Sexton secured the top place in the 285-pound weight class, posting a 3-0 record and recording two pins. His teammate, junior Chance Sonnenberg, was able to match Sexton’s record of two pins, and also placed first in his weight class (160-pound). Both wrestlers finished with a 27-3 record, the best on the team.

        This is actually the second time that these boys were OWL champions. When the juniors on the team were eighth graders, they won the middle school OWL title.

        Gibsonburg made it difficult for the team to win the OWL. Van Buren was picked first in the pre-season polls, and the team was able to stay true, edging out Gibsonburg by six points, for a total of 150 to Gibsonburg’s 144.

        Sonnenberg, who finished fifth in State last year, admitted that he was a little worried for the team. “Every match I watched of [Gibsonburg], they won,” he said, even though VB had 11 boys place and Gibsonburg only had 10.

        Coach Whitticar was very proud of his team. “There was no doubt in my mind, if everybody did what they were supposed to do [they would win].” There was no disappointment in Whitticar’s eyes, and the team is right where he thought they would be.

        Throughout the season, Whitticar was able to stack up a list of “1000 reasons why you will win,” and another “1000 reasons why you won’t,” motivating the wrestlers to peak performance in the OWL. The wrestlers sacrificed everything from their free time after school to their sweat on the mat in order to win the title for VB.