Category: Wrestling

Coaches share backgrounds, goals for their teams

by Ifrah Daber

With a new school year starting and seasons kicking off, many teams and coaches prepare for a year filled with hopeful achievements and golden medals. Through intense practice and hours of dedication that are put into these sports, student-athletes bring pride to JHS. 

However, one must remember the coaches who built these players into the athletes they are today. A spotlight on several fall sport coaches reveals their backgrounds, interests, and goals for their Red Devil teams.

Girls’ Soccer Coach Julie Deuser

New girls’ soccer head coach Julie Deuser. Submitted photo.

Coach Deuser is a new addition to the JHS athletic team, taking over for former soccer coach Kallee  Thornton. With big shoes to fill, Deuser has come in with a strong sense of determination. She has a long history of coaching at many different schools and playing for several more herself. For example, she coached at New Albany and led her team to the IHSAA Sectional Championship in 2012. 

But now, she has big goals for the JHS girls’ soccer team. 

“My biggest goal for this team is to see the girls grow and learn the game. I want this team to be competitive and respected in the area. We want girls to want to come to Jeffersonville to play soccer. The program is going to be transforming over the next few years. Long term, we want to win games and championships.”

“I think she’s going to take the soccer program in a positive direction,” senior and varsity player Jovie Golko. She has been playing soccer for all four years of high school and has vocalized her faith in her new coach’s ability to lead her and the rest of the team. 

Head Co-ed Swim Coach Michael Pepa 

Pepa is a face many students recognize from his teaching College and Careers for many freshman classes, but he is also the head coach for the JHS award-winning swim team. 

Pepa had been a swimmer for many years before he was known for his coaching abilities. He started swimming in high school and he, like many, wasn’t the best when he first started. But after swimming through high school to college, he eventually became a record-holder in his sport.

With his 30 years of experience, Pepa passes wisdom onto his students. He pushes an idea of personal best, wanting each student to reach their potential. 

“I love Pepa; He’s an amazing coach who built me into the swimmer I am today,” stated Romier Hunter-Lawrence, a senior swim team member.

JHS swimmers join principal Pam Hall and mayor Mike Moore for the new pool facility being built. Submitted photo.

But even after 30 years Pepa has more plans and hopes for the new year, from strong talent new and old, and the addition of a new pool in the coming months. There is much to look forward to for the swim team in the coming years. 

Volleyball Coach Wesly Briscoe

Originally Briscoe had no plans for becoming the coach we all know him as today. He originally wanted to do more of a journalistic view of sports. He was the news and sports editor when he attended Floyd Central High School. He even did radio and TV. It was when he went off and became a student at UofL, sitting around one day, when his mother gave him an offer to coach volleyball. 

JHS volleyball team. Submitted photo.

During the first few years of this new volleyball coaching career, Briscoe walked with a “chip on his shoulder.” He said he was coaching out of spite, but he learned to change his mentality. 

His new values as a coach are that coaches should lead by example. They should strive for personal growth and push the students to be the best they can be. 

“You could train like a tiger in the jungle or train like a tiger in the zoo” is one of Briscoe’s mantras about pushing himself and his students to train to be the best version. 

This mantra is one any student should remember if they want to join the volleyball team in the near future. As Briscoe also shared, volleyball is not an easy sport to just pick up – it will take time and practice but the results will lead the athlete to find improvement and self-pride.

Assistant Wrestling Coach Evan Myers

Myers has been coaching at JHS his entire coaching career and similar to a past coach on the list, Myers didn’t originally plan on being a coach. He was interested in journalism, which led him to become an English teacher. Since he wrestled while in high school, along with a strong love for teaching, he took an opportunity to be a JHS wrestling coach when he heard that the position was available.

2024 IHSAA Sectional Wrestling Champions. Submitted photo.

Myers said that personal responsibility is a key part of wrestling.. Unlike many other sports where athletes are surrounded by teammates on a field or court, wrestling has only the athlete and the opponent on the mat. This means each wrestler must carry the win or loss on his or her shoulders. 

He added that the sport requires a lot of tough training from the strength that is required to pin another wrestler, which adds physical stress to the body. 

However, this training can pay off, for example, for JHS senior Ben Land, who competed at National Tournaments, as well as for other wrestlers on the team.

“Great pain comes with great reward,” Myers said, believing that the best way to succeed is to work for it, as  many of his students have done and have received the benefits.

Myers’s love for teaching, his students, and the sport drive him every year to push and grow the team. He has much hope for the upcoming year and for all the talent new and old that are in the team.

by jhshyphen

Wrestlers Balance the Risks and Rewards of Competing during COVID

With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the way we live our lives in many ways, one major thing it has affected is athletes and their sports. Some sports are not as affected as others such as cross country, where they can still run the same trails while being socially distant.

