8th grade was a tough year for me. It'd be the year that would define the rest of my wrestling career. After having a pretty competitive showing throughout my younger years, including qualifying for the AAU's 5 times & placing twice (3rd & 4th), I thought that I might be good enough to finally win an AAU.
The year started off decent enough. I took Cody Kauzlarich of Centerville, who who finish 5th at the championships into sudden victory losing 6-4. Then ironically enough, one night while wrestling with Kauzlarich at an Oskaloosa Kid's Club practice, I was thrown to my back in a lateral drop where I landed on the cement. Usually the room was covered in mats from wall to wall, but that night only half of the room was covered in mats. I don't remember if they were cleaning the other mats or what, but only half the floor was covered.
It hurt but it wasn't completely debilitating. It slowed me down, but it didn't stop me.
It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that it just started to kill me. There were nights I was in so much pain, that I'd sit on the floor and cry. Nights when I couldn't move. I'd wake up in the morning and I'd have to be helped out of bed because I couldn't sit up on my own.
During a wrestling match, I ended up losing by Medical Forfeit because I couldn't move. That's when we started trying to see what was wrong with my back.
The first Dr we went to tried to call it growing pains, but it seemed way too severe for that. The second Dr. We went to suggest a brace & to let whatever was wrong, heel on it's own.
I wore that damn brace from about the beginning of November all the way to March. Having missed nearly the entire wrestling season. I really wanted a shot at my final AAU, so I talked my Dad into letting me enter the qualifier in Oskaloosa.
8 man bracket, I won my quarterfinal match easily enough. My semi-final opponent? Cody Kauzlarich of Centerville. I was expecting another good match. It was anything but.
Cody had me fighting off my back nearly the entire match. By the end of third period Kauzlarich had whipped me like a redheaded stepson 11-1. It was embarrassing. In 5 qualifiers before I had finished 1st-2nd-2nd-2nd-2nd. This would be the first time I wasn't going to make the finals. That hurt then & it still hurts today. I can remember Kauzlarich's dad coming up to me after the match and saying, "At least you didn't get pinned." I remember thinking to myself, "Screw you, I took Cody into sudden victory the last time we wrestled." I realize now that he probably meant well with what he said, but at the time it really ticked me off.
Now it was do or die time. Only the top 4 qualified for the AAU's and if I didn't win my next match, I wasn't even going to go.
I don't remember the kid's name, but he was from Fairfield. He ironically enough had been one of my last matches before I got hurt. Even then I had a hell of a time with him, barely escaping with a 3-2 win. Now I was far less than 100%. Could I beat him.
Always the aggressor I shot in right away as the match began and he defended me off easily enough with a go behind to take a 2-0 lead. My back in pain once again, I wasn't able to generate much offense from bottom, and gave up a stall point to go down 3-0. Second period, he escaped without much of a fight from me & took a 4-0 lead.
Here I was a 5 time AAU qualifier, down 4-0 in the match to qualify. 3rd period, only 1 minute left to go. The kid knew he was in a good position, so all he had to do was play it safe.
To this day what I remember most about the last 30 seconds of the match is Brandon Graham's voice. Brandon was a teammate of mine at Osky Kid's & a guy I looked up to.
"Steve! You go at him with everything you have. 100% Right here! Right now!"
With everything I had, I plowed into my Fairfield opponent with a blast double that took him straight to his back. As the seconds ticked off the clock, I looked to the referee. He held up 3 fingers for backpoints. In the closing seconds I won 5-4.
I'd have to conclude it as one of my best matches. I imagine that it probably haunts the kid who lost that match. I've had those matches before. My senior year of high school I was winning a very important SICL Consolation final when I was pinned with only 12 seconds left to go in the match. I know the pain of such a loss.
In the 3rd place match, wrestling against Waco's Clay Wells, my back totally gave out. I remember he hit a big move on me and suddenly he jumped up off of me.
"He's hurt!"
I don't know too many opponents that would do that for someone they were wrestling in a such an important match, but I had a lot of respect for Wells for doing that for me. He motioned the referee over to me & before I knew it, I was being carried into the back of my Dad's Blazer.
That's when we went to a 3rd doctor who discovered that I had a stress fracture in my L-5. I'd have surgery a short time later. It was a long, long recovery process too. I wasn't even able to start wrestling practice as a freshman until 3 weeks into the season.
It totally changed the course of the rest of my life and there is so much more I could say about it. So much more.
Yet looking back that final win meant a lot to me.
