All in the family, as Woods coaches Woods to spot on State podium

When 20th year West Holmes head varsity wrestling coach Jeff Woods led four wrestlers to the 74th annual State tournament down in Columbus March 3-5, watching three of the four pick up at least one win and seeing sophomore 130-pounder Max Rohskopf become just the 15th State placer in school history (seventh place), he didn't realize his most nerve-racking coaching experience of the 2010-11 season was yet to come.

"You definitely squirm around a lot more when it's your own kids," said Woods, after guiding his two sons, Cole and Cody Woods, at the 13th annual Ohio Athletic Committee Junior High School State Wrestling Tournament, Friday, March 11 through Sunday, March 13, at the Covelli Center in Youngstown, beaming with pride at the sight of Cole Woods standing on the podium as a State placer by the end of the proceedings on Sunday afternoon.

Early on, however, it appeared that if either of the Woods brothers was going to reach the podium it would be Cody Woods, as the 84-lb. sixth-grader (sixth-grade wrestlers are eligible to qualify for the junior high school tournament) picked up a 2-0 decision over Genoa Area seventh-grader Damian D'Emilio in the opening round, while seventh-grader, Cole Woods dropped his first round match at 78-lbs. 6-3 to Frank Rizzo of Avon.

"As far as the tournament goes, it's one of the toughest because there are no divisions," explained Jeff Woods. "There are 2,100 competitors competing in 64-man brackets. You try to treat it different [coaching your sons], or I should say, you try to treat it the same. When Cole lost you tell him, 'Keep your head up, you never know what'll happen,' but in the back of your mind you're thinking that's it."

That was far from it, as Cole Woods stormed back through the consolation rounds, pinning Nelsonville-York seventh-grader Payden Wallace just 48 seconds into their second round consolation match, going 1:50 with Tippecanoe eighth-grader Spencer Berberich in round three before picking up another victory by fall, battling his way to a 10-2 major decision over Cincinnati Moeller eighth-grader Daniel Roth, a 13-0 major decision over Southeast Ohio Youth Wrestling Club seventh-grader Wyatt Garen, and turning Mentor seventh-grader Austin Victor into a loser – rather than a victor – with another 10-0 major decision.

The victory over Victor put the older Woods brother into the consolation quarterfinals and guaranteed him a spot on the podium – after going 0-2 as a State qualifying sixth-grader a year ago – but when he dropped a 12-0 major decision to PWC Wrestling Club sixth-grader Moises Guillen it dropped him into the seventh place match on Sunday.

Having wrestled seven matches over a three day span, Cole Woods may have been just about spent, fighting hard in his final match against BTW Wrestling Club seventh-grader Mason Daugherty, but coming up on the short end of a 4-2 decision to finish the tournament in eighth place and become the latest State placer in the storied history of West Holmes wrestling.

Meanwhile, after getting the opening round win over D'Emilio, Cody Woods dropped his second round match 9-6 to Norwalk seventh-grader T.J. McGraw, bouncing back with a 4-1 decision over Tippecanoe sixth-grader Kamron Paulus, before ultimately exiting the tournament in round three of the consolations after dropping a 10-2 major decision to Mentor eighth-grader Treyvon Smith.

Unbowed in defeat, the younger Woods brother was quick to point out that he won two matches at State as a sixth-grader, while his older brother didn't win any.

That's the competitive fire burning between brothers and it's the type of competitive fire Jeff Woods loves to see burning throughout the entire West Holmes wrestling program, whether the grapplers are named Woods or not.

The fact that the program's latest State placer was named Woods definitely made the Knights coach "squirm around a lot more," but it also made him smile a lot bigger too.