Other sports that are close contact such as wrestling have had to change their routines significantly to keep at their success. Junior Wrestler Dillon Mouser says their entire practice schedule has been altered compared to last year. “Last year, we used to be able to just switch partners. Now we have pods of 4 people , and we can’t drill, lift, or practice with anyone outside of our pods. Typically we practice with only one person in our pod until it’s time to wrestle each other for a live match.”


Mouser says they also had to split up into separate rooms. “Stations 1 and 2 are mat 1 , and 2 are in the same room but divided by a curtain. Station 3 is the weight room. Station 4 is mat 3 , which we moved upstairs. Sixteen people on one mat, and obviously we wear our masks everywhere except for when we are on the mat, and every time we switch stations we sanitize.”

Wrestling team members gather around a teammate to offer support before at match at the December 5 meet. Photo by Paige Moore

Practice routines aren’t just the only thing COVID-19 has affected. Varsity wrestler Evan Clayton decided to switch to online school to lessen his risk of exposure during wrestling season. “Online school makes it harder to get work done because you aren’t in the classroom learning first hand and you lack the motivation you would normally have in class,” Clayton says. “But it wasn’t a hard decision knowing I can maintain my grades and not risk missing out on a big part of the season,” he adds.


Over Christmas break, Clayton got quarantined, and not getting quarantined leading into sectionals was a big part of his decision. “I live fairly far from most of my family, but when I got quarantined over Christmas I was upset because I couldn’t go see my grandma, and that was pretty hard for me.” Clayton intends to stay in online school until he can finish up his season and the school quarter to learn the material easier and prepare for his AP tests.


The decision to participate in a team sport has affected some wrestlers at home also. Some athletes’ relatives have health problems that would put them at risk if they contracted COVID-19.


Even before COVID-19, being an athlete required making tough trade-offs. For athletes this year, the stakes seem more significant and the choices more complicated — but the drive to compete has not gone away

By Cameron Allen

by cameronallen04

From Wrestling to Recycling, Adonis Boyd Does It All

JHS senior opens up about new recycling program, busy schedule, and the diversity of Jeff High

Many know 17-year-old Jeffersonville High School senior Adonis Boyd. But what they may not know is that Boyd is the driving force behind the school’s new recycling program. Boyd is well-rounded and is involved in numerous extracurriculars including Key Club, Student Council and Friends of Rachel. He is also an awarded wrestler and is involved in track as well. His participation in sports is one of the reasons he got the idea for the recycling program.

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Senior Adonis Boyd collects recycling. (Photo by Bella Bungcayao)

“Well, I drink a lot of water, like with all the things I do, with all the sports,” Boyd said. “I get really dehydrated really quick. So I always bring two water bottles to school with me and I realized that kind of adds up.” He also noticed other things that should be recycled instead of being tossed in the trash. “Sometimes I’ll go to the copier room if I need to run something for a teacher,” he said. “And they just have so much paper…and there’s just nothing to do with it. They just throw it away, and it can go to something. It can do something bigger.”

Boyd also loves the diversity at Jeff High, saying that it’s “a big mesh of a lot of people.” “It’s very real worldish,” he said. “Like the other schools, they’re going to be like one group of people that stand out. But here, everybody really gels together really well.  There’s a lot of diversity. It’s just a really great place to be to set you up for the real world.”

Boyd wants to make a difference in this world by increasing diversity and helping the community through recycling. He wishes to bring the diversity that Jeff High shows to the outside world. “With other schools there can be subgroups,” he said. “Of course Jeff High has those subgroups but within those subgroups people are also intertwined to other groups. It’s not just like one person rules everything. Everyone is friends with everybody and I just wish that we could take that to the outside world. Because in the outside world people can very groupish. It’s very stereotypical. Like, ‘Oh I see them. I don’t hang out with them.’ But here we don’t see any of that. We see everyone for how they are as a person. Like I can be friends with anybody. And that’s wonderful.”

Story by Greta Reel

by Greta Reel

Co-Ed, Girls Wrestling Teams Look Toward a Promising Post-Season

Coming off a successful HHC Tournament last weekend, the Jeffersonville Red Devils co-ed wrestling team is prepared to end the season on a strong note. Four wrestlers earned all-conference honors (1st place) in the HHC Tournament: Ethan Rogers, Devin McDaniels, Matt Munoz and Cody Matherly. Rogers, a senior who has wrestled for two years, says it takes a lot of commitment to win. “Wrestling is really hard,” he said. “We stay after, come in the mornings, put in extra work.” Sophomore Connor Pangburn, a JV wrestler, says team support makes a difference, too. “When you’re on that mat, you’re out there by yourself, but you have a whole team behind you. Everybody’s watching you and wants you to win.”

