Note: this article appears in the GHSA state wrestling program that people can read next week at the championships.
Win after win, state title after state title, the Collins Hill wrestling team continues to climb the national rankings week after week, but for the Eagles, everything is just another piece to the puzzle. According to Eagles wrestling Coach Cliff Ramos, there really is no secret to Collins Hill's wrestling success. There are "a lot of pieces to the puzzle," according to Ramos. "Great coaches, supportive parents and a youth program," all have helped the Collins Hill Eagles win the 2008 and 2009 state dual championships as well as the 2008 and 2009 state traditional titles. After claiming the 2009 title, the Eagles climbed to No.22 in the national top 40 prep poll released by Amateur Wrestling News. Before this season, AWN placed Collins Hill at No.21 and the Eagles have steadily climbed to No.9, where the team currently sits.
Is it as simple as a puzzle though to find the secret to Collins Hill's success? Perhaps the parents and the coaches and the youth programs help but scheduling may also be a large piece to the success. The Eagles have crushed all state competition and one way Coach Ramos keeps his team motivated is scheduling big-time national opponents. Coach Ramos admits that sometimes it is "pretty tough" keeping his team motivated to take on local competition especially after the team has wrestled all over the county. When his team does go up against the national competition though, the Eagles fare quite well. Before the season started, the Eagles placed third in the Disney Duals, losing only to the top two teams who both used players that had graduated just weeks before the event. The Eagles showed well at the Super 32 featuring teams from all across the southeast and then stepped back into the state to dominate the Walton Duals, featuring the top teams from across the state. After claiming the dual championship, the team ventured up to Pennsylvania to participate in the Final Four event, featuring several teams ranked in the top eight in the country. Though the Eagles fell to the nation's No.1 team, the Blair Academy (NJ), the Eagles did knock off three other Pennsylvania powerhouses. Collins Hill also won tournaments in Kansas City, MO and Cleveland, TN.
The national competition only sharpens the skills of the wrestlers in preparation for state tournaments and helps its wrestlers earn national attention. Joel Smith and TJ Mitchell were two of the many standouts in Kansas City and both will wrestle in college. Smith has accepted a scholarship to Arizona State while Mitchell will wrestle at Virginia Tech. Mitchell will actually team up on the Hokies with former Eagle teammate Taylor Knapp. Typically wrestlers in the southeast don't get as much attention as high school grapplers do in the Northeast and Midwest. Perhaps without the school's success and the travel, Ramos' Eagle wrestlers don't go on to become Sun Devils and Hokies.
Ramos noted that his six assistant coaches are all outstanding. Coaches Jim Tiller, Josh Stephen Justin Meyer and Mike Ciciarelli all deserve credit for their work with the Eagles as Coach Ramos realizes that this team really improves and gets a lot done in practice. Ramos last season relied on his seniors in practice and the underclassmen simply "watch[ed] them practice," and that helped the team capture the 2009 traditional title. Those juniors learned from not only the seniors but also the assistant coaches.
Tradition is yet another piece to the puzzle for Collins Hill. The team has won four state traditional titles since 2002 and has claimed three dual titles since 2005. The team has also finished in the top three every year since 2000. Excellence breeds excellence and Collins Hill certainly sets high standards for its program. No team wants to be the team that breaks the chain and fails to live up to expectations, no matter how high they might be set. This year's team has steadily climbed in the polls from No.21 to No.9.
The final piece is Coach Ramos himself. Ramos was inducted in 2008 to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and has been named Regional Head Coach of the year 24 times. Ramos knows wrestling in and out, having lettered in the sport four years in college and he is quick to share his knowledge with his charges. Coach Ramos does have excellent talent but he has molded every one of these wrestlers into what they are. If you want the real secret to Collins Hill's success, Coach Ramos is the largest piece to the puzzle.
The Eagles may win yet another state title and if they do, the run might not stop for a while. Expect next year's seniors Nick Holbert and Bazell Partridge to pick up the slack that TJ Mitchell and Joel Smith carried this season after Taylor Knapp and Gary Tiller graduated. The recipe for next season probably involves some national tournaments, some local duals and more Eagle domination. As long as Coach Ramos is in charge, the climb in the National Polls will continue and Amateur Wrestling News' Top 40 Prep Poll might soon have a little southern flair at the top.
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