{"id":98391,"date":"2018-02-06T07:41:10","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T12:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=98391"},"modified":"2018-02-06T07:56:20","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T12:56:20","slug":"coaches-corner-van-werts-ben-collins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/02\/06\/coaches-corner-van-werts-ben-collins\/","title":{"rendered":"Coaches Corner: Van Wert’s Ben Collins"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Most coaches will agree \u2013 while it\u2019s important to get off to a good start, it\u2019s equally or more important to compete well down the home stretch of any sports season.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the case for Van Wert High School wrestlers. After a bit of a slow start against a loaded schedule, the Cougars have won consecutive Western Buckeye League dual meets against Elida, Kenton and Ottawa-Glandorf, and placed third at the 14-team Wapakoneta Invitational. Van Wert fell to powerful Wauseon in the second round of the State Duals.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ben Collins<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Head coach Ben Collins said he\u2019s pleased with the progress his team has made during the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team is progressing just how we expect them to toward the end of the season,\u201d Collins said. \u201cOur athletes have been working very hard throughout the year and they are starting to see that work pay off. Our wrestlers have really responded to our mindset training and are really embracing the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now the guys are wrestling with a lot of confidence and it really shows in their competitions,\u201d Collins added. \u201cThey have bought into the \u20184 Mindset Principles\u2019 and now that if they keep those in the forefront of their minds then they will be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

While small in terms of numbers, Collins said senior leadership has been crucial for the Cougars throughout the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur four seniors have done a good job of leading our younger wrestlers,\u201d Collins explained. \u201cIt has been hard for a couple of them (Jordan Danylchuk and Eric Workman) who have been dealing with injuries all year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJosh Dorsch and Trevor Spridgeon have been able to be in the trenches with the guys and help them through the season. Our captains (Dorsch, Danylchuk and Isaiah Bretz) have done a good job of keeping the guys focused on the task at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins also noted that a lot of underclassman have made great strides from last year to this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur sophomore class has improved greatly from last year to this year,\u201d Collins said. \u201cLast year they all struggled with the jump to varsity from eighth graders. The lumps that they took are what has made them into what they are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them have also found the optimal weight class to wrestle compared to last year, including Ben Lange (126), Ryan Pratt (152), Malachi Battle (160) and Dale Hammons (170). Junior Lloyd Eutsler 195 could also fit into this group because his first year of wrestling was last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cougars will travel to Bath on Thursday, then will head to Celina on Tuesday, February 13. Van Wert High School will host the WBL tournament on February 17, then will begin OHSAA sectional action the following week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor Most coaches will agree \u2013 while it\u2019s important to get off to a good start, it\u2019s equally or more important to compete well down the home stretch of any sports season. That\u2019s the case for Van Wert High School wrestlers. After a bit of a slow start against a loaded schedule, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 10:18:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98391\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}