R.L. Bynum
01-21-2008, 07:38 PM
http://www.dailypress.com/media/alternatethumbnails/storylink/2008-01/34854997-21165337.JPG
Nobody can stop Tabb's Andrew Williams
By MARTY O’BRIEN
mobrien@dailypress.com |247-4963YORK — Andrew Williams says the reward for winning the first wind sprint at his youth wrestling practice three years ago was a free pass to watch his teammates run the rest. But when Williams won, his father and coach, Dale Williams, told him he wasn’t allowed to sit.
After shooting his father a you-must-be-kidding look, he stepped back to the line and ran. And won. And ran. And won. Forty-five minutes later, he stopped and glanced at his father again.
“I said, ‘Look dad, there’s nothing you can do to make me stop,’ ” Williams recalled.
No one else in the state can stop him either.
Williams, a Tabb High junior, won Group AA state titles as a freshman (at 103 pounds) and sophomore (119 pounds).
He is 30-4 this season, with the four losses coming by close margins in the nation’s two toughest high school tournaments: The Beast of the East in Delaware and the Walsh Ironman in Ohio. The Virginia Wrestling Web site ranks Williams first in the state at 125 pounds, regardless of classification.
Williams’ relentless nature has been the key to his success. Dale Williams, now a Tabb assistant coach, admits he has pushed his son hard since he first stepped onto the mat at age 6. Williams never has complained.
“It’s not the right thing for every child, but it’s the right thing for Andrew,” Dale Williams said. “He thrives on getting pushed to the limit. He’s always seemed to know what it took to get better.
“During the wind sprints, I started out pushing him but it manifested itself into his desire to keep going. He wants to be the one in better shape, because the guy who gets gassed out in the final 30 seconds loses his composure.”
Williams kept his poise in scoring a two-point reversal to beat Ian Squires of Christiansburg by a point in the final seconds of last year’s 119-pound state semifinals. He rode the momentum to an 83-second pin of Bristol’s Brandon Castle to win his second consecutive state title.
“I didn’t expect to pin someone in the first period of the final,” Williams said. “It was all a daze. I was up there on the podium, holding the plaque thinking, ‘Wow, I’ve won my second state title.’
“I had to ask someone later how I did it. (A teammate) showed me how I took (Castle) down and got him in a cradle.”
The first title was even more of a thrill.
Williams remembers walking onto the mat at the Salem Civic Center, music blaring and laser lights shining in the otherwise dark arena.
“I had won youth national titles, but everything I’d ever done was to prepare me for the state final,” he said. “I looked up in the stands, saw all of the faces, and I think I looked at every single one of them.
“I couldn’t believe I was finally here.”
Williams handled the moment well, dominating longtime nemesis Squires 11-2 to win the 103-pound gold. The second state title a year later placed him on a list with just three other Tabb wrestlers: Pete Kubesh (1978-79), Todd Williams (1982-83) and Bobby Toms (1986-87).
Williams’ goal this winter, of course, is to become the first Tabb wrestler to win three state golds. Tigers’ coach Doug Roper labels Williams as the best to come through a Tabb program that boasts a state team title (1977), a second-place state finish last season and 14 state champions with 18 individual titles.
Williams, who has a 3.9 grade-point average, has been as untiring at learning the nuances of the sport as he is in his workouts. As a result, he’s developed a repertoire of moves he can apply to almost any situation.
“In this day and age, you’ve got to be able to wrestle on your feet and on the mat,” Roper said. “Andrew can score on the top or the bottom or fight off of his back.”
Williams aims to win four state titles before graduating from Tabb. He would become the 17th wrestler in Virginia High School League history to do so — just the third from the Peninsula.
Then he wants to wrestle in college, the perfect challenge for his relentless nature.
“I got a call from David Wise, who’s wrestling at Campbell University,” Williams said of his former Tabb teammate, the 2006 AA titlist at 125 pounds. “He said that college wrestling is one of the hardest things he’s ever done in his life, that the intensity is 110-percent more than high school.
The Williams file
ANDREW WILLIAMS
SCHOOL: Tabb High.
AGE: 16.
CLASS: Sophomore.
NOTABLE: Williams, who won a wrestling national title at age 13, is one of four Tabb High wrestlers to win two individual state titles ... he won the Group AA state title as a freshman at 103 pounds, then won at 119 pounds as a sophomore ... aims to join Poquoson’s Charles Backus (1971-74) and Mike Akers (1996-99) as the area’s only four-time state champions ... carries a 3.9 grade-point average ... also plays for Tabb’s lacrosse club team.
