Before each Sturgis Brown individual match, 18 of the team’s wrestlers circled the wrestler who was about to start their match.
The group of 18 jumped around excitedly, clapped as hard as they could, and sometimes even gave their teammate a playful shove to get them hyped up before their match.
While Sturgis Brown wrestling coach Mike Abell said that’s a common wrestling team tradition, the Scoopers were the only team doing it in the tournament, showing a unique sense of camaraderie and togetherness.
“Our team’s special about it (though). Just knowing it’s not just you walking out there as an individual,” Abell said. “All those guys are behind you. (They’re) cheering you on, get you amped up. So, everybody talks about wrestling being an individual sport, but today you can see it is very team-oriented.”
Sturgis Brown defeated Watertown 55-13 to become Class A State Team Duals Champions on Saturday afternoon.
The match was fairly close early on. The Scoopers led by only one point, 14-13 over Watertown, and then rallied to score 41 consecutive points and claim the title.