Published: 10:48 PM, Wed Jan 25, 2012
South View's Troy Cain has had a smooth transition from quarterback to wrestling mat
By Earl Vaughan Jr.
Scholastic sports editor
At football practice, the quarterback is the one who usually wears a different colored jersey so teammates know he's off limits when it comes to contact.
It's not unusual at the high school level to find a quarterback who focuses on football only and doesn't take part in other sports.
South View's Troy Cain is an exception to the rule. When football season is over, he swaps his football uniform for a wrestling singlet and takes to the mat for the Tiger wrestling team.
Only a sophomore, he's lost just three times this season, twice to one of the top 3-A wrestlers in the state. He's coming off tournament titles the last two weekends in the Boneyard Bash at Jack Britt and the Sarah Wilkes Memorial at Eden Morehead.
Britt wrestling coach Cam Spence said it's not unusual for football players to not only try wrestling but to excel at it. "The sports translate well for each other,'' Spence said. "Ray Lewis (Baltimore Ravens) was a state champion wrestler. Some all-pros in the NFL were national champion college wrestlers.''
Cain said he took up the sport in the seventh grade when he was told it would help him with football. "It has helped with getting in better shape and getting stronger,'' he said.
Wrestling in the 220-pound weight class, Cain hasn't had to deal with problems other wrestlers sometimes cope with of having to lose weight to be able to compete. "I'm wrestling at my natural weight,'' he said.
The one transition he has to make at the end of each football season is to the increased physical demands of wrestling. "There's more conditioning in wrestling,'' he said. "Everything is contact and at a high pace. In football you work on plays. Wrestling is more intense.''
Spence said Cain has matured a lot from his freshman year as a wrestler. "He's in better shape this year which is why he's having a lot of success,'' Spence said. "He's won every tournament he's wrestled this year except the Tiger in Chapel Hill and he placed third there.''
One of the big advantages Cain has over most of his opponents is his height. He's 6-foot-3, and that makes leverage a big weapon in his favor.
"I'm just long and hard for them to get me off my feet,'' he said.
The long run of postseason competition isn't far away, and Cain is hopeful he can continue his success there. "I've just got to keep working hard, stay in good shape and outlast the people I wrestle,'' he said.
Spence likes his chances. "He's got a great chance to do some special things as long as he continues to work hard,'' Spence said.
Scholastic sports editor Earl Vaughan Jr. can be reached at vaughane@fayobserver.com or 486-3519.