Aaron Coats had a spring in his step for quite some time.
The Hinkley senior captain knew something special was ahead for his wrestling team Jan. 29, something that nobody else he’d ever known had done before.
Coats and the Thunderbirds were going to set up a wrestling mat at the Town Center of Aurora — yes, a shopping mall — to contest a dual match that none of them would ever forget. The brainchild of Hinkley coach Rodney Padilla, the “Town Center Takedown” proved better than their wildest dreams.
“This is the first time something like this has happened here, so we’re giving Aurora a new perspective on wrestling,” Coats said.
“People may think ‘Oh yeah, I know wrestling,’ but this isn’t WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). This is real wrestling. People put their blood, sweat and tears into the sport. It’s a way of life. So I think it’s a really good thing to show Aurora.”
It was something the programs did to try to help the health of the sport as well.
According to data from the National Federation of High School Sports (NFHS), wrestling numbers in Colorado have decreased steadily over the past eight seasons, from a high of 5,461 in 2010-11 season to just 4,665 in 2017-18.
So wrestling programs have had to try different things to grow the sport.
Ahead of last season, the NFHS approved the use of alternate uniforms — consisting of compression shorts and a form-fitted shirt — to try to combat the embarrassment some kids may have felt from having to wear the sports traditional singlets.
Some programs have tried cutting down the number of long Saturday tournaments that also discourage some athletes.
Others teams have chosen other venues, as Air Academy and Doherty contested a dual match on the football field at Air Academy last November and Arapahoe and Heritage also did so on a mat on the field at Littleton Public Schools Stadium in December.
Hinkley’s “Town Center Takedown” was the latest attempt to expose a new audience to the sport and give its hard-working athletes a chance to shine.
The Thunderbirds and Warriors contested 16 matches — a mix of varsity and junior varsity — and displayed some of the best parts of the sport for those who came to watch, whether they were friends, family members, curious wrestling fans or passersby who grabbed a bag of popcorn and wanted to see what was going on.
Hinkley wrestled without standout Emery Bemis, who is taking a break to heal from injury, and Far Northeast officially prevailed 52-24 in a match with its fair share of pins and dramatic endings.
Far Northeast coach Cory Montreuil jumped at the chance for his team to be involved in the match when Padilla approached him about it and couldn’t think of a better display.
“This was a really great thing for the sport, for the sport in Denver, in Aurora and in Colorado in general,” said Montreuil, who has coached the Warriors for six seasons and helped grow his team from three wrestlers to 31.
“The more we can start to get wrestling out there, the better, because it’s not on TV. It’s not the NBA and it’s not the NFL, so we need to think outside the box in order to get ourselves noticed and let people know there’s a whole other sport out there.”
Coats is a football player in his heart, but he also loves wrestling. He especially loved the atmosphere of the match at Town Center and fed off it on his way to a first-period pin in his 182-pound match.
“With people around the mat and up in the balcony, the energy just felt amplified,” Coats said. “It was amazing and cool. I had a lot of fun.”
Padilla admitted he was deep into the task of coaching and didn’t get to fully soak in the atmosphere, but he believed the event — which became the talk of the Colorado prep wrestling world — served the purpose he had intended.
“I wanted to give them a platform so they could compete and be appreciated and I think it worked,” said Padilla, who tried to set up a match at Park Meadows for his previous program at Chaparral, but to no avail.
“I didn’t get a chance to look up at the crowd much, but it seemed like we had plenty of people,” he said. “Hopefully I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish.”
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Sentinel Prep Sports
COLORADO WRESTLING PARTICIPATION NUMBERS
Data from National Federation of High School Athletics (NFHS)
2017-18 — 4,665; 2016-17 — 4,944; 2015-16 — 5,052; 2014-15 — 4,978; 2013-14 — 5,170; 2012-13 — 5,362; 2011-12 — 5,322; 2010-11 — 5,461; 2009-10 — 5,067; 2008-09 — 5,431
