| Three former Elmwood wrestlers are head coaches at area high schools. Shown with veteran Royal coach Dave Lee (front) are (back left) Nick Davis, Fostoria; Sam Cotterman, Perrysburg; and Jesse Thomas, North Baltimore. |
JERRY CITY – Dave Lee, Elmwood’s head wrestling coach for 24 years, is now facing competition from former
wrestlers in the coaching ranks.
Current head coaches Nick Davis of Fostoria, Sam Cotterman of Perrysburg, and Jesse Thomas of North
Baltimore were all members of Lee’s Royal family of wrestling.
Davis graduated in 2000. He was a conference and sectional champion. He was fourth in the district and
went 2-2 at the state tournament.
"I remember my senior year at state the most of all. What a great experience," Davis remarked
about one of his best memories.
Cotterman, a classmate of Davis, was a two-time league champ. In his senior season, he was a sectional
champ, third in district and sixth at state.
Thomas was a conference champion his senior year in 2003. He placed second in the sectional and fifth in
district.
Davis is in his fourth season as top man for the Redskins. He worked while he attended college, forgoing
a wrestling career and spending time as Lee’s assistant.
"I coached through college. Dave taught me how to work my guys hard in practice’" said Davis.
"We like to work the legs like we did at Elmwood and also the same mentality that is needed in the
down position."
Cotterman didn’t wrestle in college, playing football instead.
"I played and coached football at the University of Findlay," Cotterman said. "After two
years, I began coaching wrestling at Perrysburg. After three years I got the head coaching job this
season."
"Techniques that we used at Elmwood are pretty much the same as we use now," Cotterman
continued. "We use the spiral ride, arm bars, riding the legs all still in use. We didn’t tilt as
much then as they do now though.
"The biggest thing that I have taken from Elmwood is how a practice is run and how hard to work the
wrestlers. I can remember how hard it was, every day was a battle in the wrestling room, but when I
think back, it was fun. Even today I look forward to being in a gymnasium of wrestling all day. Just
watching kids compete."
Thomas also incorporates what he learned at Elmwood into his North Baltimore practices.
"I take a lot from my experience at Elmwood," said Thomas. "We use the same takedowns, the
double leg blast and single leg. I picked up the tilt series from him, but mostly learned how to run a
practice. Like the drills that we use and we do a lot of competition drills and games.
"What I learned in the program was dedication," Thomas added. "I learned a lot about hard
work and going beyond what is expected."
Probably the biggest tribute these coaches could pay their former mentor is not what they learned on the
mat, but what they learned about life.
"I teach the same lessons that Dave teaches and transfer this to my guys, learning not only to be
good wrestlers but good men," said Davis. "Coach Lee said that all the time."
"You should make it so the kids know how you care for them like coach Lee did for us,’ said
Cotterman. "Letting them know that there is a lot more to being successful than just winning
titles. It’s how it improves their life. That’s being successful."
"My personality is different than Coach Lee," said Thomas. "He does a great job of
connecting with the kids. I do that, also, but in a different way. I have them set goals at the
beginning of the year, just like coach Lee. You can point to them later and ask what they are doing to
achieve these goals. Is that where you wanted to be, not only in the wrestling room but in school and
life in general?"
Lee is pleased that his former wrestlers are now helping others in the sport.
"I think it is awesome," said Lee. "Almost all of the coaches I have ever had have been
Elmwood people. I think Nick, Sam and Jesse are good for wrestling and wrestling is good for them. I’m
pretty proud of them."
Seven county wrestlers have advanced to the state meet this weekend in Columbus.
The first round pairings for the county wrestlers at the state tourney are:
Division I, 171, Luke Boff Perrysburg (33-6) vs. Michael Baker (36-2) Twinsburg;
Division II, 189, D.J. Recknagel Rossford (39-1) vs. Zeke Eier (33-8) Tecumseh;
Division III, 112, Dusty Ferguson Elmwood (26-5) vs. Josh Hill (34-4) Bishop Ready;119, Nick Goebel
Elmwood (34-4) vs. Zach Campbell (40-6) Pymatuning Valley; 119, Ben Timmons (35-4) Lakota vs. Dion Perez
(38-12) Tuslaw; 189, Dalton Ishmael (42-2) North Baltimore vs. Phillip Wiggers (42-3) Belpre; and 215,
Jake Baker (35-6) Elmwood vs. Ben Moser (41-11) Bluffton.
