FREDERICKTOWN — For a team that is loaded with freshmen, the Fredericktown Freddies wrestlers are beginning to develop a group personality of their own.
With strong, hard-nosed leadership from their coach, Steve Herbst, and a quartet of seniors to show the way, they have quietly built a solid squad at the varsity level.
Freshman Ricky Knuckles, who has never wrestled before, fills the 103-pound slot. “Fortunately, he is a very smart kid, so he learns stuff very quickly,” said Herbst. “He does have a couple of wins already this year. It’s always tough when you take a freshman and put him in the varsity lineup — especially when he has never wrestled. Ricky is a good kid and he’s a strong kid.”
Herbst has a simple formula to get new wrestlers up to speed.
“All you can do in practice is put him against the good guys on our team and, very quickly, give them the ‘Cliff’s Notes’ version of wrestling,” said Herbst. “We have the same thing at 112 pounds with Brandt Bowers. He’s also a first-year wrestler and a freshman. With both of those guys, it is a pleasure watching them wrestle because you can see them trying to do what we are teaching them. Sometimes they’re not getting it to go through, because they’re not hitting it fast enough. Sometimes they aren’t seeing the difference between when we are drilling it and when someone is trying to rip your head off. Both have responded very well and they’ve got bright futures — that’s for sure.”
Along with all of the enthusiasm, Bowers has a brown belt in karate so he can take care of himself out there.
Nolan Dilts, the Freddies’ 125-pounder, is also a freshman but he’s no rookie.
“Nolan has been wrestling a number of years and is coming off an outstanding eighth-grade season,” said Herbst. “He has already proven to be a force to be reckoned with at the varsity level. He won his pool at the first tournament of the season. He won the Highland Initational. He had commanding performances against both his opponents from Centerburg and East Knox (last week.) Nolan is a very strong kid. He has a great understanding of wrestling. He’s got that wrestling instinct. He’s got a lot of knowledge and a lot of talent.”
Rodil Rodriguez, who is ranked third in the Central District at 130 pounds, has 90 career wins as a senior.
”I’m expecting a lot of wins out of him this year,” said Herbst. “All four of my seniors provide outstanding leadership. If I step out of the room, they keep things going. They teach the younger ones stuff. They like to lead from the front, which is my philosophy. I like to lead them from the front as much as possible.”
Junior Kayge Truax, at 135 pounds, has done much growing since Herbst first saw him last year.
“Kayge is a tall, lean kid,” said Herbst. “He’s very strong. He knows a lot of wrestling, Right now, we’re trying to instill that killer instinct. He doesn’t want to go out and hurt his opponent, but his wrestling is outstanding. Once we get him fired up, he’s going to win a lot more matches for us.”
Colt Riley, another one of Herbst’s leaders at 140 pounds, may have found the one thing missing from his game this year.
“The biggest thing that Colt has lacked in the past is confidence,” said Herbst. “In the past, he has psyched himself out against opponents. He’s not doing that this year, He realizes that this is it. He’s a senior. He takes what I teach and can utilize it across the spectrum of wrestling pretty readily. He’s a lot of fun to coach.”
Keith Cockrell, now wrestling at 152, will eventually fill the 145 slot. In the meantime, rookie Caleb Height is the Freddies’ 145-pounder.
“Caleb is a freshman,” said Herbst. “He’s going to take his knocks. A freshman at that weight class is going to get beat up some. As long as we can keep his mind on the right side of it, Caleb will be an outstanding producer in the years to come. Keith has a year of wrestling behind him. He has learned more about wrestling, in a year and a few weeks, than anybody else on the team. This year, I can call him a wrestler. Last year, I called him a football player, who wanted to wrestle. Now, he is beating some quality guys.”
At 160, Cody McGuire is a freshman coming off a strong middle school wrestling career.
“Cody had an outstanding eighth grade season,” said Herbst. “This year, he won his weight class at the Highland Invitational. he had a couple of good wins (last week) against East Knox and Centerburg. He is a strong kid who wrestles smart and handles himself well on the mat.”
Scott Hinkle is a 171-pound senior, who had a .500 record last year. This year, he is more focused.
“Scott has adapted himself to my style of coaching,” said Herbst. “Scott is very aggressive, when he gets out on the mat. His maturity allows him to not lose sight of the fact that he is wrestling, when he is aggressive. This year, he’s aggressive, but it’s under control. It’s focused on using funtional moves to gain points”
Does that mean teaching functional moves a good way to harness aggression?
“I usually harness their aggression by proving to them that I can still lay the smackdown on them when I have to,” said Herbst. “As teenage boys, their always pushing the envelope. I was the same way and my wrestling coach let me know I was in trouble when he took off his glasses and whistle and I knew that there was going to be ten minutes of an attitude adjustment for me. Most of these guys respond very well to it. I try to lead from the front and turn their aggression into focused moves that translate to points on the mat.”
The 189-pound slot is held by junior Mark VanHouten, who is coming off of knee surgery.
“He had a pretty good season last year,” said Herbst. “He’s strong. He’s a little bit wild and we’re still working on reeling him in. He learns very quickly. Sometimes, when he gets on the mat, he forgets what he’s learned and reverts to that street fight mentality. As we reel that in and keep him contained, he gets wins.”
Dusty Hathaway, a freshman, is waiting in the wings at 189 and is a great kid to have around.
“Dusty keeps coming to the meets,” said Herbst. “If we can get him a match, he’ll wrestle. Otherwise, he comes and supports the team.”
Josh Neff, at 215, is another freshman to have had an outstanding eighth grade season last year.
“He’s about 45 pounds heavier than he was last year,” said Herbst. “He strong, but he still wrestles like a middle schooler. For about half the kids in that weight class, that will be okay. The rest will be juniors and seniors, who are tremendously athletic. If we keep Josh focused on the wrestling aspect and not the brawling, he’ll do very well.”
Herbst is working with sophomore Robert Lewis to cut weight and get under 285 so that the Freddies will have a wrestler at that class.
“He won a couple of matches last year for me,” said Herbst. “Unfortunately, he filled a little too big of a spot on the offensive line on the football team this year. He’s working hard on cutting weight and we should see him out there soon.”
