The Roanoke Times

Bobby Schafer (left), Trey Dillon

Trey Dillon

• Heavyweight
• 37-11 this year, 113-37 career
• Little known: Winningest heavyweight ever at Christiansburg, literacy volunteer, assistant sandlot football coach
• Considering options for college football among several Division III and II schools.

Bobby Schafer

• 130 pounds
• 27-14 this year, 92-52 career, 2008 Big Blue Tournament champion
• Little known: Considering a career in food service after college

Wrestling is his only sport.

Other first-time Christiansburg starters

• Braden Carter (171), David Cheney (189), Michael Giardano (135), Shawn Quesenberry (125)

CHRISTIANSBURG -- Wrestling is a sport known to test extremes of endurance, pain suppression and mind control.

And that's just on the mat.

Another kind of test altogether comes to those who can't get on the mat to begin with. A silent battle is staged in high school wrestling rooms everywhere by those on-the-fence competitors who are just trying to crack the starting lineup.

Two such optimists toiled for three years trying to bust into one of the toughest lineups to crack anywhere, the one under the banner of six-time defending Group AA state champion Christiansburg.

Seniors Trey Dillon, a heavyweight, and 130-pounder Bobby Schafer gave it everything they had for three years but kept coming up short. Three years passed and neither of them ever wrestled in a postseason high school tournament.

Dillon, in and out of the "A" (starting) lineup for two years, came closest. His hopes ended last year in sight of the prize when he lost a wrestle-off to teammate Jon Weber on the eve of the River Ridge District tournament.

"I fully expected to beat him," Dillon said. "I was the man, going to the state tournament. I guess I relaxed and he beat me. He beat me by a point. I've been thinking about that one point since last year."

Schafer couldn't get past now-graduated D.J. Weightman in the wrestle-off.

"He beat me fair and square," Schafer said.

Both Dillon and Schafer became discouraged to the point of despair. For Dillon, coming so close was particularly excruciating.

"To have had a taste then to have it taken away, that's really frustrating," Christiansburg coach Daryl Weber said. "It's heartbreaking."

Both Dillon and Schafer thought about packing it in.

"I had the same feelings, just saying forget it," Schafer said. "But I listened to my coaches say, you've just got one more year and it's all done with. And I had my parents saying this is your year to show everybody what you've got."

Dillon may have come closest to quitting.

"After my loss in the wrestle-off, I was so broke that I couldn't even go watch the district, or region or state tournament," he said. "The whole time I was telling myself, this should have been my shot. There should have been two chances at a state championship."

Video

The Roanoke Times

Christiansburg wrestlers practice to repeat as state high school champs.

As with Schafer, Dillon's parents and coaches inspired him to stick with it.

"Ever since I was little, my dad [Gary] told me that winners never quit, even if they get beat. My dad's a football coach and he taught me ever since I was young, never quit, never back down. I guess it was him who talked me into it. He told me this year I'd have my shot. I really have him to thank for talking me into it."

"These guys have gone through a lot of adversity," Weber said. "Bobby kept believing what we told him. He showed a lot of resilience. So did Trey."

Which proved to their coach that both of them had what it took to contend for top honors.

"If you're a glass half-empty kind of guy, then you're not going to get very far in wrestling," Weber said.

Schafer returned for his senior season with a renewed faith in himself and his sport.

"I came in thinking, this is my year," he said, "there is nothing stopping me."

Dillon resolved to take absolutely nothing for granted.

"I was confident but I kept looking to the back and making sure nobody was sneaking up on me," he said. "With Coach Weber, you never take a day off, you're working hard every day. He never gave me the chance to relax this year."

That included at the dinner table. Schafer has had to battle hard to keep his weight. Dillon came in from football season topping 300 pounds, a good 25 pounds short of where he needed to be. Once he hit his target, he said it hasn't been tough to keep it off.

Both wrestlers relished the team having another big year after being hammered by graduation last year.

"I think since everybody said we were done and over with because we lost all those people, that we wanted to prove everybody wrong," Schafer said. "So we kept working harder."

The River Ridge District tournament is coming up Saturday at Blacksburg. Both Dillon and Schafer will be there. That fact struck Dillon particularly sharply Monday morning.

"This morning, when I woke up, you know, it's district week. This is the first time I'm getting a shot at it and the last time I'm getting a shot at it. So I said I'm going to leave it all there. The last match of the state tournament, I'm hanging the shoes up. I'm done with wrestling."