When I was a young reporter at a newspaper in Manasquan, Monmouth County, in the late 1990s, there was an outstanding wrestler at Wall Township High School named Nick Roy. Roy, in his senior year, won the state championship (at 171 pounds, if memory serves me correctly) by escaping for a sudden victory in overtime against a boy from Livingston. A few months later, as we at the newspaper were finishing up the high school sports year, we named Roy our Athlete of the Year. As I was putting together the feature story, I thought I would try to get in touch with that boy from Livingston to get some of his thoughts on what it was like to wrestle a guy like Roy. So I called the school’s athletic director, said I was looking for an interview with the young man, and he said he would talk to him and call me back the next day. The following day, the athletic director called me back and said something to the effect of, “um, yeah, uh, he said he doesn’t want to talk about it. He’s still pretty broken up about losing in the state championship match.” That was my first real taste of the sport of wrestling, the intensity of it, and just how difficult it can be for a wrestler to get over the toughest loss of his career. It was a reminder that when you cover high school sports, you are dealing with teenagers, and a sport such as wrestling requires more than just your average dedication. For a kid to be any good at it, wrestling has to almost consume his life. He has to live, eat and breath wrestling if he wants to be one of the select few who makes it to Boardwalk Hall and the state championships. Egg Harbor Township's Terrell Coleman takes on A.J. DeRosa of Delaware Valley during the opening round of the state tournament at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall earlier this month. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O'Sullivan) Egg Harbor Township’s Terrell Coleman takes on A.J. DeRosa of Delaware Valley during the opening round of the state tournament at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall earlier this month. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) Egg Harbor Township’s Terrell Coleman came into this year’s state championships as one of the best 113-pounders in South Jersey. He finished third in the Region 8 tournament and won 32 of the 40 bouts he wrestled this season. He jumped out to a 2-0 lead on A.J. DeRosa of Delaware Valley in the opening round of states by scoring a takedown in the first period. Coleman pushed his lead to 4-0 heading into the third period, and, being in the down position, had a chance to extend that lead by escaping DeRosa’s grip. He was nearly there, too, before DeRosa pulled him back to the mat — and in a matter of seconds, everything changed. DeRosa, in the blink of an eye, cradled up Coleman. Suddenly, Coleman was trying to fight off a pinning move with thousands of fans looking down from the packed stadium stands. DeRosa eventually got the pin, forcing Coleman into the wrestleback rounds. Coleman is a quiet kid, very humble and hard-working. He’s the kind of kid every coach wants in his wrestling room. No nonsense, working hard every day to get better. It’s tough to even get a few words out of him in a post-match interview. He’s just not comfortable talking about himself; he’d rather just wrestle and let the writers write what they want to. He was in command throughout most of that match against DeRosa, but if there is one thing that the state championships prove, it’s that nothing can be taken for granted. Every kid who makes it there is there for a reason — they are a damn good wrestler. Unfortunately, Coleman had to learn that lesson the hard way. One of the hardest life lessons to learn is that you have the ability to withstand whatever life throws at you if you don’t give up, and keep learning and working hard. For some people, it may take 30 or 40 years to learn that lesson. Coleman, along with hundreds of other wrestlers, learned that lesson the first weekend of March in Atlantic City, as teenagers. Of course, a loss at states is like trying to choke down castor oil. It hurts. It stings. It leaves a knot in your stomach. It feels like all that hard work went for nothing. But that’s just in the moment. As time goes by — and for guys like Coleman, it might not be right away, it might take weeks, or even a few months — these wrestlers will understand the value of their experience at Boardwalk Hall. Coleman will come back. He has a great support group that includes one of the best coaching staffs in South Jersey, as well as a great family that travels around to all his matches. They even wear family T-shirts with “Coleman – 113” inked on the back. Coleman will use that loss to DeRosa to fuel his belly fire throughout the offseason. Don’t be surprised to see Terrell Coleman back at Boardwalk Hall this time next year, his senior year. And don’t be surprised if he’s one of the guys who makes it onto the final podium. He’s learned how supremely difficult it is to be one of those final eight guys in each weight class, and no doubt he — and many like him — will do whatever it takes not only to make it back to Boardwalk Hall, but to leave their mark before they graduate. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]