River Forest senior De’Aris Beason couldn’t necessarily have envisioned this.
Qualifying for a wrestling semistate? Starting at linebacker and left tackle?
Not when he began participating in both sports as a sophomore after transferring from Belleville West in Illinois.
“I didn’t really know anyone, and I wanted to meet new people,” Beason said. “I found football and wrestling. Ever since then, I fell in love with them. I love it here.”
The summer after his freshman year, Beason visited his brother, whom he hadn’t seen “for a while,” he said. It went so well that Beason moved to live with his brother.
“Him and his family really invited me in,” Beason said.
As he adjusted at his new school, sports entered the picture. River Forest coach Mark Hidalgo has seen it unfold. Also the wrestling coach, Hidalgo took over the football team this season after having been an assistant.
“He didn’t really play football his first year here, then last year he played,” Hidalgo said. “He wrestled for me last year, and he wrestled for me the year before. But he was trying to find his way around here that first year. He didn’t have rides. But we got a hold of him.”
The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Beason leads the Ingots (2-0) with 18 tackles, four for loss and two sacks entering their game at Wheeler on Friday. They recorded back-to-back shutouts against East Chicago Central and Calumet.
“I’m flying to the ball, making my reads, making tackles,” Beason said. “I’m just doing my assignments, staying within the defense. We’re just playing hard and having a good time.”
Beason had 18 tackles last season, when he also got snaps on offense at guard, tackle and tight end. He offered a straightforward assessment of his performance.
“I wasn’t very good last year,” he said.
But Beason has gotten bigger and stronger since last season.
He also mentioned last wrestling season, the first in which he actually competed in a match, as a turning point. He reached the East Chicago Central Semistate at 195 pounds.
“It was fun, especially since I don’t have a ton of experience wrestling,” Beason said. “Just one full year in the room really changed my whole skill set, my whole mindset. It was really fun, especially with all of my friends and the upperclassmen from last year.
“It shows hard work pays off. Wrestling pays off. I’m taking to coaching well. Hidalgo’s an excellent coach.”
Aureliano Arana, a junior who plays alongside Beason at linebacker, appreciates his teammate’s efforts.
“He reads it,” Arana said. “If he sees a gap, he runs it and makes a play. He works really hard too.
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“He’s a good guy, hard worker. I’ve been with him since my freshman year, when he came here as a sophomore. I really became friends with him in wrestling. In football, he went to the weightlifting, kept pushing me, got me stronger. He’s one of the guys I look up to.”
Arana, who also plays tight end, suffered a broken left forearm late last season and needed surgery. Beason was among the people who lifted his spirits.
“He played a big part,” Arana said. “He helped me through the recovery. He was there pushing me.”
Beason wants to push himself in wrestling too. He didn’t mince words about his goal being a state championship.
“I recommend that everyone wrestle if you want to be good at football,” he said. “Positioning, tackling, leverage, accountability, hard work. Wrestling’s a brutal sport, and you have to be pretty tough to get through the whole season. It’s a really good sport to play.
“I think, ‘Where would I be if I didn’t play football, or if I didn’t wrestle?’ I wouldn’t be as good at football if I didn’t wrestle, and I don’t think I would’ve wrestled if I didn’t play football. They go hand in hand.”
At the moment, Beason is focused on this football season, one in which he believes River Forest can go undefeated.
“A big part of our success is we play as a team,” he said. “It’s not one player on River Forest who really carries the load. We all play together and play for each other.
“I couldn’t make the tackles without the D-line squeezing. We wouldn’t be able to score without our skill players, and our skill players wouldn’t be able to score without our O-line. And we couldn’t do any of it without our coaches. It really is a team.”
Hidalgo, a longtime assistant after he led East Chicago Central from 1999 to 2005, cited Beason’s all-around abilities and impact on the team.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete,” Hidalgo said. “He can grab the rim — he’s pretty good at basketball. He’s strong on the O-line. He can run at linebacker.
“And he never complains. He’s here every day working hard. He’s one of the hardest workers on the team. He’s just a good kid.”