Portage coach Leroy Vega used to wear the same suit to the state finals. So would assistant Eric Keith.
But during Vega’s first seven seasons on the job, Portage wrestlers were 0-6 in state championship matches.
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So, a few weeks before this year’s state meet, a fire was started and into that fire went the suits.
“We always joked around about them being 0-6 in the finals,” junior Jacob Moran said. “We decided it was time to get rid of those, get some new ones and start fresh.”
And it worked.
Moran and senior Kris Rumph won their matches, the first two state champions of Vega’s career. Portage also topped Region teams at state with a fourth-place score of 67.5 after winning semistate, regional, sectional and conference titles.
Vega, the 2017-18 Post-Tribune Wrestling Coach of the Year, said he’s never liked receiving accolades because he’s just one part of a larger effort.
“We’ve got nine other coaches,” Vega said. “Everyone has a job to do. It goes all the way down to the parents who make us food at meets. When everyone else is doing their job, it makes my job easy.”
That group effort put the Indians into contention for a team state title this season, with a program-record nine wrestlers reaching the state meet.
But an injury default for Colin Poynter and a trio of one-point losses during the opening round of the state finals dashed those hopes.
“That took some of the air out of us,” Vega said. “We had a good showing at semistate. Our goal was to win (the team title). Then it was seeing how many champions we could get.”
Portage picked up two, with Moran winning at 106 and Rumph following at 138.
Moran said Vega’s biggest contribution has been instilling the same mindset that helped Vega become an All-American at Minnesota during his wrestling career.
“He teaches us a lot about the mental game,” Moran said of Vega. “He’s the type of guy who wants us to grind out matches and be mentally tough.”
Vega’s own mental toughness was challenged this season, with a nagging knee injury that affected him during drilling sessions with the team. He missed the sectional meet to have an operation on his right knee.
“I’m able to move around more and I don’t have the pain I was having before,” Vega said.
But the knee wasn’t good enough to avoid suffering the first takedown of his coaching career at a recent practice while drilling with Moran.
“I shot for a single-leg (takedown) on his bad leg and he couldn’t defend it,” Moran said. “It was my first takedown on him.”
The 39-year-old Vega eventually conceded the two points after some contention.
“He said it was his first legit takedown against me, so I gave it to him,” Vega said with a laugh.
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.