HEYEN: School day wrestling match lives up to hype

PERKINS TWP. — Benny Weyer hadn't experienced anything quite like this. Neither had his friends and peers seated, and soon to be standing, a few feet away. It was 2 p.m. on a school day, and the Perkins junior was wrestling on a mat at the center of the PHS gym. A few hundred students looked on, having gotten out of class early to watch the Pirates take on Vermilion. And there was Weyer, briefly holding his opponent above his shoulders before slamming him to the mat. He made sure the dramatic takedown didn't go to waste, finishing off his match with a third-round pin, both times bringing rows of Perkins students to their feet in support of their classmate. "It felt like I was kind of in a movie, being the main character of a movie," Weyer said. Wrestlers don't often get moments like that, where the celebrations are more akin to a basketball player dunking all over his opponent. Most of their meets are out of town, often on a Saturday. A team might have one or two home matches, but those can overlap with games for athletes in other sports. So this Wednesday afternoon wrestling matinee between Perkins and Vermilion was special for both the athletes and coaches involved, and for all those who got to watch. "It kind of reminded me of Friday Night Lights, how the student section is there," Perkins junior Wyatt Nemitz said. "I liked it." Students started rolling into the gym a little before 1:30 p.m., having gone through a condensed eight-period schedule that treated the end-of-day match sort of like an assembly. Members of Perkins' football and boys basketball teams were among the earliest arrivals, and they were in agreement — a basketball game in this setting would be a heck of a lot of fun. They were confident of that even before the match got underway, and once action began, they were some of the loudest hype men in the gym, frequently jumping out of their seats toward the mat to pump up their peers. "The basketball kids did a nice job cheering," Perkins coach Travis Crabtree said. "The football kids did a good job cheering on their teammates. It was fun." After Weyer's takedown, Perkins three-sport standout Braylon Collier jumped up and down like he'd just hit a buzzer beater. After a Zach Oprzadek reversal tied his match in the third round, his football teammates Drake Venerucci and Weston Sturzinger hyped him up like Oprzadek had just made a huge tackle. That community support, which felt so natural but isn't often possible for these wrestlers, was on display from Adam West's first-round pin to open the proceedings on to Nemitz's 100th career win all the way through Zacchaeus Gamblin's exhibition victory to end the slate. "It was good for the kids to experience something like that," Crabtree said. Wrestling, in some ways, lends itself to such a scene. It has quick, dramatic swings in momentum, and a new clash starts every handful of minutes. But it's certainly not the only sport that could shine in such an environment. Schools likely would never move a sport that brings in big gate money to such a time slot, but there are plenty of competitions that could work. Imagine a swim meet as a swimmer from the home team chases down an opponent in the final 25 yards, or maybe a softball game in a big spot with the bases loaded. "More schools should do this," Margaretta senior Jake Boggs wrote on Twitter during the match. "Bringing kids together to a sport that isn't watched as much as the other in the winter, bringing all kids together. I could not imagine being a kid and playing literally in school hours." Every such plan would have logistical challenges, but the outcome could be worth it. Sports bring communities together, and as Nemitz alluded, that's easy to see on a Friday night. But on a Wednesday afternoon when wrestling was given a chance, the unified support was easy to see at Perkins, too. The idea that high school sports are "all about the kids" is thrown around often, and it's harder to see it being truer than it was Wednesday. The wrestlers picked their walk-up songs and got the chance to compete hard in front of their classmates. Mostly, they had a memory they wouldn't soon forget. "I hope some of my friends get a moment like this," Weyer said. "It's sweet."