Focusing on what’s at hand

It’s the nose that Craig Hanson will remember.

During last year’s wrestling season, Jordan Jolley opened up a cut on the bridge of his nose. A cut that seemingly has required daily attention since.

“That’s what I’m going to remember about Jordan Jolley – we’ve had to tape that nose up for every match,” the East Valley wrestling coach laughed. “Some guys get a cut like that, and it just stays aggravated.”

The nose is just about all that has been aggravated about the 171-pound senior wrestler.

“Jordan has a great attitude, and I’m going to miss having that attitude in the practice room,” Hanson said. “He doesn’t take himself all that seriously. He’s not a cut-up or anything like that, but he enjoys what he’s doing and has fun with it. I think that rubs off on the guys around him, and that’s a good thing.”

Part of that approach, Jolley said, is to keep his focus on whatever task is at hand and not spend a lot of time worrying about the big picture – especially now that the tournament season has arrived.

“I don’t like to think too much about anything other than what’s right in front of me,” Jolley explained. “Last year I focused on that all season, then got distracted in the first tournament. The coaches told me to just get back to what was working for me all year long, and when I did, I did pretty well.”

“The thing about Jordan is that he works hard and he always has a smile on his face,” Hanson said.

That happens to someone from a wrestling family.

Jordan Jolley is the third of four wrestling brothers to come through East Valley. Tyler, the youngest, is a junior. During the 2002-03 season, the pair were teammates with older brother Joe Jolley.

The family wrestling tradition comes naturally.

Father Terry was captain of the 1975 West Valley wrestling team, a year after he and his brother, Dean, were teammates for the Eagles.

“I’ve been wrestling for just about as long as I can remember,” Jordan said. “If I’m away from wrestling for too long a time, it feels like I’m missing something. By the end of the football season I was pretty anxious to get back on the mat.”

Jolley wrestles nine months out of the year and, between school and freestyle, gets in somewhere between 80 and 100 matches a year.

Jolley was the runner-up at last week’s sub-regional, losing to Clarkston’s Dusty Rebel in the 171-pound final. A week earlier, Jolley dropped a thrilling 14-12 decision to Rebel in the Greater Spokane League dual meet semifinal.

“That 14-12 match was kind of a heartbreaker,” Hanson said. “Basically, Jordan had the match won and made a mistake late that allowed Rebel to come back and win.”

In the subregional final, the result came much more quickly.

“Clarkston is a team that likes to go for the throw,” Jolley said. “I shot for a leg and tried to back out of it, and he got me. He was able to throw me right to my back and that was it.”

That only goes to reinforce the lesson every wrestler learns in a tournament: As the stakes go up, so does the price of making a mistake.

Hanson, for one, sees a third match between the GSL pair in the offing.

“They could very easily meet again in the finals this weekend,” the coach said, referring to the Class 3A regional tournament in Ellensburg. “They’re both that good. They’re part of a small handful of guys at their weight who have a definite chance to win state.

“It basically comes down to the draw at that weight. Who wins state will depend a lot on who draws who. There is no one dominant wrestler. It’s going to be very interesting.”

The good news for Jolley in a potential rematch is that he doesn’t make many mistakes, nor does he dwell on past errors.

His style is to aggressively shoot for his opponent’s legs. When he misses, he uses his upper body strength to go for a throw.

“He has a lot of strength, and that makes him tough,” Hanson said. “And he’s quick. He has that kind of linebacker instinct that gets in on top of an opponent before they know what hits them.”

The fact that this is Jolley’s last shot at a high school wrestling title isn’t lost on the senior Knight. He’s just not dwelling in that, either.

“I’m trying not to think about that at all right now,” he said. “I’m trying to stick to just one day at a time.”