CHARLOTTESVILLE — Eastern Hancock High School has been closed down a majority of this past week due to the polar vortex, but senior Avery Wills hasn’t taken any snow days.
Not that he would anyway.
A first-time wrestling state qualifier, and the first since 2002 in program history, Wills and head coach Nick Holliday have found ways to plow through the elements the past four days.
“Avery can practice and one partner, but you have to go pick them up. So, we’ve been working through that, but he’s had a good week of practice,” Holliday said. “We’ve stuck to the routine. Trying not to change anything up too much, especially with limited partners.”
Inside the Royals’ wrestling room every day this week, Wills, a 152-pounder, has sparred with teammate Brayden Tincher, a 170-pound sophomore, in preparation for tonight’s opening round of the IHSAA wrestling state finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Wills will be part of the first-round’s second of two sessions tonight at 7 p.m.
Typically, the state finals’ opening night is conducted in one evening session, but due to COVID-19 protocols, competitors in the 106-145 weight classes will face off at 11 a.m. while those weighing 152-285 take the mats in the evening with gates opening at 6 p.m.
While unorthodox compared to past years, the state finals’ scheduling shift could prove beneficial for Wills, who will be in the first weight class to compete tonight.
“Sometimes, you can start to overthink and start to mentally psyche yourself out, but with this we won’t have a lot of time to think about it. We’ll just have to go out there and do it. There won’t be a lot of wasted warm up time, a lot of waiting around and anticipation,” Holliday said.
“I think, this will be a benefit for him. He’ll be able to give every single ounce of effort and energy that he’s got in that one match.”
This week, the focus for Wills has been recharging and building up his stamina.
At 30-10 on the season, Wills reached his first-career state finals by finishing 2-2 at the New Castle Semistate last weekend. He gritted to a fourth-place ribbon after knocking off 15th-ranked Gabe Phillips (36-3) of Centerville with a pin in 27 seconds in the opening round.
Wills punched his ticket to state as Hancock County’s lone state qualifier this season with a pin in 2:55 over Carmel’s Nathan Powell (31-2) during the quarterfinals.
The win over Powell was a historic feat for Wills and the Eastern Hancock program, which hadn’t had a state qualifier since former head coach Keith Oliver in 2001-02.
Prior to Oliver, Kent Colclazier (1983-84) reached state twice, Joe Havlin (1982) once and David Dunbar (1982) was the first 39 years ago.
Oliver placed sixth at state in his appearance before coaching the team later from 2013-19 with a 98-45 record. Oliver amassed 114 career victories as a wrestler at Eastern Hancock, which ranks him third all time behind Jordyn Wills (Avery’s older brother) at 115 (2015-18) and Jared Waterman with 122 (2012-16).
Colclazier is the highest state-place winner in Royals’ program history with a runner-up finish at 112 pounds with a record of 28-3. He lost by decision in the championship match, 5-2, against Indianapolis Northwest’s Ben Reichel (33-0) at Market Square Arena.
Now, Avery Wills has his chance to add to the Royals’ wrestling record books, though he’s already cleared the first hurdle by becoming the fifth state qualifier overall.
“We’re trying to stay level-headed. In this moment, you don’t want to get too high or too low or too wrapped up in all of these accomplishments. We’ll have our banquet and we’ll have celebratory moments along the way, but we don’t want to focus too much on that,” Holliday said.
“The school has done a nice job, though, even with the snow days, of coming in and putting up pictures of him with congratulations to Avery hanging up. We’ve gotten a lot emails, calls and texts, congratulating him, but both of us, the staff and the whole school has stayed focus on finishing the job we started and trying to get a placement out of it on Saturday.”
First, Wills will need to advance out of tonight’s opening round where he will wrestle Brock Ellis (30-4) of Chesterton, who is ranked sixth in the state, according to IndianaMat.
Ellis, a senior, is a three-time state qualifier and placed fourth at 152 in 2019 and fifth at 145 last February.
Wills entered last weekend as a two-time semistate qualifier and has never won a state tournament series championship in his career, but he’s compiled a 98-40 record to date.
As a freshman, Wills qualified for his first regional at 145 with a fourth-place run at sectional. The next year, he had to settle for sixth in the 152 bracket at sectional due to a shoulder injury.
Last year, Wills began to breakthrough, taking second at sectional and fourth at regional before losing in the opening round of the semistate as a 152-pounder.
While he wasn’t projected to be at state this year, Holliday has seen it building, and Wills has the family lineage to back it up.
His father, Jeremy Wills, was a former wrestler, and his step-father, Randy Steiner, wrestled and served as a Royals’ assistant coach.
Jordyn, who went on to wrestle at Trine University after graduating in 2018, was a two-time semistate qualifier at 145 and 152, respectively, as a junior and senior at Eastern Hancock.
“He lost the first round of semistate his junior and senior year,” Avery Wills quipped last weekend. “It feels good to make it to state.”
The hope for Wills and Holliday is grander than simply making an appearance.
A true unranked, underdog, Wills will have nearly 15 supporters in the stands among the 900 spectators permitted to attend each session today.
“Avery is wrestling the best I think he’s wrestled in his career. We’re 100 percent confident that he can put together another great showing like he did this Saturday and like he has the past two Saturdays before,” Holliday said.
“Obviously, Brock Ellis is a great wrestler. He’s a proven guy, so we’re just going to have to come out and wrestle our match and do what Avery does best. Stick to his strengths and not try to worry about what Brock Ellis does. We know he’s going to be good and he’s going to come after us.”
Wills is used to putting in the work. While attending classes, he also splits time with Workforce and athletics, often juggling all three during the winter months.
When he’s not studying, he’s remodeling homes and working construction as a jack-of-all-trades.
“This year, we had to be flexible around his work schedule, too, because the school requires him to have so many hours each day or he’s not allowed to stay in the program, so we’ve worked around that,” Holliday said. “He’s a hard worker, and he never wants to short-change either us or his employer.”
The same goes for when he’s on the mat.
Exhausted after four grueling matches last Saturday, Wills has been resting up while pushing the fundamentals at practice. The critics don’t expect him to do much tonight, but he knows exactly what he’s capable of accomplishing when he puts in the effort.
“He’s really rose to the occasion on that, (being the underdog). We always talk about in wrestling that you can always catch somebody. Anybody can ‘get got’ is what we say. Anybody can get beat. For Avery, no one sees him as a threat. Sometimes, I think they overlook him,” Holliday said. “I think, for him, it’s a really nice feeling to show that he’s a really great wrestler, too, and he can give anybody a run for their money.”
Regardless of the outcome, Wills is ready for the challenge. He’s been waiting four years just to get his shot.
“Finishing out the season like this feels really good because I’m actually in it,” Wills said. “I want to go out and do my best, hope for the best, win my first match and move on. It’s not set in stone, but I feel good.”
