Jackson wrestling's junior varsity as good as other schools' varsity

While roaming from the main gym to the axillary gym at Jackson High School, it would be difficult to miss the rows of plaques honoring the junior varsity wrestling teams who have gone the entire duel season with a perfect record.

Wrestling is one of the few sports where the varsity lineup isn’t entirely set up by the whims of the coaching staff. Wrestlers make the varsity lineup by defeating everyone in their respective weight class in wrestle-offs. Each weight class is a hill, and the king of the hill wrestles for keeps.

It’s unique to see a thriving wrestling program show pride in the junior varsity team. However, Jackson understands that their JV squad represents depth that keeps the machine moving year after year regardless of who graduates.

“We had some wrestle-offs and some of them are right there, losing by a point or two,” Jackson coach Jerry Golden said. “So our expectations are pretty high for those guys.

"Especially in our middleweights, we've got some depth there,” he said. “So we're trying to give those guys some matches. So if somebody does get hurt, the next guy's in, he's got the experience and he's been out there wrestling in front of people.”

It’s one thing for a program to have a full varsity lineup; it’s another to have a full JV lineup to go with it. Which is why Jackson has so many perfect JV seasons.

“Our JV guys practice right there along with our [varsity] guys,” Golden said.

Jackson sent the JV team, along with five varsity underclassmen to Notre Dame on Wednesday for the Bulldogs’ senior night tri-meet with St. Pius X. The Indians shut out the Lancers and only lost two matches against the Bulldogs.

It’s the first time Jackson sent JV wrestlers to take on varsity combatants. The Indians demonstrated on Wednesday that there are plenty of wrestlers whose place on the JV team says more about who is on varsity than what it says about their abilities.

Coming out of the Indians’ most recent tournament back on Dec. 17: Kade King (120) lost only five matches, Noah Gibson (285) lost four, Landon Vassalli (113) lost only two matches, and Griffin Horman (190) and Tyler Beyatte (215) combined to match that number. With that in mind, what chance do Graidy Rice (120), Tyler Hudson (285), and the Wessell brothers of Hayden (190) and Brysen (215) have of toppling these titans when only a few of the state’s top wrestlers could?

“Graidy Rice is one of those guys, he could probably be in I would say probably 70% of the high school teams right now he could be in their varsity lineup,” Golden said. “He lost a 3-2 match against Kade King in his wrestle-off. [Wednesday] he qualified to wrestle at 113 but that's where we have [Vassalli] at, but if Landon gets hurt now, he's certified to get in at 113. But he's wrestling behind two tough guys but I would say he could be in a lot of varsity lineups right now. He's pretty good.”

One of the unique cases on the Jackson JV team is senior Michael Lewis. Lewis ended up with varsity experience because of an injury from Craig Aufdenberg at the start of the season. He has held his own so far and even picked up a varsity win to even his record.

“Mikey started from ground zero as a freshman. He has come a long way and, he's learned how to compete,” Golden said. “Whether it's JV or varsity, he's got enough experience now where he's just gonna go out and compete, not worry about winning or losing, just compete and use this technique to get better.”

The Indians' performance on Wednesday prepared the squad for the JV Tournament in Jackson on Saturday. They will have a chance to show rivals such as Poplar Bluff, Sikeston, and Cape Central which program has a brighter future.

“Even with our varsity guys, we tried to get them in bigger tournaments, get that experience, and that way they don't get nervous when they go out there,” Golden said.