Young Mat Warriors lack experience, but not spirit
LFO’S official school colors are red and white, but when it comes to the 2018-2019 wrestling team, the Warriors’ unofficial color is green.
“Right now we are very young and inexperienced,” head coach Kenny Hill explained. “We’ve got some kids who have just started wrestling and we’ve got some kids who have wrestled before, but it’s been four or five years.
“We’re very green. We’re doing some things and having to step back and re-teach some things that most kids in high school already know. But it’s still fun. We have a good group of kids that are fighters and that’s what I’m most happy about.”
Hill’s most experienced two wrestlers are seniors Landyn Boyd, who will wrestle at 152 pounds, and Nathan Williams, a football standout, who will eventually work his way down to 195. Williams placed fifth in state as a sophomore and was one win away from going to state as a junior.
Junior Alec Gentry will most likely wrestle at either 170 or 182. Freshmen Tyler and Taylor Frady will wrestle at the heaviest weights, while another junior, 170-pounder Noah Phy, is new to the sport, but has impressed Hill with his strength and fighting spirit.
Zaniel Carroll (120) and Nyko Simpson (126) are a pair of sophomores that will help out at the lower weights, while freshman Blaze Brown has plenty of potential at 138 or 145. Devon Hinton, a sophomore, will fill a spot at 138 or 145, while Isaac Jarrell, a first-year wrestler, will help out in the middle weights. Another sophomore, Robert Mcgaghren, will be looking to get in the lineup at some of the upper weights.
Hill will be assisted by Drake Enloe and Josh Parrish.
“It will probably be December before we get (the weights) to where we need to be and by January we will probably have a different look to us,” Hill explained. “Right now we’re struggling a little with technique, but once they figure out to stay off their backs, not reach back and things like that, they’ll get better.”
Hill said the key would be getting his young wrestlers plenty of mat time in the first monthand-a-half of the season to get them prepared for area and state later on.
“We’ve got a full schedule,” Hill continued. “We just have to get them more mat-savvy, get them to learn their bodies and get them to learn how to adjust to the pressure. Once we get that, I think we’ll be alright.”