying to wrestle the toughest competition we can find.

We knew we didn't wrestle well the first time we saw them. The kids had wanted High Point to win (against Central Regional in the semifinals). They got them and they wrestled like they wanted it.

We were very tentative. They got the rhythm and the tempo, and we were never able to wrestle it back.

We come from a family that is very competitive. I could go right now and wrestle with my mom and dad.

We really didn't know what we had with Shane until after the Sierra Nevada Classic. Some schools have shown some interest in him but obviously, he should wrestle somewhere next year.

When I was down at states, she would call me before every match to wish me good luck and encourage me to do my best. She knows how nervous I get before I wrestle and just talking to her would calm me down a lot. Without her being there, I don't think I could have done what I did in the tournaments.

We just wrestle our match, that's really it. Try to stay focused on what we've done all year. He had the same type of match in the semis. We made the decision that we're going down and not neutral (to start the third period) and we need out at least to tie.

We kept it close into the third period so we didn't have to make up as much ground. Luke kept picking up the pace, which is what we wanted. We feel like most of our guys can wrestle eight or nine minutes hard.

We're not lying to the kids. We know we're not going to win the dual. What we're looking to do is to win as many matches as we can and wrestle well. We want to use it as a barometer going into the sectional.

We started to wrestle more aggressive the second two duals. Even in the close matches, we wrestled better.

We're just banged-up. When you give up five forfeits, it's tough to win. Latrobe wrestled well and we didn't wrestle our best.

We have nine out of 13 left in the winners' bracket so I guess that's respectable. But it's just the beginning. Overall, we're doing OK. There's still a long ways to go. We'll need to pick it up a notch (today). Wrestle a little more physical.

We want everyone to come out and wrestle as good and hard as they can. We're going to try and qualify every wrestler. Whether or not it's realistic, it's our goal.

We're starting to wrestle up to our potential. There were some tough teams, and it showed us where we need to get to by (the state tournament).

When I was a freshman, I didn't wrestle as well here as I thought I could. I looked up at the stands and saw lots of people.

When we came back, we had a good talk. It's disappointing to get a loss when you have five kids win and five kids lose. It puts a negative, somber note on the weekend. We're a good team, and we didn't wrestle as well as we should have. We need to wrestle with a sense of urgency and make the small adjustments.

We wrestled fairly well today. We wrestled at the Bo Henry Tournament last week; we wrestled really well there. Today, we didn't wrestle as good as we could've and I think the guys realize that; I think they kind of figured out that there may have been a few matches we lost that we should've won.

We wrestled really well. I'm really proud of our effort and it's good to wrestle like this heading into the final weeks of the season. This was one of our best performances of the season.

We wrestled well enough to win the tournament, but we were rusty at times. We have to clean some things up and correct some errors. We didn't wrestle as well as we should have in certain matches, but we'll fix that.

We're just looking for a good effort. Realistically, every kid has a shot. If they wrestle as well as they can, they're going to make it through.

We're a young team and we're still growing. I'm proud of the four wins we got against the defending county champ. They're a tough team with three defending county champs and another two who are ranked. They wrestle all year all over the county. We were more mentally prepared today. We knew what we were in for, and we went after them. I'd say we're still four to five years away. We need the kids who are in fifth and sixth grade to come up.

We're banged up. We're looking to get healthy for January and February. In the grand scheme of things it's probably not worth it for them to wrestle in this tournament.

There are some challenges in the future that make it harder to do waste-to-energy, so we're going to have to wrestle with a few of those things.

There are some high-caliber teams here and placing anywhere in the top six is a great accomplishment. Matt Stephenson wrestled really well and was in every match. It's a good point in the season for Matt to realize that he can wrestle well at a tournament like this.

We started the year with a victory and we ended the regular season with a victory. I was glad for the seniors to get a win over Perry. We were very aggressive and ready to wrestle whereas earlier in the evening versus ADM that wasn't the case.

We knew they didn't have a 171-pounder and Daniels didn't get to wrestle last week because Carthage bumped their wrestlers.

Each week you have to wrestle at a higher level. We all have to step it up this week.

Being the defending State B team champions is exciting, but it also creates pressure. Everyone is trying to knock you off. Plus this year, we only have 11 guys (to fill 14 weight classes). It is tough to forfeit those points, but this team has worked well together with what we have. We just try to help each other wrestle our best every time. Whatever happens after that - win or lose - happens. We just try to do that each time out and have as much fun as we can.

Ben Warner is a great individual and a great wrestler. He is the one guy that really had a shot at beating Derek this year. This match was proof of Derek's ability. He had to wrestle at the top of his game and he had to wrestle exceptionally smart to win this.

Do we think about Rapids? Yeah. If we wrestle Rapids we'll be one of the top two teams in the state, but we're concentrating on winning the first two matches before that.

Bennett is wrestling really well. I think he's going to wrestle better and better for sectionals and state. By the time state rolls around, he'll really be on a roll.

We don't really have a natural 119-pounder on our team, so we have two 112-pounders who wrestle at 119. Matt usually wrestles wherever the competition is stiffest.