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2007-2008 Season Season Record: 23 - 10 Conference Record: 1 - 3 |
Forbush WrestlingKota Leaves ForbushForbush’s Head Wrestling Coach, Jamie Kota, has stepped away from the Forbush program he headed up for the past 12 years. Coach Kota came to Forbush in 1996 as an assistant wrestling coach under, then Head Coaches Jeff Farmer and Gary Willis. In only his 2nd season with the Falcons he took the helm and continued through the 2008 season. During that span he helped the Falcons accumulate a dual meet record of 233-76, a conference record of 54-19, 5 regular season conference championships, 4 conference tournament championships, 3x conference coach of the year awards, 65 All Conference wrestlers, 35 State Qualifiers, 2 regional runner up team finishes, 12 All State wrestlers, including 7 State finalists and 2 State Champions.
Coach Kota has 2 children, a son Jordan (9) and a daughter Payton (7). He is currently going through a divorce and has split custody of his children. A choice to step down from the Head Coaching position seemed a logical route but proved to still be an extremely difficult decision. “I prayed about the decision for weeks and God guided me to Mount Tabor.” “ It was the hardest decision I had to make, and through faith I put it in Gods hands.”
“The thing that I wish I could change is the fact that I didn’t get to formally tell the wrestlers and parents that I was leaving. I feel sort of like I abandoned them. I know I didn’t but there is truly never a good time to leave. I really enjoyed my time at Forbush and thought I would retire there but God’s plan for us isn’t always what we think we want. I want to remain in touch with the wrestlers, parents, and staff from Forbush. I hope to hear from some of them soon. My email is jamiekota@aol.com.”
I would like to leave a little message for the returning team members:
Kenny Chavers – find the double blue doors in the field house, hang tough Jacob Johnson – please don’t spladel any Mt Tabor wrestlers, get a thicker neck, and Ill see you at LJVM Gray Watts – you truly are my Rookie of the year, wrestling will take you places, stay true to yourself Cody Tranter – Hard Work and Perseverance Will Pay Off throughout your entire life Lil Chris (Daniels) – turn those 1 or 2 point losses into wins and the Wall of Fame is yours Lane Swaim – get serious and you will do fine Dill (Dillon Dunn) – You have the talent your body strength just needs to catch up with the talent, no doubt I will see you at LJVM David Craig – I finally get 2 transfers in the same year (Gray from Davie and David from Charlotte) and then I leave, what am I thinking! Remember getting off them bottom is mandatory, wrists outside! See you at LJVM. Austin Groce – seems like you have been around forever, I will be watching when you get on that medal stand at LJVM. Remember – score, score score on your feet. Don’t hold back and try to “ride out” a match and above all BE CONFIDENT because you are a great wrestler. Brett Baity – bring back the “fire” you had as a freshman, master the duck and shrug, get off the bottom, and above all stay injury free – please! Mike Lawson – cradle – enough said. That and work harder. Bentley Neely – Get after it and don’t worry about your weight. Josh Bailey – Work Harder and enjoy yourself. Fight off your back, its like someone is trying to choke you and you got to get away! Brandon Mahan – you are the biggest man on campus – now just back it up. Don’t sit back and take it, stand up for yourself and get after it. Josh Howard – know when to joke around and when to be serious, don’t pick on others just because you can. Remember the Morehead tournament – you can get off bottom and score when you have to, keep that attitude all season and you will be on the Wall. Cari Beck – Thanks for all your help, keep the new coach and team running at full steam.
All team members – Hard Work Pays Off!, They Don’t Give Banners Away for Free; you have to Earn Them! Best of Luck (except against Tabor,lol)
I appreciate all the parents as well but would like to give an extra thanks to a few: Chris and Lisa Groce (its been a long but enjoyable ride!), Mike and Cindy Harris ( a longer but equally enjoyable ride that couldn’t have ended any sweeter), Donald and Kay Dunn (a long but interrupted ride, and thanks for the help with the mats), and Dana and Lori Craig (a short ride but stepped into the fire before I had even met him(PA trip and coaching)).
I would also like to say thanks to all my assistants over the years – John Phillips, Matt Pruitt, Brad Petracca, Steel Norman, Metz (Quentin Metzgar), Chris Bolin, Devlin (Kyle Devlin), Dana Craig. The program and wrestlers are who they are because of people like you. A special Thanks to Herman Norman for giving me a chance and allowing me to blossom as a coach.
Best of Luck to Todd Lockhart from Martinsville, VA as he takes the reins of the Forbush Wrestling Program. See you on the mats!
Christian Harris breaks school record for Career Wins! Chrisitan Harris receives a forfeit win against Mount Tabor on Thursday Dec 20th. That gave Harris his 151st win of his career! The previous record was held by Josh Fleshman at 150. Falcons take 3rd out of 10 at the Forbush super Duals!2007 Forbush Super Duals Forbush 54 Maiden 30 #1 ranked Jed Martin - Surry Central (placed 2nd 07) beat Christian Harris - Forbush, ranked 3rd by the score of 4-2. Great match between 2 outstanding men. Break down - 0-0 after the first, a few close TD's but none that count. 2nd period - Harris defers to Jed - Jed hits Granby almost scores a reversal but gets escape instead. 1-0 Martin. Harris almost scores on a deep sigle leg, Martin's hips prove too quick no TD. 3rd period Martin rides for :45 secs, Harris scores a reversal and rides for a while. Martin gets another Granby to an escape. Score tied 2-2. Harris tries a double gets caught in a front headlock. Both jockey for position with Martin scooting behind for a TD with 3 secs left. Final Score 4-2 Martin. for career wins with 150, held by Josh Fleshman. Make sure to check out the Gallery for picks from the year. Thanks Dan Hicks. Christian Harris goes 3-2 at the 2007 Super 32Christian Harris had a good preseason warmup tournament this past weekend at the Nationally Ranked Super 32 tournament at the Greensboro Colosiuem. Harris got off to a shaky start, it what appeared to be a replay of last years state tournament. Harris matched up against Colin Leinhardt from VA. Harris hit his patented double and went for a quick tilt , only to be caught in a reach back headlock and pinned. The saving grace about this loss is that Colin went onto the semis and eventaually placed 6th. (0-1) Next up, Harris had Alan Zimmerman from the always tough Bellfonte PA. Harris was in a tight match until he escaped and hit a beautiful reshot double which all but "knocked out" Zimmerman. It also gave Harris a mild concussion for the remaining tournament. (1-1) Harris then had Matt Sharp from the state of Tennesee. Harris handled him with a 9-2 win. (2-1) Harris had his best showing of the tournament in his next match when he beat Jacob Williamson, a STATE CHAMP from GA. He convincingly won with a daily SOP drill, a beautiful throw by, not once but twice. Harris was in control the entire match, winning 6-2. (3-1) Harris put everything he had into the next match against George Garcis from American FL. Harris was tied 0-0 after 1. Then Garcia got an escape early in the 2nd. Harris went for a TD with 8 secs left in the 2nd only to be countered at the buzzer. 3-0 Garcia. Harris went onto to get an escape in the 3rd. He tried until the buzzer sounded and finished the match with a loss of 3-1. (3-2) I think this was a "breakout" tournament for Christian. He is learning to wrestle from Whistle to Whistle. I think he really beleives in himself this year, I think that was lacking a little in years past. Between camp and these high level matches in the preseason he is gaining that much needed confidence. He could be the next State Champ Banner in the fieldhouse! Great videos at www.flocasts.org/flowrestling/coverage.php check out the 160 match! and brackets at www.escapesports.com/Results/2007Super32.pdf |
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