Prep Wrestling --Amodeo, Rosewood make good on promise

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on February 25, 2018 3:08 AM

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They file into the room as a tightly-wound mob, but break apart quickly as the overhead lights buzz and pop and struggle to get warm.

This is what water finding its own level looks like.

Jordan Todd, a junior who moonlights as an all-area safety on Friday nights, ghosts his bag and moves to a nearby scale, eager to learn where he stands on this hour -- 143.9 pounds.

Ah, youth.

On the mat behind him, there is action in the form of 106-pound state titleholder Christian Decatur, who faux-grapples in a snapped-up circle versus no one in particular.

He's vapor-trail quick, that one, and has gone through this routine before.

Many times.

"It smells better in here than usual," one of them says.

As the group laughs and offers individual no-he-really-didn't facial expressions, Reid Amodeo -- a captain and this gathering's lone senior -- quietly bypasses it all, eyeing something in particular on a shelf along the Rosewood wrestling room's southernmost wall.   

It's proof -- and yes, it was tough to come by.

•

Thirty minutes earlier, Amodeo -- in Room 420 and flanked to his left by mates Jordan Todd, Christian Decatur, Nyterrius Williams and Timothy Decatur -- explained why.  

"I took a picture of the loss (to Robbinsville, in the 2017 N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A Dual Team Finals) on the board in there, and put it on Twitter as my pinned tweet... just as a message to let people know that we're coming back this year ready -- more than ever."

Which meant work, of course.

To fulfill his end of the bargain, Amodeo trekked to the great state of Pennsylvania last summer, where he diligently worked through a camp before returning to Goldsboro and more long hours at the newly-formed Tank Warehouse with his Rosewood teammates.

"Four days a week," he recalls, "with Coach Dillon and Coach John -- and I think that really helped."

As did the sacrifice of others, who were looking for proof of their own.

•

Jordan Todd and Nyterrius Williams -- who manage their words with the same poise they often use to discombobulate opponents at a gym near you -- handled the heartache of last season's dual team finals setback in very different ways.

And for Todd, the aftermath began with an unflinching trial of self-reflection -- with 132 pounds never weighing so much.

"I felt like it changed me as a person, if anything," the junior said of the time. "Last year, and my freshman year, I was very selfish, I would say, and very individual based... it (returning to win a title) means more, because its a goal the family wants -- and not just what you want."

So, for the family's betterment, the youngster embraced change like never before -- as in, you-must-wrestle-in-another-class type of change -- something he'd yet to do much of at Rosewood.

"Jordan had wrestled at 132 (pounds) all year," head coach Bill Edmundson said. "And when we made the adjustments we did for the state championship team, they were kind of locked into the higher weight class, and they willingly allowed that to happen... that's the ultimate individual sacrifice."

Proof positive, so to speak, of a young man's change.

For Williams, who lives and works in the 285-pound class, the washout of 2017 was about something very different -- finding a way to navigate the responsibility that goes with being an Eagle heavyweight.

Shadow-wrestling, if you will.

"You can't be a junior and not go to state, and these guys win states again," Williams said with a laugh. "One thing that I learned from (former RHS wrestler) Kaleb Taylor is, Rosewood's always had a good heavyweight... you can't be the guy that's not a good heavyweight."

His honesty, which runs quite contrary to the modern-day tough-guy sports culture, is refreshing -- but there's more.

"Just try not to be scared," Williams said of his approach to the winter campaign. "That's something I tried to carry with me throughout the season."

Kaleb Taylor would be very proud indeed.

 •

Timothy and Christian Decatur really don't say very much, and that's okay -- they don't have to.

In their world, straightforward is as straightforward certainly does, and in contrast to one's inevitable daily run-in with armchair-experts, self-promoters and whiners, the posture is refreshing. 

After all, doesn't a combined record of 112-3 and two state crowns this season say most, if not all, of what really needs to be said?

But get them started on the subject of their coach, Hall of Famer Edmundson, and the elder of the soft spoken levees doesn't just threaten to crack -- he shatters. 

"Coach is a guy that pushes us in practice, (and) makes us do stuff that he knows will get us better," Timothy said. "He gives us everything we need to succeed."

Which, in the Book of Decatur, allows for two things: plenty of plain language and total honesty.

"He's not going to baby us," Timothy continued. "He's going to be brutally honest with us to make us succeed... I'd rather you wrestle well and lose than have a bad match and barely win," he says, a point made often by Edmundson.

"I just read his lips," Christian said of his coach with a laugh.

•

Back in their lair, the lights now fully burning, Edmundson's prodigies tell jokes while shuffling about for photographs with their state championship hardware.

And while they don't talk about Robbinsville or the pinned tweet, or becoming a better teammate, or overcoming fear, or the 55-3 record produced by two All-Americans, the satisfaction of each moment shows on their faces.

Especially Amodeo, who cradles the trophy that now doubles as proof that Rosewood made things right.