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Senior wrestler Ethan Rogers faces off against his opponent from Charlestown High School. (Photo by Paige Moore)

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Senior wrestler Cody Matherly takes a breath during a tough match. (Photo by Paige Moore)

This season has also featured strong performances from Jeff High’s female wrestlers. Last Friday, Chrissy True won the Indiana High School Girls Wrestling Association State Title. Emelly Valezquez and Mia Compton both took third place. Overall, the girls wrestling team won 5th place in the state competition. Compton says wrestling in a girls-only event is a bit unsettling. “When you’re going against a girl, it makes you a little nervous because you’re used to going against guys, and in the matches the guy usually wins,” she said. “But once you come out on top [in a girls tournament], it’s like boom … she’s powerful!” In only its first year, Jeff High girl’s wrestling team is already putting the other teams on notice.

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The Girls Wrestling team proudly shows off their awards after qualifying for state. (Submitted photo)

Although the regular season is nearly over (the last regular-season meet is tonight at home versus New Albany), fans will have more opportunities to cheer on the wrestling team at home. Jeff High will host the IHSAA sectional tournament on February 1, as well as the regional tournament on February 8.

by jaidaaaam

Raising Cain

Story by Tristan Jackson

Jeffersonville High School has a new state champion.

Camyle Cain, a wrestler in the 138-pound weight class on the female circuit, won the Indiana state competition on Jan. 19 — just one year after the first-ever state competition for girls, in which she placed second against Alara Boyd, the second-ranked female wrestler in the world in her weight class.

“I’ve never felt something so exciting,” Cain said on her experience at the state tournament. “Everyone is so welcoming and nice. Even if you’re going against the girl, she’ll help you warm up.”

Cain was convinced to join the wrestling team by head wrestling and strength & conditioning coach Danny Struck, who has been coaching at Jeff for over 20 years. While she excels on the mat, Cain’s first love was the football field.

“I didn’t want to originally,” Cain said on joining the wrestling team. “Struck would ask me everyday to come. He would say ‘if you don’t like it, don’t come back. Just try it.’ I didn’t like it the first week, but I kept going, and a month down the road, I realized I really liked this sport.”IMG_0070

Cain joined the football team her freshman year, and played under head coach Lonnie Oldham. During her first year, she built relationships with her coaches, including Alfonzo Browning, who would eventually go on to become the head coach.

Cain’s wrestling coaches have helped pave the path to a state title, and her football coach would end up accompanying her to the state championship

“It meant a lot to me, especially after everything we’ve been through over the last four years,” said Browning, on taking Cain to State. “I was honored to be able to take her up there.”

While Cain enjoyed the experience, a high school athlete’s goal is to win a state championship. Her hard work got her all the way to the championship match after winning the first two matches in the competition.

Cain went into her final match with a 8-0 record against female opponents, including a first place finish in the USA preseason national tournament and regional champion.

In dominating performance, her first two wins of the tourney would come by the way of pin. As the favorite, Cain would eventually make her way to the championship round, where she would face off against Westfield High School’s Melody Barrows.

During the final, she continued her impressive display, pinning her opponent less than two minutes into the match.  

“When I won I couldn’t even control myself,” Cain said. “I really didn’t know how to act.”

The win is not only a tremendous accomplishment for Cain herself, but a groundbreaking accomplishment for the girls who could potentially follow down the same path.

“She improved both physically and mentally,” Struck said. “She’s grown up and she’s much better at keeping her emotions in check.”

It’s safe to say the win brought a lot of attention to Cain, and she has received an abundance of support from the students and teachers around the building.

“Every time Coach Browning sees me, he’ll say ‘what’s up champ’,” Cain said. “Everyone is so excited for me.”

Although Cain won a state championship, there will always be people who doubt and hate excellence, especially as a female exceeding in a predominantly male sport. Cain is no exception.

“I do get some crap for it. Some people say, ‘You didn’t really win state because you’re a girl,’” Cain said. “I don’t really know why. I guess they are just jealous.”

Regardless of the naysayers, Cain shined on her way to a state title, utterly dominating her competition.

“She’s got a runner-up against the second-ranked wrestler in the world and a state title; that’s a nice resume for when she goes for the All-Marine team,” Struck said.

With the backing of her coaches, teammates and classmates, Cain made her championship dream come true.

“I can’t believe I won state,” Cain said. “That’s something every athlete dreams to do.”

Cain finished her high school career on top, but it’s not the end of the road for the outstanding Red Devil. Although she has yet to pick out a college, Cain fully intends on wrestling post-high school, and the school that she decides to attend will be getting a girl who is ready to work.

“I just want to get better,” Cain said. “Get better for when I further it.”

by cmolina