Making his point with a pin

After sitting out his junior year of wrestling due to a knee injury, St. Maries High senior Dylan Edwards wasn’t even sure if he’d wrestle again.

And after helping the Lumberjacks to their first state football title in the fall, he wasn’t even sure if it was something he wanted to do.

EDWARDS MISSED his junior year due to a torn ACL suffered during football in 2016. Fully recovered in the fall, Edwards returned to the football field to play safety and running back on the football team, where the Lumberjacks finished 12-0, capped off with a state 2A title in November at Holt Arena in Pocatello.

When it came time to start wrestling practice this year, Edwards was a little nervous.

“After my injury, I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to wrestle again,” Edwards said. “I didn’t know if I was going to be any good or not. It really was my last chance at it and after winning in football, I thought, ‘why even wrestle?’ I didn’t see the point.”

He opted to turn out for the team eventually.

“I’m not sure why I decided to wrestle,” Edwards said. “And then I thought, I might as well for something to do.”

On Saturday, Edwards capped his senior year with the state title at 152 pounds, pinning Hazen Smith of Malad in 34 seconds. Edwards finished the season 33-0 and notched his 100th career win with the pin.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” Edwards said. “It was the best feeling I’ve had by far. Winning football state was great, but having that individual title meant a lot more to me after doing all that work. I can’t believe I didn’t think I couldn’t wrestle anymore. This year was more than I could have imagined wrestling.”

“He was just focused to the point where we were giving him the space he needed,” St. Maries coach Dennis Humphrey said. “He’s just been on another level all year. Someone had it figured out that he had a total of 3 minutes, 18 seconds of mat time at state. Not being able to wrestle last year due to that knee injury, he knew it was his last shot.”

Humphrey knew what Edwards was capable of from a young age.

“He was a talented wrestler as a freshman and sophomore, and could be the best I’ve been associated with,” Humphrey said. “He’s just a great natural athlete. When he was younger, he’d just get out of control at times and get caught on the mat, but he’s definitely fixed that.”

Of the four state champions in school history (the other three being Josh Richmond in 2010, Nate Masterson in 2105 and Hayden Humphrey in 2014), Edwards is the first to finish a season unbeaten.

“What’s more impressive about him, he was more concerned with getting into the 100-win club,” Humphrey said. “He’s got to be the most humble state champion I’ve ever been around. He’s just thankful and gives thanks where it’s due. He’s just so humble.”

Once he hit the century mark on Saturday, Edwards could finally relax a little.

“I really haven’t taken a day off,” Edwards said. “I’d usually go for a run or lift weights. I just can’t sit and not do anything. The community has been great and my mom was doing updates on social media. I really didn’t want to let anyone down and I couldn’t have asked for a better community to live in with all their support.”

SO AFTER finishing his senior year of football and wrestling unbeaten, Edwards will hope to carry over that magic to the baseball field this spring.

“Expectations are really high,” said Edwards, an outfielder. “It’d be really cool to win a title in baseball as well. Some of my teammates have already joked about going unbeaten. That would be really cool to do.”

Humphrey knows that anything Edwards puts his mind to, he’ll accomplish.

“I’ve always told the kids, it’s often said that you can tell what people are made of when they’ve had success and how they handle it,” Humphrey said. “A lot of people are going to fail a lot or achieve success. Some have more trouble handling success. I feel like he’ll be able to accomplish anything he puts his mind to. He wants to get to school and get cracking on that. I just love him to death. It was so neat to see him win. He should have won one.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.