Nobody can stop Tabb's Andrew Williams
By MARTY O’BRIEN
mobrien@dailypress.com |247-4963YORK — Andrew Williams says the reward for winning the first wind sprint at his youth wrestling practice three years ago was a free pass to watch his teammates run the rest. But when Williams won, his father and coach, Dale Williams, told him he wasn’t allowed to sit.
After shooting his father a you-must-be-kidding look, he stepped back to the line and ran. And won. And ran. And won. Forty-five minutes later, he stopped and glanced at his father again.
“I said, ‘Look dad, there’s nothing you can do to make me stop,’ ” Williams recalled.
No one else in the state can stop him either.
Williams, a Tabb High junior, won Group AA state titles as a freshman (at 103 pounds) and sophomore (119 pounds).
He is 30-4 this season, with the four losses coming by close margins in the nation’s two toughest high school tournaments: The Beast of the East in Delaware and the Walsh Ironman in Ohio. The Virginia Wrestling Web site ranks Williams first in the state at 125 pounds, regardless of classification.
Williams’ relentless nature has been the key to his success. Dale Williams, now a Tabb assistant coach, admits he has pushed his son hard since he first stepped onto the mat at age 6. Williams never has complained.
“It’s not the right thing for every child, but it’s the right thing for Andrew,” Dale Williams said. “He thrives on getting pushed to the limit. He’s always seemed to know what it took to get better.
“During the wind sprints, I started out pushing him but it manifested itself into his desire to keep going. He wants to be the one in better shape, because the guy who gets gassed out in the final 30 seconds loses his composure.”
Williams kept his poise in scoring a two-point reversal to beat Ian Squires of Christiansburg by a point in the final seconds of last year’s 119-pound state semifinals. He rode the momentum to an 83-second pin of Bristol’s Brandon Castle to win his second consecutive state title.
“I didn’t expect to pin someone in the first period of the final,” Williams said. “It was all a daze. I was up there on the podium, holding the plaque thinking, ‘Wow, I’ve won my second state title.’
“I had to ask someone later how I did it. (A teammate) showed me how I took (Castle) down and got him in a cradle.”
The first title was even more of a thrill.
Williams remembers walking onto the mat at the Salem Civic Center, music blaring and laser lights shining in the otherwise dark arena.
“I had won youth national titles, but everything I’d ever done was to prepare me for the state final,” he said. “I looked up in the stands, saw all of the faces, and I think I looked at every single one of them.
“I couldn’t believe I was finally here.”
Williams handled the moment well, dominating longtime nemesis Squires 11-2 to win the 103-pound gold. The second state title a year later placed him on a list with just three other Tabb wrestlers: Pete Kubesh (1978-79), Todd Williams (1982-83) and Bobby Toms (1986-87).
Williams’ goal this winter, of course, is to become the first Tabb wrestler to win three state golds. Tigers’ coach Doug Roper labels Williams as the best to come through a Tabb program that boasts a state team title (1977), a second-place state finish last season and 14 state champions with 18 individual titles.
Williams, who has a 3.9 grade-point average, has been as untiring at learning the nuances of the sport as he is in his workouts. As a result, he’s developed a repertoire of moves he can apply to almost any situation.
“In this day and age, you’ve got to be able to wrestle on your feet and on the mat,” Roper said. “Andrew can score on the top or the bottom or fight off of his back.”
Williams aims to win four state titles before graduating from Tabb. He would become the 17th wrestler in Virginia High School League history to do so — just the third from the Peninsula.
Then he wants to wrestle in college, the perfect challenge for his relentless nature.
“I got a call from David Wise, who’s wrestling at Campbell University,” Williams said of his former Tabb teammate, the 2006 AA titlist at 125 pounds. “He said that college wrestling is one of the hardest things he’s ever done in his life, that the intensity is 110-percent more than high school.
The Williams file
ANDREW WILLIAMS
SCHOOL: Tabb High.
AGE: 16.
CLASS: Sophomore.
NOTABLE: Williams, who won a wrestling national title at age 13, is one of four Tabb High wrestlers to win two individual state titles ... he won the Group AA state title as a freshman at 103 pounds, then won at 119 pounds as a sophomore ... aims to join Poquoson’s Charles Backus (1971-74) and Mike Akers (1996-99) as the area’s only four-time state champions ... carries a 3.9 grade-point average ... also plays for Tabb’s lacrosse club team.